Greetings Friends – Today on this anniversary of the Founding of the Esoteric Youth Circle by Rudolf Steiner, I am slowly emerging like the waxing crescent after the New Moon from 3 days in the Underworld. I seek to reflect a sliver of illumination around our Michaelmas 2023 Speaking with the Stars Retreat at ‘Sun City’ – the ancient Native American settlement 5 hours south of Chicago on the Cahokia Mounds state historic site.
We packed up ‘The Beast’ a van gifted to us, & set off down I-55 on Friday the 13th. The sky was muted with a mantle of fog as we traveled, diffusing the fall colors in an Atlantean – ‘Mists of Avalon’ blur. Soon the clouds burst into a pelting torrential downpour that came & went as we hydroplaned down the highway. The farms & wild prairie grass of the Heartland pulsing golden in the silver rain. CG held the wheel, meeting the rainfall with humor & grace, as I pointed out the scenic inspirations along the way & DJ’d the ride with world music.
As we neared Joliet IL. the sky lifted & we pulled off looking for a place to run our dog Winnie (Winifred J. Rabbit) who was also attending the vigil. We weren’t using our devices, just the trusty Rand McNally. We were looking for The National Shrine & Museum of St. Thérèse of Lisieux – the Little Flower – a Carmelite Nun & Doctor of the Church, just off the highway. I always loved the Carmelites who follow the ‘Most Pure Heart of Mary, Christ Jesus & the prophet Elijah to live in God’s presence’.
The “Little Way” of St. Thérèse is a simple approach to a spiritual life that seeks to find holiness thru everyday life – to do ordinary things with extraordinary love. It’s about trust – living a life where ‘small daily sacrifices’ make life a great deed.
I made the mistake of turning on my phone to help us find it, & that allowed Ahriman to send us on a wild goose chase. Well, we got lost. But inadvertently, as the adversarial beings are meant to do, we were led right where we needed to go – granting us the opportunity to put Trust to the test.
And somehow we ended up at ‘Waterfall Glen’, a nature wildlife preserve with trails, & fishing, famous for its glacial lake. It was perfect. The rain stopped just as we pulled up. Ah, such majesty. We took a thoughtful, refreshing hike around the primordial lake with Winnie in the lead.
Without much more ado we arrived in Springfield, IL. home of Honest Abe & settled into the Bungalow house that would be our retreat center for the next nights.
~hag
I picked this place because it is across the street from Oak Ridge Cemetery – a State Historic Site – home of Lincoln’s Tomb. Working with the dead has led me to visit many Burial Grounds – a favorite past time of mine. Our pilgrimage there amongst the rolling hills dotted with founding families & civil war heroes was peaceful & reverent. We extended our inner vision to connect to the Spirit of Place, not just of the Cemetery, but of the larger whole – The Genius Loci of Springfield IL. & the Heartland in general, which helped form the Genius of a great man like Abraham Lincoln.
We shared a delicious meal & prepared for the Michaelmas 2023 annular solar eclipse & our trip to Cahokia. Using the black & white of charcoal drawing how do we live into the qualities of Light & Dark? Tying the eurythmy gestures for “I Think Speech”, & working with various prayers, verses & mantras like: The Lord’s Prayer, The Foundation Stone Meditation, The Verse for the Michaelic Age, The 1010 Thought-Seed mantras, etc, we embody our Speaking with the Stars. Toning & improvisational singing, as well as harmonizing our favorite Michaelmas Songs is a powerful way to bring unity to community.
~Nancy Melvin
I was thinking to apportion out parts & do a reading together of ‘From Light Through Darkness Into New Light’ a Mystery Drama type Pageant I wrote for the ‘Great American Eclipse’ of 21 August 2017, which the Central Regional Council of the ASA enacted as part of our retreat in St. Louis, but I decided to save it for the big gathering we will have during the solar eclipse on the octave of Easter 8 April 2024.
The next morning 14 Oct. 2023, after bagels & homemade biscuit sandwiches we made our way to the sacred Cahokia Mounds near Horseshoe Lake State Park, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.
The atmosphere still had that Watery ‘Mists of Avalon’/ Atlantean quality with occasional cloud bursts. The hanging waves made the fall colors more vibrant, the etheric essence of the plant world more evident, spread out; deeper, richer.
As we drove the mists lifted. We arrived an hour before the eclipse began to get a lay of the vast landscape, tuning-in to the Genius Loci of this place, so different from where we had just come from.
The site was practically deserted. There were only a few folks around the main areas. The overview of the region with its 94 Ceremonial Mounds rising up out of the prairie, which was once productive farmland, deeply stirs the soul.
We chose to make a pilgrimage on the Blue Nature/Cultural trail, a 5 1/2-mile hike that often intersected with the 10 mile Red trail, & the Yellow shorter Tour trail. We started by walking the periphery thru the forest & marsh areas. At 1st the wildlife was abundant & bounding.
Then as the eclipse began – The shift was palpable. Everything stilled. The trees hushed, with not a squirrel or bird to be seen or heard. Even Winnie stayed with us on the path.
When we came to a Mound or a particularly beautiful tree or other striking feature in the landscape we would organically stop & linger – to contemplate, pray, make a gesture, or sing as the spirit moved us.
CG & Winifred J. Rabbit = Bros. of Christ Woodhenge in the background
Around the max time at the height of the eclipse we quite naturally found ourselves at ‘Woodhenge’. We were the only ones there in that vast circle, which once held 3 interconnecting circles of 5, 7, & 12 posts marking out the measure of the human being, the Wandering Planets & the Fixed Stars of the zodiac. We walked to the center post & sat down facing in the direction of the tallest & largest Ceremonial ‘Monks Mound’, where the Sun rises at the Spring Equinox. At this still point during the greatest darkness we held a silent vigil.
We felt called to ascend ‘Monks Mound’ where there is a panoramic view that includes the St. Louis Arch across the mighty Mississippi. Amazing to ponder that this site marking the stars of Ursa Major, was made without the use of the wheel, beasts of burden, or metallurgy, the mound technology was highly refined, taking hundreds of years of dedication. This agri-culture fostered widespread commerce, artistic expression, & monumental architecture. The model for this urban world was nothing less than the cosmos itself. The epitome of their ritual center was a four-tiered pyramid covering fourteen acres, rising a hundred feet into the sky—the tallest structure in the United States until 1867.
~Andis Kaulins
We decided we wouldn’t eat any food until the eclipse ended. We continued our journey passed the ‘Twin Mounds’ thru the ‘Stockade areas’ where we were attracted to ‘Mound 72’ which had a unique quality about it. We could see that it was laid out differently than the other mounds – its long axis is on a Northwest-Southeast orientation.
We discovered it is the only burial mound! More than 250 skeletons were recovered in various states of preservation there. And one burial spot separate from the rest consisted of a young man & woman in their early 20’s resting on a platform of shell beads that was laid out in the shape of a falcon. The residents of Cahokia were buried in cemeteries around the perimeter of the grounds. So some conclude this was a special ritual burial site. We spent a commanding time of contemplation there.
Later as we were walking out of a forested area, there was a murmuration of Starlings undulating over ‘Fox Mound.’ Then we realized that the eclipse had just ended!
When hiking to a picnic bench, Winnie scared 2 wild animals out of the bush. Yes, the deer were coming back into sight, but these looked like fat wooly sheep!?!
And then all the rest of that day & the next we must have seen at least 8 different bird murmurations on our travels speaking in the mysterious language of the air & sky! Video of murmuration
I won’t go into all the details about our digestion time the rest of that day & the next, except to say we had some intense discussions, great meals, artistic sharings, & more cultural explorations around Springfield before heading home – The landscape completely transformed in the sunshine, hung with low holographic clouds that wanted in on the conversation which is always more priceless than gold!
~Betsy
And friends, we can remember that the effects of this solar eclipse series are still reverberating – this energy has repercussions that reach into every kingdom of Nature, penetrating into the Spiritual Worlds where our Beloved Dead & the Unborn- our Descendants dwell in their life between death & new birth – Working, as we must – to heal the Earth. We don’t have to be in the ‘eclipse path’ – We don’t have to ‘see it’ thru cardboard glasses or a device – to do the work of holding the light.
The Battle of the Soul continues…
Shine on dear Michaelic Souls…
~hag
~Lydia Celmer
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler MICHAELMAS 111 Soul Sunpower’s Awakening v28 I can, revived within, now feel my own wide breadth of being, my strength of sun-empowered soul whose radiance of thinking solves life’s riddles and lifts the wish-fulfilling wings left lame by hope.
The COTS verses can also be imagined in a 24 hour rhythm. The summer is the soul’s sleeptime in drowsiness of senses. This verse, the first mention of active human thought, can be a meditation every morning on awakening, in an inner light that dawned in the mirror verse.
AUTUMN EQUINOX Dawning Soul Light v25 I may, belonging to myself now, begin to shine a dawning inner light across the darkening of space and time. To sleep is nature’s urge; the depths of soul shall wake and bear the sun’s warm glow through winter storms and snow.
Dear Friends – If are to enliven our Festival Life, which can often feel like an unactualized commemoration, we must apply the New Mysteries of Spiritual Science to the Seasonal Round. The future is calling up in us the power to co-create a Michaelmas Festival that has significance for humanity in our present age. As the Autumn Harvest-Tide advances, & the trees begin to bare their skeletons; Natura transforms into the wise Winter Hag. Persephone, a maiden no more, becomes Queen of the Underworld.
The Easter Resurrection ever sprouting, seen in the innocent Youth & the fertile Mother, must be now be cultivated within.
As we take in & redeem the decay, we must also conceive of how the Soul of Earth contracts inwardly. The far-flung field, becomes the Masonic Workbench, the inner forge, en-couraging us to hone & shape the Cosmic Iron of the Stars on the altar of our hearts into our sword of Michaelic thinking. Consecrating the Foundation Stone at the center of the labyrinthine womb of The Mothers! It is within this Honeycomb Womb/Tomb that we must cultivate the New Sun, reborn at Winter Solstice.
As we do this Great Work thru our own personal inner development, we also cultivate outwardly our Communal Social Life – Investing in a community that can only become living thru tolerance, interest, mutual respect & unselfish Love.
Our heart-thinking living as a social reflection will unite us with the ‘ever present help of the Spiritual World’ waiting to meet us in the Reverse Ritual which we can apply in the co-creation of a Michaelmas-Tide, as the complement & continuation of the Easter-Tide.
Fostering unity in the 3-fold community.
Dear friends – During this Michaelmas Season, let us courageously unite, so that we can heal & redeem social organizations – consciously reweaving the web – freeing ourselves from the corporate spiders that seek to sting & enslave us.
Freedom thru discernment. Mutuality thru shared goals. Equity thru human rights. A marriage of Spirit & Matter. A New Civilization where Science, Art & Spirituality Unite – exemplified in our Festival Life.
An alchemical evolution in the retort of our Soul Forces of Thinking, Feeling & Willing. Windows into the cosmic course that reveal & resolve the Riddles of the Universe. Out of the union of Wisdom & Love we can act creatively, uniting our human willing with Divine Willing.
The harvest time does not let us recline – we must be active. ‘Relaxed with pep’ – reviewing the seasons behind us, giving thanks for the blessings received. Listening to what comes next…
As I mentioned in the last essay Michaelmas as Movable Feast, the 8 Sabbats on the Wheel of the Year correspond to the phases of the Moon – with the Autumnal Equinox relating to the Last Quarter phase of the lunar cycle. This is a time when we completly change direction. We experience a Reversal. We flip from equal light into the waning darkness. Exposing the 8th Sphere.
As a society we are in this disseminating phase – a real crisis phase. We know it’s time to move on to something new. It is time to re-evaluate everything!
We have now, at this time, an initiatory opportunity to Meet the Mysteries of the Unmanifest – which can lead us into true renewal.
And the New Moon Solar eclipse of 14 October 2023 is a cosmic sign from the spiritual world – a ‘Key Call’ for those who have ears that see, eyes that hear, & hearts that think…
~hag
The 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox –Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse
All are welcome to meet on the inner planes during any part of the duration of the Solar eclipse – which Spiritual Science tells us is like the releasing of a safety valve – allowing the unbridled astral urges of the adversarial forces living in humanity, which are normally held in check by the spiritual beings working in the rays of the Sun, to instead surge out to infect the cosmic spaces, including our beloved dead & the unborn. (More on this soon)
For those who would like to gather in person I will be facilitating a Michaelmas Speaking with the Stars retreat 13-15 October 2023 at Cahokia Mounds – a sacred Mississippian Indian site in Collinsville, Illinois, called by the ancients: Sun City. We will gather to co-create ‘a New Group-Soul United in Christ’ thru Art-Acts, & other experiencial activities to collectively build a cogititive imagination for healing, working with Sophia-Michael-Christ, embracing all worlds with Love & Light. We will be employing the ‘Woodhenge’ zodiac site, as well as Monks Mound, & the Mississippi River trail…etc…Space is limited contact Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
~Roland Ruocco
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler MICHAELMAS II Spirit Sunlight’s Dawn v27 To penetrate my depths of being arouses longing, ardently divining, that I, self-contemplating, find I am the gift the summer sun’s bequeathed that lives in autumn mood as warming seed, a spring of strength empowering my soul.
It is the first verse of the Soul Calendar’s second half of the year, its turning point. The soul’s attention now turns inward, longing to know herself. The summer’s gift can be compared to each night’s sleep when higher beings implant a moral purpose. The verse is like a morning prayer as the soul awakens with the inspired will for the spirit’s Christmas birth: the spirit-germ of the self is a reflection of the Michael being whose fiery will expressed itself last week.
MICHAELMAS Michaelic Firepower v26 Natura, in the being of my will I bear your soul of motherhood and in my will enkindled firepower my spirit impulses are tempered, steeled, that feeling of the selfhood formed from them bear I in me.
(I sent Hazel last week a synopsis of the Michaelmas conference i enjoyed in my English home town, and a little reflection of part of my biography. She put it into the comments of her ‘Forged in Star-Fire’ post.)
8 October 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The Draconid meteor shower is ramping up this evening to a peak tomorrow morning. The Draconids owe their name to the constellation Draco the Dragon, and are created when the Earth passes through the dust debris left by comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. The comet takes about 6.6 years to make a single revolution around the Sun.
1793 – Deathday of John Hancock, the first man to sign the historic document, was a Freemason.
1852 – Deathday of Franz Graffer – His memoirs Kleine Wiener Memoiren, are the source for the Comte de St. Germain‘s appearance in Vienna…
1871 – Slash-and-burn land management, months of drought, and the passage of a strong cold front cause the Peshtigo Fire, the Great Chicago Fire & the Great Michigan Fires to break out
1939 – World War II: Germany annexes western Poland.
1969 – The opening rally of the Days of Rage occurs, organized by the Weather Underground in Chicago. The Days of Rage demonstrations were a series of actions taken over a course of three days by a counterculture-era group ‘Students for a Democratic Society’. The group planned the October 8–11 event as a “National Action” built around John Jacobs’ slogan “bring the war home”. The resolution read, “The Elections Don’t Mean Shit—Vote Where the Power Is—Our Power Is In The Street”. It was adopted by the council, prompted by the effects of the 1968 Democratic National Convention protest activity in August.
1982 – Poland bans Solidarity & all other trade unions.
1990 – Second Intifada: Israeli police kill 170 Palestinians & wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock.
2001 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.
2005 – The 7.6 Mw Kashmir earthquake leaves 86,000–87,351 people dead, 69,000–75,266 injured,& 2.8 million homeless.
2014 – Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola, dies.
Save the Dates for Community Workings
October 14
Annular Solar Eclipse
October 21-22
Orionids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak
October 23
Venus at Greatest Western Elongation
October 28
Full Hunter’s Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse
All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Bon-fire
Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas
Dear friends – What would it be like to re-think the Michaelmas-Tide as a Moveable Feast like Easter?
When living into the Festival Life in the Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation, many occult realities are waiting to be unveiled, renewed & applied. One such open secret which we have been exploring here is the connection between Michaelmas & Easter.
The goal of the Michaelmas Festival is to be reborn at the time of death. And the maxim of Easter is that we must die to be reborn.
Michaelmas which has been called a Festival of the Future, that we are co-creating NOW, is celebrated on the fixed date of 29 September – the Feast Day of St. Michael & All The Heavenly Hosts.
But we also know that it is a Season – a Tide – that begins with the Perseid Meteor Showers – bringing in the Cosmic Iron needed to fortify our blood – the antidote to the luciferic forces of Summer’s expansion, at the end of August.
We are entering now the next phase: The Draconid Meteor Showers radiating from the Dragon’s Eyes – the stars Eltanin & Rastaban – in the constellation Draco.
Then in late October we encounter The Orionid Meteor Showers taking us into the All Souls Season.
~Umbra Perchiazzi
Recognizing this Michaelmas-Tide has brought many powerful Festival experiences.
“Life after death Life before birth Only by knowing both Do we know eternity” ~ Rudolf Steiner
We know that Easter-Tide: The Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost events are Moveable Feasts – determined by a cosmic alignment: The 1st Sunday after the 1st Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.
~Umbra Perchiazzi
What will it do for our experience to bring in the cosmic connection of the alignment of Sun, Moon & Earth to Michaelmas? To include a contemplation of the timing of the New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox..? Something long time RR contributor Steve Hale has suggested over the years.
Because of the meteoric activity, which brings a cosmic clearing on all levels, I had not felt a strong urge to reverse the Easter alignment & apply it to the Michaelmas Season.
But this year I noticed that the first New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox on Saturday 14 October 2023, will be a Solar Eclipse!
So this caught my attention, & is leading me to consider bringing a consciousness of the Movable Feast into this cosmic coincidence.
Although I do feel that the 1st Sunday after the Autumnal Equinox after the 1st New Moon which is Oct. 15 this year, feels too far in, & way too close to the All Souls Season to count as the Start of the Michaelmas – perhaps it can be seen as the herald of the end?
Just as it is interesting to parallel it with 15 August: The Feast of the Assumption of the BVM, as a start.
And which we can also connect to the creation of a New Vidar/Ramael Festival that we can conceive of around that August time – a heralding of the Michaelmas Fest.
So dear friends, I am proposing we take advantage of this calling to attend the Solar Eclipse on the 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox as Michaelic Warriors for Peace – Holding the powers of the Sun during the time of darkness.
All are invited to tune into our Project Thought-Seed (Egregore 10:10) which is all about co-creating an imagination of the Earth as a Sun.
We must become spiritual warriors, & endeavor to take up the practice of building up positive imaginations on the inner planes as a counterforce to the adversarial forces working in all worlds. This is a “key-call” to the Spiritual Powers aligned with love & light, to enlist their aid.
Our Good Will becomes a cosmic energy field for healing: “Seed ideas in the group mind of humanity”, of our highest intentions for the evolution of humanity – that the Earth may become a Sacred Planet – a Sun – & every Human Being a Star.
“What is sown in our highest thought will grow and bear seed.”
We can picture Mighty Spiritual Beings noticing our shining. Then we become a beacon which calls for a response. Powerful forces will reply -sending their protection & energy to us on Earth. Then we can work with them to collectively surround any disharmony, embracing with compassion all discord, bringing dis-ease into the light of healing wholeness…
Here is the Meditative Thought-Seed I love to work with:
For Thinking: “When I think light, my soul shines, When my soul shines, the Earth is a star, When the Earth is a star, I am, a true human being”. ~Herbert Hahn In Reverse: I am, a true human being The Earth is a Star My soul Shines I think Light
For Feeling: When I feel Love, my heart sings When my heart sings, the Earth resounds When the Earth resounds, I am, a true I AM In Reverse: I am, a True I Am The Earth Resounds My Heart Sings I Feel Love
For Willing: When I will life, my hands help When my hands help, the Earth heals When the Earth heals, I am, a free human being In Reverse: I Am, a Free Human Being The Earth Heals My Hands Help I Will Life
~hag
We can also employ this powerful Verse for the Michaelic Age:
We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror Of what approaches us from the future.
We must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations About the future.
We must look forward with absolute equanimity To whatever may come.
And we must think only that whatever comes Is given to us by a cosmic guidance full of wisdom.
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely, To live without any security in material existence And to live with pure trust in the ever-present help of the spiritual world.
Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
For this let us seek awakening To the reality of the spirit From within ourselves, Every morning and every evening.
Together, Dear friends we can co-create a New Michaelmas-Tide – a circle of protection & light, in the Christic center of the Universe, which has its eternal point within our heart – Ever reflecting out to the periphery of eternal becoming.
The 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox –Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse
For those who would like to gather in person I will be facilitating a Michaelmas Speaking with the Stars retreat 13-15 October 2023 at Cahokia Mounds – a sacred Mississippian Indian site in Collinsville, Illinois, called by the ancients: Sun City. We will gather to co-create ‘a New Group-Soul United in Christ’ thru Art-Acts, & other activities to consciously rise in our thinking, collectively building a cogitative imagination of Sophia-Michael-Christ, embracing all worlds with love & light. We will be working in the ‘Woodhenge’ zodiac site, as well as Monks Mound, & the Mississippi River trail. Space is limited contact Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
~hag
“For in the past, festivals used to bind human beings strongly together. Just think, for instance, of all that has been done and said and thought in connection with festivals for the whole of civilisation.
In our epoch, Western humanity’s development has again reached a point where we are confronted with the necessity of bringing forth new forms of the venerable, sacred ideals of religion, art and science.
This is what can enter physical life through the establishment of festivals directly out of the spirit – to do something that connects the earth with the heavens, that reconnects physical with spiritual conditions.
If to-day one could see the working of the whole universe when Autumn approaches, if one could decipher the whole face of the universe, and acquire creative force out of it, then the establishment of such a festival would reveal, not only the will of human beings, but also the will of Gods and Spirits. Then the Spirit would again be among humankind!” ~Rudolf Steiner – Michaelmas VII: The Creation of A Michael Festival Out Of The Spirit
6 October 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna in her Last Quarter Phase
Like the Solar Wheel of the year – There are 8 Lunar Phases in the 29.53 day cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter &Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous & Waning Crescent.
Interesting to observe & ponder:
A New Moon in Gemini appears highest at the Summer Solstice & in Sagittarius it is lowest at the Winter Solstice.
A First-Quarter Moon appears highest at the Spring Equinox & lowest at the Autumn Equinox.
The Full Cold Moon appears highest at the Winter Solstice & the Strawberry-Honey Moon is lowest at the Summer Solstice.
A Last-Quarter Moon appears highest at the Autumn Equinox (Michaelmas-Tide) & lowest at the Spring Equinox (Easter-Tide)
Save the Dates for Community Workings
October 14
Annular Solar Eclipse
October 21-22
Orionids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak
October 23
Venus at Greatest Western Elongation
October 28
Full Hunter’s Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse
All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire
Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas
6 – 8 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile
Please Bring Food & Drink to share, & a jar for the prep
Greetings friends – There is so much to contemplate during this Michaelmas Season. Virtue for SEPT 21 – OCT 20 – Contentment becomes Equanimity. OPPOSITE: Dissatisfaction
At this time, the flowers wither, fruit & nuts fall from the trees & decompose, leaving their empty husks on the ground; grains are sorted or stored before being sown, to ensure a new cycle of growth. This process of decomposition & sorting also concerns the human being.
Just as the fruit is separated from the tree & the seed from the fruit, so is the soul separated from the body, in sleep, in meditation, in death…The body is the envelope -the wrapping – & the soul is the seed that is planted in the soil of the spiritual world.
The human being is a fruit…& when we are ripe, we must not fall to the ground like the fruits & seeds of the earth, we must journey with consciousness into the spiritual world.
Autumn is the season for that separation of which Hermes Trismegistus speaks: ‘You shall separate the subtle from the gross, gently and with great skill.’
To separate the subtle from the gross is to separate the spiritual from the material, & the whole of nature undergoes this process of alchemy at Autumn-Tide, in preparation for the coming of new light & life. And yet most people have no idea what to cut out or re-cycle: they swallow everything whole, & are rarely content.
And so this is what we have to learn from Michael: Discernment! Which is also the counter measure to cast out Ahriman – We must discern what to choose, & how to separate the pure from the impure, the useful from the useless, the harmful from the beneficial.
The absence of judgment in this respect is the cause of many misfortunes. Michaelmas is resplendently rich in meaning for those who understand that it can bring them the courage to cultivate true freedom & liberation.
So put the sword of Michael to use, to bless & bestow, as well as to cut away what does not serve – To separate the wheat from the chaff -To sharpen the mind & protect the heart.
Stand as a peaceful warrior for change
~hag
5 October 1872 – the Birthday of Friedrich Rittelmeyer, a Protestant German minister, & theologian; friend of Rudolf Steiner; co-founder & driving force of The Christian Community.
Growing up in Frankish Schweinfurt – his father was a Lutheran minister – it was already clear to him as a child that he wanted to go into a religious profession. From 1890 Rittelmeyer studied philosophy & Protestant theology. His teacher Oswald Külpe, encouraged him to write his dissertation on Friedrich Nietzsche.
He also went on a study trip to meet theologians & socially-engaged ministers of the time, as well as members of the Moravian Church. From 1895 to 1902 he was at the Stadtvikar in Würzburg. In 1903 he took up the preachership of Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Nuremberg. There he married Julie Kerler on 5 April 1904. Rittelmeyer worked & closely collaborated with Christian Geyer, the head preacher of the Sebalduskirche, together they produced two joint volumes of sermons. Around 1910 they both led discussions with the Bavarian church council on a liberal interpretation of the Bible.
Also inn 1910 the Nuremberg school teacher Michael Bauer enabled Rittelmeyer to have his first encounter with Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Rittelmeyer described the encounter & discussed Steiner’s personality & work in his book ‘Rudolf Steiner Enters my Life’.
Rudolf Steiner Comes Into My Life by Friedrich Rittelmeyer
“It was on August 28th, 1911, the anniversary of Goethe’s birthday, that I saw Rudolf Steiner for the first time. I had to go on a short journey and I managed to attend the Theosophical Summer Conference at Munich on the Sunday. For six months, practically all my spare time had been devoted to reading Dr. Steiner’s works, but I still had no thought as yet of joining the Society. In spite of this, I was allowed to attend all the meetings without any kind of obligation. When I went into the room I was surprised at the atmosphere I found there. The audience, for the most part, gave one an impression of strangeness. A certain type of passive, sensation-mongering mentality troubled me. Especially when I saw men with long hair, my impulse was to run away. Later on, all these things changed decidedly for the better, when the “theosophical” shells were laid aside and Rudolf Steiner began to attract more and more men of a scientific turn of mind. He certainly suffered a great deal in those earlier years, but out of respect for personal freedom he did not on principle enter into external trivialities of this kind and tried gradually to educate the people from within.
What pleased me was the evidence of a mood of festive devotion. It was not difficult to see that this was a festival of man. These people were filled with joy that they were in the presence of one whom they felt to be quite out of the common, a leader worthy of all respect, and who yet went about among them as a man among other men. Although I felt an outsider, and was repelled by many things I saw, I was interested to find how genuinely and sincerely a man was being regarded as an “event” in humanity. Everything breathed in honour of manhood, for these people felt themselves in the presence of a great figure of the human race. Something of this kind must have been experienced before one can realise the silent effect which a single individual can have upon those around him. This was particularly in evidence during the dramatic performances. Those who took part were not presenting their art with an eye to Press and public, but as if they felt a higher being looking through them, and they were therefore striving without personal vanity to offer their sacrifices in the revealed presence of a Divine world. Quite a new conception of art as worship arose within me...
Here, in very truth, was a kingly mind in the realms of knowledge, far-seeing and mighty in its freedom. He let a science of Nature come to flower around us, a wisdom far more stimulating than the dead knowledge of the day and a science in which religion could breathe anew...
In everything I said and asked I found myself in the presence of an unmistakable expert. There was nothing I could say that he did not seem already to know. Whereas in other conversations I had had with outstanding men I always refrained from speaking about certain experiences because one was accustomed to find no understanding, here I could touch upon whatever intimate and delicate subjects I liked and was always answered by genuine human kindliness and a superior power that could not but inspire every confidence...
If only people could have seen how he spoke of these matters in personal conversation! His great dark eyes became even more alert. With a consciousness of responsibility than which nothing greater or purer could be imagined, he spoke every word with hesitation. It was as if, all unseen, he had passed into a temple where he was acting before the eyes of higher powers. One could have wished that all the sensitive minds of humanity had been present to witness such a spectacle! If the teaching of reincarnation were to be renewed in a Christian sense it could not have been entrusted to a more scrupulous mind...
Only a warped nature could fail to perceive that here one was standing in the very light of truth. The man before us was telling of a world in which he himself was living. The many hundreds of sermons I had heard about Christ came up in the background of my mind. They faded into shadows. “We speak of that which we do know and testify of that which we have seen.” — A new proclamation of Christ was there. A new Christ-era was dawning — as yet in the first faint rays of the promised morning. The lecture itself spoke of this — spoke without the least trace of selfish longing for what has yet to come, proclaiming simply what is and would like to bestow itself upon us. Anyone who witnessed this could doubt no longer but that a fully authorized servant of Christ was standing before him...
There was also far too much easy chattering about anthroposophical truths and a great deal of blind following of the leader of Anthroposophy. Such is the tragedy that is bound up with greatness, a tragedy that will always be there when a great man appears. But Rudolf Steiner never failed to let it be known that the men he liked best were those who stood before him in freedom and self-assurance. Even wilfulness did not altogether displease him, although he could not regard it as a quality likely to promote the cause of Anthroposophy. The way in which he combined the pressing need of the cause with respect for personal freedom always called forth my unqualified admiration. If it were a matter of choosing, he invariably put the freedom of a man before the needs of the cause. For he regarded the future temple of mankind as lost if it were built upon mediæval foundations...”
In 1916 Rittelmeyer was sent to the Neue Kirche in Berlin, working as preacher there. He opposed the First World War, & with 4 other Berlin theologians signed a proclamation of peace & understanding on the occasion of Reformation Day (October 1917).
In September 1922 he established the “Movement for Religious Revival” (Christengemeinschaft) Rittelmeyer acted as its first “Erzoberlenker” or Head Priest, & from its base in Stuttgart was the leading envoy right up to his death. To do this great deed he sacrificed his eminent position within the Lutheran Chruch, in order to lead The Christian Community, an international movement for religious renewal founded with the co-operation of Rudolf Steiner.
1921 – French journalist Jules Sauerwein, Interviewed Rudolf Steiner about the cause of WW1. ‘Of all the kings, monarchs, presidents, ministers, scholars, artists, writers and prominent figures in business whom I have come to know in the course of the decades of my profession, none has made such a deep impression on me as the German philosopher Rudolf Steiner.’
ESSAYS ON THE THREEFOLD DIVISION OF THE SOCIAL ORGANISM, GA 24
“You know that if your opponents are to be believed, the Chief of General Staff is said to have lost his head first and then the Battle of the Marne because of you.”
That is the question that I asked the famous spiritual researcher and sociologist Rudolf Steiner, born German-Austrian. I have had sincere admiration and friendly feelings for him for more than fifteen years. It gave me great satisfaction at the time to translate several of his theosophical works into French. Whenever my travels permit, I do not fail to visit Dr. when passing through Basel. Steiner in Dornach to pay a short visit.
This time I met him again at the strange and enormous building, which was given the name Goetheanum by his students in honor of Goethe as a forerunner of spiritual science. I have already written in “Matin” about the man as well as about the building and its wonderful location, on the last foothills of the Jura crowned by castle ruins.
Rudolf Steiner had just returned from Germany after giving lectures on his teachings to thousands of enthusiastic listeners in Stuttgart and Berlin. On the same day in Dornach he received a group of 120 theologians with whom he discussed theological and religious questions. A number of these theologians, on the basis of Dr. Steiner’s teachings to tackle a redesign of religious life.
Dr. Steiner was currently working on a huge group in wood sculpture depicting Christ and the underlying seductive powers, Lucifer and Ahriman. This is one of the most impressive creations I have ever seen; it will form the central end of the smaller domed room in the Goetheanum. As I watched the listeners climb the hill in small groups to gather for the lecture, Dr. Steiner from the attacks of his opponents. Clericals and pan-Germans and fanatical followers of various religious denominations fight against him with every weapon and at every opportunity.
The fear of the truth
When I asked him directly the question about General von Moltke, he directed his piercing eyes at me, which looked at me from a face furrowed by forty years of intense intellectual struggle.
«What you tell me doesn’t surprise me. No means will be shied away from to expel me from Germany and possibly also from Switzerland. These attacks come from a variety of backgrounds. But insofar as they extend to my relationships with Moltke, they have a very specific goal. They want to prevent the publication of some notes that Moltke made for his family before his death and which I should arrange for publication in bookstores with the consent of Mrs. von Moltke.
These memoirs should have been published in 1919. Immediately before its publication, a person in charge of the Prussian diplomatic representation in Stuttgart visited me to tell me that this publication was impossible and that they would not want it in Berlin. Later a general who had been in positions with General von Moltke and Wilhelm II came to me and gave me the same ideas. I protested against this and wanted to ignore it. I thought of turning to Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau, who was then in Versailles; but couldn’t achieve anything. My efforts were all the more unsuccessful because at the same time Ms. von Moltke was approached with ideas that she could not escape.
Why these fears? These memoirs are by no means an indictment of the imperial government. But what they show, perhaps worse, is that the imperial government was in a state of complete confusion and under an incomprehensibly careless and ignorant leadership. One can apply the sentence that I wrote down in my foreword to the responsible personalities: <It was not what they did that contributed to the calamity, but the entire nature of their personalities.>
I can add that it was due to the peculiar circumstances that ultimately the weight of the decisive resolutions fell on a single man, the Chief of General Staff, who saw himself forced to do his military duty because politics was at a standstill had arrived. I never spoke to him about political or military questions before Moltke resigned. It was only later, when he was seriously ill, that he naturally spoke openly to me about all these matters, and since this will interest you, I will tell you what he told me himself and what can also be seen from his unpublished memoirs.
At the end of June 1914, Moltke, who had been chief of staff since 1905, went to Karlsbad for health reasons. Until his death he knew nothing about a Potsdam meeting on July 5th or 6th. He only returned to Berlin in good health after the ultimatum to Serbia. Since his return, he said, he had been firmly convinced that Russia was going to attack. He clearly foresaw the tragic development that things were bound to take, that is, he believed in the participation of France and England in the world conflict. He wrote a memorandum for the emperor that pointed out the need for measures to be taken. The German General Staff’s plan had essentially been fixed for a long time. It was set up by Moltke’s predecessor, von Schlieffen. You know its basics: Large masses were to be thrown against France in order to achieve a rapid decision in the West at any cost. A weak defensive army was planned against Russia, which was to be replenished later following the decision in the western theater of war.
Beguiled people
Von Moltke had changed his predecessor’s plan in one important point. While Schlieffen had planned to march through Belgium and Holland at the same time, Moltke had renounced Holland in order to give Germany breathing space in the event of a blockade.
When Moltke came to the castle on Friday, July 31st, he found people completely confused. As he said, he had the impression that he found himself in the position of having to make a decision all on his own. On that day, the Kaiser did not yet sign the mobilization order, an order which in Germany was tantamount to a declaration of war, because as soon as this order was given, everything, including the first operation at certain hours, took place with an inexorable automatism. For that day, Wilhelm II contented himself with proclaiming the impending danger of war. The following day, on Saturday, August 1st, at four o’clock in the afternoon, he summoned Moltke again, and over the next six hours the following drama unfolded.
Moltke meets the Kaiser in the presence of Bethmann Hollweg, whose knees were literally shaking, the War Minister Falkenhayn, General von Plessen, Lyncker and a few others. The Kaiser strongly objected to the Chief of Staff’s intentions. He says he received the best news from England. Not only would England remain neutral – as George V informed him – but she would even prevent France from taking part in the war. Under these conditions it would be logical to throw the entire army against Russia. No, Moltke replied, the plan must be carried out in the East and the West as it was determined if we do not want to bring about the greatest disaster.
The technical reasons
The objections don’t affect Moltke; he refuses to change anything. He argues that the mobilization order must be followed without any delay. He does not believe in the English telegrams, and with the mobilization order in hand that William II has just signed, he is dismissed, leaving the others in a state of complete confusion. So it came about that the decision to break out of war had to be made for purely military reasons. On the way from the castle to the general staff, his car is overtaken by an imperial automobile. Moltke is recalled on behalf of the emperor. The emperor is more excited than ever. He shows his chief of staff a telegram from England. He believes he can see with absolute certainty from this telegram that that the conflict would be confined to the East and that England and France would remain neutral. <There must, he concludes, <immediately be given an order to the army not to act in the West.> Moltke’s answer is that an army cannot be subjected to the alternative of orders and counter-orders. Then, while Moltke stood by, the Kaiser turned to the wing adjutant on duty and ordered him to immediately convey the order to the command of the 16th Division in Trier that they should not march into Luxembourg. Moltke goes home. Shocked because he expects the greatest disaster to come from such measures, he sits down at his table. He explains that he cannot take any measures for the army in accordance with the Emperor’s telephone order. This order is brought to you by an adjutant for your signature. He refuses to sign and postpones the order. He remained in a state of dull exhaustion until 11 o’clock in the evening, even though he had returned from Carlsbad in good health. The bell will ring at 11 a.m. The emperor asks about him again. He immediately goes to the castle. Wilhelm II, who had already retired, throws on a dressing gown and says: Everything has changed. Calamity is approaching. The King of England has just declared in a new telegram that he has been misunderstood and that he assumes no obligation on either his behalf or that of France. He concludes by saying: Now you can do whatever you want. And now the war begins. despite the fact that he had returned from Carlsbad completely healthy. The bell will ring at 11 a.m. The emperor asks about him again. He immediately goes to the castle. Wilhelm II, who had already retired, throws on a dressing gown and says: Everything has changed. Calamity is approaching. The King of England has just declared in a new telegram that he has been misunderstood and that he assumes no obligation on either his behalf or that of France. He concludes by saying: Now you can do whatever you want. And now the war begins. despite the fact that he had returned from Carlsbad completely healthy. The bell will ring at 11 a.m. The emperor asks about him again. He immediately goes to the castle. Wilhelm II, who had already retired, throws on a dressing gown and says: Everything has changed. Calamity is approaching. The King of England has just declared in a new telegram that he has been misunderstood and that he assumes no obligation on either his behalf or that of France. He concludes by saying: Now you can do whatever you want. And now the war begins. Everything has changed. Calamity is approaching. The King of England has just declared in a new telegram that he has been misunderstood and that he assumes no obligation on either his behalf or that of France. He concludes by saying: Now you can do whatever you want. And now the war begins. Everything has changed. Calamity is approaching. The King of England has just declared in a new telegram that he has been misunderstood and that he assumes no obligation on either his behalf or that of France. He concludes by saying: Now you can do whatever you want. And now the war begins.
Gloomy omens
In the month of August I saw General von Moltke once, on August 27th in Koblenz. Our conversation revolved around purely human matters. The German army was still in full victory. There was also no reason to talk about what wasn’t there yet. The Battle of the Marne unfolded later. I hadn’t seen Moltke again until then. It took place under conditions which must have profoundly shaken von Moltke’s expectations. During the test maneuvers he had several times carried out a cautious advance on the right wing, which could have been considered for a march on Paris. Kluck, who had overall command of the right wing, advanced too quickly three times. Every time Moltke said to him, If you advance just as quickly at the crucial moment, we will lose the war in an emergency. When Kluck’s army was threatened with being surrounded, Moltke found himself gripped by a terrible premonition. The thought occurred to him: the war could be lost for Germany. That seems to me to be part of the <psychology> of the course of the war. When von Moltke returned to headquarters on September 13th, he gave the impression of a deeply shaken man. Those around the emperor thought he was sick. From that moment on, Falkenhayn was in fact in command, without having the official title. Later, when Moltke had to stay in bed, Wilhelm II visited him. Am I still in charge of the operations? he asked the emperor. “I actually believe that you still are,” Wilhelm II replied.
But now a new example of the opinion that people had of Wilhelm II in his own environment. One day, when von Moltke described to me the feelings of deep suffering he felt returning via Belgium after the capture of Antwerp, I asked him for the first time about the invasion of Belgium. How come, I asked. that a war minister could claim in the Reichstag that the plan to invade Belgium did not exist. This minister, replied Moltke, did not know my plan, but the Chancellor was up to date. And the emperor? Never, said Moltke: he was too talkative and indiscreet. He would have told the whole world! » ~Jules Sauerwein.
The lecture cycle now being published in its entirety for the first time in English has always been known as the “French Course” for an interesting reason — although it is directed to anthroposophists everywhere as much as any other of Rudolf Steiner’s major cycles. The course was given in September, 1922 exclusively to members of the Society, and it was held in the old Goetheanum. French members were specially invited, and a considerable number of them were present. A French translation was provided by Jules Sauerwein, a distinguished bilingual French member, editor of Le Matin, the leading Parisian newspaper of the time, whose sister Alice was to become in the following year the first General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in France. Determined to spare no effort to make the cycle, difficult and detailed though it was, comprehensible to the French members present, Rudolf Steiner every night prepared an outline of what he was to say, and gave it to Jules Sauerwein the following morning, so that he could study it and decide how best he could translate it into French. During the lectures Steiner paused three or four times to allow him to translate the gist of what he had said, a procedure he followed also with George Adams Kauffman during these years when the audience was composed of English-speaking members…
The outline prepared by Rudolf Steiner for Jules Sauerwein has survived, and it is extremely interesting to compare it with the course. Steiner explained on several occasions that when he lectured he spoke always directly out of his supersensible perception of the spiritual worlds and could never speak out of what he remembered or had given previously. It will be evident that he did not deviate from his rule even when he had given his translator an outline of what the night before he had decided he would say. Especially the last highly esoteric lectures of the course when he speaks of the influence of the Christ in earth evolution go so much farther than the outline that Sauerwein must have felt he had been given little enough to help him through his exceptionally difficult task.” ~ Stewart C. Easton
5 October 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The last-quarter Moon awaits night owls, as it hangs over late-rising Gemini
610 – Coronation of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, responsible for introducing Greek as the Eastern Empire’s official language. The year Heraclius came to power, the empire was threatened on multiple frontiers. Heraclius drove the Persians out of Asia Minor and pushed deep into their territory, defeating them decisively in 627 at the Battle of Nineveh. Then peaceful relations were restored to the two deeply strained empires.
Heraclius soon experienced a new event, the Muslim conquests. Within a short period of time, the Arabs conquered Mesopotamia, Armenia & Egypt.
Heraclius entered diplomatic relations with the Croats & Serbs in the Balkans. He tried to repair the schism in the Christian church by promoting a compromise doctrine called Monothelitism. Eventually, however, this project of unity was rejected by all sides of the dispute.
Heraclius was long remembered in the Western church for his reputed feat in recovering the True Cross, which had been captured by the Persians.
After a tour of the Empire Heraclius returned the cross on March 21, 630. For Christians of the Western Medieval Europe, Heraclius was the “first crusader”. The iconography of the emperor appeared in the sanctuary at Mont Saint-Michel. The story was included in the Golden Legend, the famous 13th century compendium of hagiography, and he is sometimes shown in art showing scenes of Heraclius & Constantine I’s mother Saint Helena, traditionally responsible for the excavation of the cross.
The scene usually shown is Heraclius carrying the cross; according to the Golden Legend he insisted on doing this as he entered Jerusalem, against the advice of the Patriarch. At first, when he was on horseback (shown above), the burden was too heavy, but after he dismounted & removed his crown it became miraculously light, & the barred city gate opened of its own accord
~Fra Filippo Lippi
6th Century – Feast day of Saint Placidus & Saint Maurus, disciples of Saint Benedict. Legend has it that Saint Maurus was sent a dream – an order from Saint Benedict’s to rescue Placidus from drowning. Maurus ran across the surface of the lake below the monastery, & drew Placidus safely to shore.
1789 – French Revolution: Women of Paris march to Versailles to confront Louis XVI of France about his refusal to promulgate the decrees on the abolition of feudalism, demand bread, & have the King & his court moved to Paris.
1793 – French Revolution: Christianity is disestablished in France
1864 – The Indian city of Calcutta is almost totally destroyed by a cyclone; 60,000 die
1948 – The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake kills 110,000, equivalent to almost 10% of the USSR’s Turkmen population. Due to censorship by the national (Soviet Turkmen) government, the event was not widely reported in the USSR’s media. Historians tend to agree that the ban on reporting the extent of the casualties & damage did not allow the central Soviet government to allocate enough financial resources to adequately respond
1966 – Near Detroit, Michigan, there is a partial core meltdown at the Enrico Fermi demonstration nuclear breeder reactor
1970 – The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is founded
1982 – Chicago Tylenol murders: Johnson & Johnson initiates a nationwide product recall in the United States for all products in its Tylenol brand after several bottles in Chicago are found to have been laced with cyanide, resulting in seven deaths
1986 – Israeli secret nuclear weapons are revealed. The British newspaper The Sunday Times runs Mordechai Vanunu’s story on its front page under the headline: “Revealed — the secrets of Israel’s nuclear arsenal”
All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire
Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas
6 – 8 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile
Please Bring Food & Drink to share, & a jar for the prep
RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
Save the Dates for Community Workings TBA:
October 14
Annular Solar Eclipse
October 21-22
Orionids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak
October 23
Venus at Greatest Western Elongation
October 28
Full Hunter’s Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse
The 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox –Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse
Global Event: Total Solar Eclipse Local Type: Total Solar Eclipse in Fort Worth, Texas Begins: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 12:22 pm Maximum: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 1:41 pm 1.005 Magnitude Ends: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 3:01 pm Duration: 2 hours, 39 minutes Totality: 2 minutes, 34 seconds
The Michaelmas Daisies & Arrowleaf Aster are abundant in the fields at Zinniker Farm now. The Sedges & native grasses plumb with radiant spikes. The plantain like little ladders full & tall. So many tiny wild-flowers I couldn’t name in clusters under foot. And O those patches of stinging nettle, yep they were ready & willing to give us a healthy tingle in our limbs.
But before we ventured over to the sacred spots where the ground was already prepped by Farmer Mark for the Autumn interment, we sat together as a community on the hay bundles & filled the cow horns. Mark & Petra’s new pup Mia bounding between us with enthusiasm.
Then comes my favorite prep making activity – stuffing the long translucent cow intestines with Chamomile Flowers. A little girl there kept saying eww, but love everything about it.
It was unsually hot, in the 80’s with a clear blue sky. The Zinniker’s said it was also a very dry season.
There in the shade of the barn, we worked with the Deer Stag Bladders filling them with Yarrow Flowers.
Walking past the free ranging chickens & the pig pen, we paraded down to the magic spot where we always bury the horns in the Autumn. They transform there all winter long in a curation process that creates a deep rich, odorless humus that is full of life forces.
Next we brought the Chamomile sausages to the spot that gets the Winter Sun, but also allows snow drifts to build up, providing a steady melt come Spring.
Next the yarrow filled bladders were set to rest in their designated hole by a big circle of stinging nettles.
I asked Petra to speak about the qualities of the Stag & Yarrow, so we got a great overview which helped us add our human thoughts to these cosmic & earthly substances. The Antlers of a Deer Stag are receptors from the Animal Kingdom taking in the properties of the cosmos – the fixed & wandering stars – which Spiritual Science calls the astral world. Petra mentioned a special connection with the outer planets, especially Saturn. I got that impression when I handled the flowers.
Later I remembered that the ancients called yarrow ‘the eyebrows of Venus.’ And I wondered at that. But then I thought about how the flower, like the antlers, functions as a little chalice – a vessel for receiving the beneficence of the cosmos thru grace of the Plant Kingdom, connected with the etheric realm.
This enables the yarrow to concentrate trace minerals into the soil. It is also one of the best biodynamic preparations for detoxifying the earth.
As a regulator, yarrow pulls in fine dilutions of invigorating light substances from the celestial spheres, using Potassium & Sulphur to bring cleansing light forces into the soil. It carries organic materials like carbon & nitrogen into the organism of the farm, thru the soil, which forms the crops, which feeds the cows, who feed us.
Dr. Rudolf Steiner called yarrow “a miracle of creation…as if some plant-designer had used an ideal model in bringing sulfur into relationship with the other plant substances’ especially potassium”.
Steiner mentions another benefit: that by using the yarrow preparation in the compost, animals & humans alike will become more sensitive to their surroundings, & ‘any weakness of the astral body – the spirit’s ability to feel & carry forces, will be brought into balance.’
Spiritual Science is fascinating. It makes perfect practical sense. It works even if we don’t understand it all.
AND, these practices are enhanced when WE make the connections, adding our good thoughts & healing intentions. The more we realize the practical aspects of Biodynamic Agriculture the more we can awaken & apply our human responsibility of bringing culture to Agriculture.
We came back to what I like to call the social arena of the farm, there in the shadow of the barn, near Petra’s huge garden, & what used to be the milk house, where folks come now to get their eggs & meat & honey, & soap.
We took the prepared silica out of the old horns. Petra showed us the big flecks of gold in the powdery white substance. Horn Silica can be experienced as a sort of spray of sunlight, promoting vigor, while also reining in excessive growth. It adds a luminous crystalline quality to the plant life & reduces susceptibility to diseases.
Livestock benefit by feeding on plants that have received Horn Silica. The animals themselves become healthier, & the quantity / quality of meat & milk are improved.
Next we did a 20 minute Barrel Compost stir. I call it the Kitchen-Sink Prep. This is potent stuff. One of the most versatile carriers for all the biodynamic preparations.
As we took turns stirring, I brought out a few Michaelmas songs. And so we added our voices to the making & unmaking of the vortex in the stir.
Petra poured the Black Gold into buckets & we fanned out to spray the field, dipping & flinging our brooms in every direction making our way toward where the herd was grazing.
This year’s herd seemed more skittish than on other years. They weren’t as curious or attracted to our singing, but they loved the spray, as it certainly smelled like them.
As the Sun was turning the sky orangey pink, we gathered for a lovely potluck dinner. Chuck Ginsberg, president of the Zinniker Farm Stewardship Association (ZFSA) spoke about: Working to create an economically sustainable community support system so that Zinniker, the oldest Biodynamic Farm in America can thrive into the future. Mark and Petra Zinniker are doing their part keeping the soil rich so that the land can be fruitful for many more generations to come. But in the near future they will need to step down from running the day to day duties on Zinniker farm after 80 years and 3 generations.
And it is up to us to ensure that they and the next farm family can be supported. In order for this to happen our relationship to the farm needs to be different.
For many years, Hazel and I “purchased” food from the Zinnikers without thinking about ‘true price’ – what it actually costs to bring the farm to our table.
The truth is the Farmers are working 7 days a week, caring for the land, for the chickens, cows and pigs, the equipment etc…There are no days off, no vacations.
When you come to the farm you see the herd roaming the pasture, the chickens free-ranging naturally, the pigs rolling around in the mud, the bee boxes flourishing on the hill. You can sense the love and care given to the soil, bestowing vitality to the earth. It is alive with healthy microbial life which nourish in the pastures, inthe animals and in us!
In the factory farm model food prices are artificially low because they produce poor quality industrial food. When we connect the dots we realize that our health as a country is also very poor…Think of the pandemic, and the epidemics of Type II Diabetes, Obesity, High Blood Pressure, Cancer. These health crisis’ are related to the chemicals and poisons used to produce low quality, big volume, highly processed food at under-valued prices.
Or maybe you shop at the high priced places like Whole Foods which is owned by Amazon! Is that really where you want to give your money?
I don’t know about you but I want to eat food that nourishes my body and soul. So
What has to change?
We must recognize that healthy sustainable farming practices cultivates healthier food, and that takes more financial support. But we can’t look at it like, Ok eggs are 6 dollars and that’s that. We have to get rid of the old paradigm that we are purchasing food – that the farm is a commodity – and replace it with a new mind set.
We must value our farmers, who are priceless stewards of the land by supporting them beyond price.
As individuals we can look at our own family budgets & say yes, I can afford to contribute such & such an amount beyond price.
And then as a community, with each of us contributing what we can we all grow stronger.
On August 16, 2023 we took a formal step to create a new way. We incorporated Zinniker Farm Stewardship Association.
Supporting ZFSA can take shape in many ways.
Perhaps your financial resources are limited but you feel inspired. How do you want to help?
Perhaps your financial resources are bountiful, and you feel inspired to help others too?
Perhaps you are longing for community connection. What does that look like to you?
Do you have kids and want them to know where their food comes from?
Do you feel refreshed spending an afternoon in the country?
Maybe you want to contribute monthly like Hazel and I do on Zelle. Even giving what you would spend for a cup of good coffee can help.
You can contribute even if you don’t live near by:
Zelle: zinnikerfarm@gmail.com
Some folks use the Patreon page (although this company does take a fee)
Are you looking to change the world?
I’m ready! Are you?
Contact Chuck Ginsbergwith any Questions Chuck@ChuckGinsberg.com
Then after a stimulating conversation we circled round the bonfire, for our Michaelmas Festival: Food for Thought – Working from a 3-fold perspective.
In the Economic Realm we contemplated the Ideal of Mutuality, the spiritual Bounty found in sister/brotherhood. We tossed a ball around each taking a turn to look with gratitude & thankfulness at the spiritual gifts given to us by others that we are harvesting so far this year.
We could pair the ideal of Equity, from the Rights Realm, with the reality that in life we have to have boundries, sometimes we have to say Farewell to what no longer serves. We have to recognize what is over. Say good-bye & thank you. Seeing the equality & beauty of adding to the compost. We moved around the circle tossing herbs into the fire as a representative offering. I brought dried oregano, mint & sage from our garden, & Hyssop from Angelic Organics Farm for folks to choose from.
And looking to the Cultural Realm where science, art, spirituality & education brings the ideal of unselfish Freedom, we cultivate the seeds of the future. What do we want to Preserve? For this, folks took some of the dried herbs home, thinking about how their various properties enhance us.
We ended with a little community Speech work:
Forge me with fire, a sword for my smiting Fright to my foes and flames for my fighting Shape me a shield forceful and fierce Stalwart and shapely to fend against fears Strike me a spear of speed as a shaft Fearless to fly as a shot to the start Staunch be my front against fury assailed Strong be my soul where the feeble have failed.
Driving back to the city listening to music by Ultra-Violet Archer. We had the bright waning Harvest Moon shining on our faces, leading the way home – completing one of the many arcs that connect us all on this Good Earth.
Thank you Petra & Mark Zinniker! What a Blessing to be part of this Beloved Community.
Happy Michaelmas!
~hag
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler MICHAELMAS Michaelic Firepower v26 Natura, in the being of my will I bear your soul of motherhood and in my will enkindled firepower my spirit impulses are tempered, steeled, that feeling of the selfhood formed from them bear I in me.
It is the last verse of the Baritone’s imaginative insight to incarnate the spirit’s summer dreamtime gift. Next week the Soprano will have the longing to find a new soul seed that will inspire her to birth the Spirit Child at Christmas. (The Soul Calendar’s voices – Tenor, Baritone, Soprano & Alto – for the 4 quarters of the year were given by Karl Konig.)
MICHAELMAS II The Sun Of The Soul v27 To permeate my depths of being arouses longing, ardently divining, that I, self-contemplating, find I am the gift of summer sunlight in a seed that germinating warms my autumn mood with motivating power for my soul.
2 October 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The bright waning gibbous moon glows near Jupiter. Also nearby is the Pleiades star cluster, one of the cosmic gems in Taurus the Bull. The moon will rise about an hour after sunset, so this eye-catching trio will be visible traveling across the sky together until dawn.
1869 – Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, Indian activist & philosopher –referred to in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national festival celebrated in India to mark the occasion of the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the “Father of the Nation”. It is one of the three national holidays of the country
1803 – Deathday of Samuel Adams, American philosopher & politician
1928 – The Opus Dei, is founded by Josemaría Escrivá.
1947 – Deathday of P. D. Ouspensky, a Russian mathematician & esotericist known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff, whom he met in Moscow in 1915. He shared the (Gurdjieff) “system” for 25 years in England & the United States, having separated from Gurdjieff in 1924 personally, for reasons he explains in the last chapter of his book In Search of the Miraculous, a recounting of what he learned from Gurdjieff during those years. After Ouspensky broke away from Gurdjieff, he taught the “Fourth Way”, as he understood it, to his independent groups.
Gurdjieff proposed that there are three ways of self-development generally known in esoteric circles. These are the Way of the Fakir, dealing exclusively with the physical body, the Way of the Monk, dealing with the emotions, & the Way of the Yogi, dealing with the mind. What is common about the three ways is that they demand complete seclusion from the world. According to Gurdjieff, there is a Fourth Way which does not demand its followers to abandon the world. The work of self-development takes place right in the midst of ordinary life. Gurdjieff called his system a school of the Fourth Way where a person learns to work in harmony with his physical body, emotions & mind. Ouspensky picked up this idea & continued his own school along this line.
He finally gave up the system in 1947. (“A Record of Meetings”, published posthumously) “you must make a new beginning” after confessing “I’ve left the system”
All Souls in the City – Election Day 7 November 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire
Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas
6 – 8 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile
Please Bring Food & Drink to share, & a jar for the prep
RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
Save the Dates for Community Workings TBA:
The 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox – Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse