Category Archives: Autumn

Reflecting on ‘Willing the Good’

I could give a rich play-by-play review of the entire ASA ‘Willing the Good Conference’, but what is living in me to share as a true after-image, the most powerful soul resounding is:

The social realm is the new stage of initiation.

Encounter in a liquid dream - WanJin Gim (With images) | Portraiture  painting, Artist, Art
WanJun Gim

More & more I find, that in the human social encounter (even in the medium of cyber space, when properly redeemed thru positive intention) thru a simple comment, an offhanded phrase spoken in the moment – the unplanned karmic happenstance becomes a living thread that can lead us thru the labyrinth of our habitual thinking. A flash of synchronistic truth transforms into a golden life-line freely given, a universal tether pulling us up from a personal abyss, into a shared illumination; a moment of instruction, a grace that sparks clarity or affirmation.

About Art Therapy - American Art Therapy Association

Lectures or leading thoughts can wash over us & leave us feeling full & bright.

Encounter Painting by Andi Oakes
Andi Oakes

And then, in a 3 minute session, if we let ourselves become a listening vessel, & allow ourselves to be real, & vulnerable, true human encounters become a place of revelation, a wellspring, nourishing us roots to crown – giving us the courage & fortitude to continue to potentize our homeopathic dose of ‘Willing the Good: Love, Action, Healing’ – A beginning manifestation of the ‘Culture of Selflessness’, which invokes deep connection, creating thru us, a vessel for Anthroposophia in the world.

Preparing the future with you

~hag

love.beauty (Remedios Varo The Encounter 1962) | Artwork painting, Painting,  Visual art
Remedios Varo The Encounter 1962

What is it that really underlies these things? What is it that is trying to work its way out to the surface in human destinies and human evolution?” We may characterize it as follows: — Man wants to have a social order, he wants to give the life of humankind in society a social structure within which, in harmony with the age of the spiritual soul, he may become conscious of what he is, and knows himself to be, as a spiritual being — in his human dignity, in his significance and force as Man. Within the social order, he wants to find himself as a human being among fellow human beings.” ~Rudolf Steiner: The Fundamental Social Demand of Our Times, LECTURE 1, The Transforming of Instinctive into Conscious Impulses

(Dear friends in the School of Spiritual Science: Out of one such encounter this weekend, a few of us will be creating a study group to work with Sergei O. Prokofieff’s book: “The Esoteric Path Through the Nineteen Class Lessons”. Please contact me for details)

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The Danse of Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse

‘Thinking’ in the Soul Calendar by Rudolf Steiner, Translated by Roy Sadler
This week:
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
that hope left lame.

& its opposite in the southern hemisphere now,
v2,
Arising into senses’ all-enwoven outwardness
thought’s power sheds its separate strand;
the spirit worlds will find again
the offspring who in them
must find its human seed
but in itself the fruit of soul.

Thinking is mentioned just 4 times in between v2 & 28:
v4, Beltane,
I feel the being resonant with mine,
speaks feeling that perceives
and in the sunlit world unites
with all that shines;
it would endow illumined thought with warmth,
and marry man and world.
v7, Ascensiontide,
My Self is threatening to flee,
drawn strongly by the world’s inviting light.
Now you, my foresight, dawn your star in me
and firmly as of right
replace the power of thought
that in the senses’ glory
will lose itself.
v8, Whitsun,
In concert with the god’s creating
the senses’ power grows;
it overwhelms the mind’s force,
dampening it down to dream.
When bonding with my soul
would be a holy being
my thinking must be stilled
in dreamlike presence satisfied.
& v14 (2 octaves before v28),
Completely open to the senses
I lost my own impulse;
thought’s dream seemed, numbing me,
to rob me of myself,
but waking, even now, there comes to me
in all the senses’ glory cosmic thought.

So the Tenor experience till v13 (qv Oct. 4th re. the 4 voices)
is to release thought, endowing it with the summer’s warmth
for the Baritone to ensoul dream experience with cosmic thought
and begin to glisten this week’s Soprano voice with
sun-empowered radiance of thinking.

To quote a phrase from the approaching Halloween verse, v30,
the summer of the world becomes the summer of the soul.
We have moved into the 2nd half of the Soul Calendar,
& now the cosmic summer’s dreamtime activates human thinking.
The verses can be imagined in a 24 hour rhythm.
Each morning dawns with a new reviving gift.

We can meditate this week’s verse every morning when we wake!
& v2 with a slight change in lines 1 & 3 can help us into sleep…
To sleep in all-enwoven outwardness
thought’s power sheds its separate strand;
the spirit worlds will find again
their human offspring,
whose soul must find her seed in them,
but in herself the fruit.

The last 3 lines are an alternative translation of the 1st version.
I invite readers if they wish to suggest which they prefer in the
comment section, & also any thoughts they might like to offer
about my translations & descriptions I’ve added last week & this.

~Roy Sadler

***

Art & Theology – Revitalizing the Christian imagination through painting,  poetry, music, and more
Jyoti Sahi

Those who work with the Original indications in the Calendar of the Soul know that Rudolf Steiner lists the birth & death days, as well as other significant occurrences of various individualities, along with the dates in the calendar.  He said of this: “What is presented here can be useful to those who wish to follow the path of mankind’s spiritual development” ~Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

October planet guide | Astronomy Essentials | EarthSky

12 October 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: At dawn tomorrow Tuesday the 13th, Bella Luna in her waning crescent sheath dances with Venus. Look for Regulus to Luna’s upper right  & orange Gamma Leonis, only a little fainter than Regulus, to the Moon’s upper left.

Constellation of Cetus the Whale Fleece Blanket for Sale by James Thornhill

The constellation Cetus the Whale is rising in the southeast as darkness falls.

Petition · UST- Recognize the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples'  Day · Change.org

Freethought Day – the annual observance by freethinkers & secularists of the anniversary of the effective end of the Salem Witch Trials

Our Lady of the Pillar | Casa per Ferie "Virgen del Pilar"

Fiestas del Pilar -Feast Day of Our Lady of the Pillar – the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in connection with an ancient Spanish tradition that she appeared to the Apostle James the Greater as he was praying by the banks of the Ebro at Zaragoza. Mary is often depicted carrying the Child Jesus on her arms resting above a pillar, sometimes carried by angelic cherubs. The Virgin Mary is invoked under this title as the Patroness of Spain

Almanac: The Salem witch trials - CBS News

1692 – The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Massachusetts Governor William Phips

Aleister Crowley - IMDb

1875 – Birthday of Aleister Crowley, an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, & mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century.

Born to a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family, Crowley rejected this fundamentalist Christian faith to pursue an interest in Western esotericism. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering & poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, suggesting that he remained a spy throughout his life. In 1898 he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers & Allan Bennett.

Moving to Boleskine House by Loch Ness in Scotland, he went mountaineering in Mexico with Oscar Eckenstein, before studying Hindu & Buddhist practices in India. He married Rose Edith Kelly & in 1904 they honeymooned in Cairo, Egypt, where Crowley claimed to have been contacted by a supernatural entity named Aiwass, who provided him with The Book of the Law, a sacred text that served as the basis for Thelema. Announcing the start of the Æon of Horus, The Book declared that its followers should adhere to the code of “Do what thou wilt” & seek to align themselves with their Will through the practice of magick.

After an unsuccessful attempt to climb Kanchenjunga & a visit to India & China, Crowley returned to Britain, where he attracted attention as a prolific author of poetry, novels, & occult literature. In 1907, he & George Cecil Jones co-founded a Thelemite order, the AA, through which they propagated the religion.

After spending time in Algeria, in 1912 he was initiated into another esoteric order, the German-based Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), rising to become the leader of its British branch, which he reformulated in accordance with his Thelemite beliefs. Through the O.T.O., Thelemite groups were established in Britain, Australia, & North America.

Crowley spent the First World War in the United States, where he took up painting & campaigned for the German war effort against Britain, later revealing that he had infiltrated the pro-German movement to assist the British intelligence services. In 1920 he established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily where he lived with various followers. His libertine lifestyle led to denunciations in the British press, & the Italian government evicted him in 1923. He divided the following two decades between France, Germany, & England, and continued to promote Thelema until his death.

Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a recreational drug experimenter, bisexual & an individualist social critic. He was denounced in the popular press as “the wickedest man in the world”. Crowley has remained a highly influential figure over Western esotericism & the counter-culture, & continues to be considered a prophet in Thelema. In 2002, a BBC poll ranked him as the seventy-third greatest Briton of all time.

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‘Soul to Soul’ on-line Festival with the Central Regional Council & Speical Guests

Halloween 31 October 2020, Saturday 11 am – 1 pm PT / 1 pm – 3 pm CT / 2pm – 4pm ET

Stay tuned for details

***

The Connection Between Epidemics, the Souls of the Dead, & the Spiritual World – Leading thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg. Group Eurythmy, Singing, Social Sculpture while reading the names of the dead, & Break out Sessions.

2 pm – 4 pm CDT 8 Nov. 2020 Our Annual All Souls Festival

In-person at Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost & 3 fold Cultural Hub, in conjunction with the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, 4249-51 N. Lincoln Ave.

& On-line (details coming soon)

2 pm – 4 pm CDT Sunday 8 November 2020

Experiment

The Living Word: The dictionary translates the German word Gemüt as “heart, soul, mind,” seeming to imply, “take your choice.” But the word Gemüt must not be thought of as having these three separate meanings, but as a unified concept embracing all three. We can think of Gemüt, as meaning something like: The mind warmed by a loving heart and stimulated by the soul’s imaginative power. Or it might be described as: The soul in a state of intuition arising from the working together of heart & mind. I like to call it Heart-Thinking.

Thinking With Your Heart Painting by Wendy McCoy
Wendy McCoy

Gemüt is a very beautiful & comprehensive word which every student of anthroposophy should try to be on intimate terms.

This human Gemüt dwells in the very center of the soul life.” ~Rudolf Steiner

In striving to understand what Heart-Thinking is, I’d like to invite you to practice a little experiment. I will relate a picture Steiner gave, & you can work to use your ‘soul’s imaginative power’ to try & ‘see’ it.

Ophiuchus: The 13th Sign - Farmers' Almanac

Steiner gives the imagination of a dragon writhing around the animalistic part of humanity. Perhaps you can feel it there in your lower chakras, even coiling up around the heart in some folks.

The Monument to St Michael the Archangel, Kyiv: photos, description,  address, on the map

But then – also, behind us, at the back of the head, – picture the cosmic figure of Michael, towering, radiant, retaining his cosmic nature but reflecting it in our higher human nature, so that our etheric body, that part of us that holds our formative, life forces, reflects etherically the cosmic figure of Michael. Can you feel it there in your back space?

The Man with the Golden Helmet Painting by Rembrandt
Rembrandt

Then, Steiner says, there becomes visible in the human head, a kind of protective helmet, whose power pours down the spine, into the heart, causing blood to flow down from the heart to the limbs –  moving the power of Michael in a leminscate, from head to heart to limbs, so we can put our will into action.

Know Your Dragons! Medieval Bestiary Dragon Tiles and Legend

This is important because a big part in how we conquer the dragon is being able to recognize it. So with our Heart-thinking we can wake up to this & say: Ok, yes, the power of the Dragon is working within me, I might not see it – but I can feel it as a force that wants to drag me down below my true self. But in the spirit I also ‘see’ the luminous Angel whose cosmic task has always been the vanquishing of the Dragon.

I concentrate my Gemüt upon this glowing figure, I let its light stream into my heart-thinking, so that my illumined & warmed soul forces can bear within it the strength of Michael. And out of a free resolution I will be able, through my alliance with Michael, to conquer the Dragon’s might in my own lower nature.

So…How did you do with our little experiment?

Red and Blue Stripe Logo - LogoDix

Some folks find it easy to work with imaginative pictures & some folks are more comfortable working with the intellect. We all, thru our individual temperaments & karma, tend to relate either to the head or the heart. (-the 2 streams: Platonic & Aristotelian) Of course our work is to bring them into balance- (The Shepherds must become Kings & the Kings-Shepherds)

~hag

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Karl König Books

Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner, Translation and leading thoughts by Roy Sadler

Karl Koenig describes the Soul Calendar as being like a choir of 4 voices.
In 13 quartets each voice harmonizes with 3 others in the developmental process of the year.
From Easter till the first week of July the Tenor unites with the spirit through perceptive feeling;
the Bass then incarnates the spirit with imaginative insight until Michaelmas:

Eclipsed: An overshadowed goddess and the discarded image of Botticelli's  Primavera - DEE - 2013 - Renaissance Studies - Wiley Online Library

v26,
Natura, in the being of my will
I bear thy soul of motherhood;
and in my will-enkindled firepower
my spirit impulses are tempered, steeled,
that feeling of the selfhood formed from them
bear I in me.

This is the culmination of the 1st half of the Soul Calendar, the turning mirror point.
From this week the soprano develops her inspired will for the spirit’s Christmas birth:

Seed Painting by Jackie Knight
Jackie Knight

v27,
To fathom
my depths of being
arouses longing, my divining’s ardour,
that self-observing I discover
I’m the gift of summer sunlight in a seed
that’s germinating in me in a warm
autumnal mood to vitalize my soul force.

The Seed Painting by Dalal Farah Baird
Dahl Fara Bard

From Epiphany till Easter the Alto will unite with the world with intuitive love.
Her last week’s verse for the southern hemisphere’s springtime was her final one,
the opposite of Michaelmas. It is this week’s complementary verse for us:

Seed Painting by B Thompson | Saatchi Art
B. Thomsom

v52,
When drawn from depths of soul
the spirit is communing with the beauty
arising from the springlife’s cosmic harmony,
then streaming from the heavens
life’s force revitalises human forms
and powerfully binds
the spirit’s being to the human presence.

Its Easter mirror is the southern hemisphere’s verse now, our opposite one:

Moonseed Painting by Kristen Holmberg
Kristen Homberg

v1,
When streaming into human sense
the sun across the world’s expanse is speaking
and joy from depths of soul
is with the light as one in seeing,
then drawn from sheath of self
thoughts rise to far horizons
and dimly bind
the human being to the spirit’s presence.

How to spot Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in the night sky - skyatnightmagazine

4 October 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars:” Pluto is stationary & will now reverse its westerly motion, making a tight turn to begin moving east. You can find the dwarf planet this evening after sunset, sinking toward the horizon between Jupiter & Saturn in the south. The trio is northeast of Sagittarius’ Teapot asterism, to the upper left of the handle in the sky.

Pluto Jupiter Conjunction in Capricorn 2020 - Transit Dates

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.” Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

Holy Martyr Gaius of Ancyra: I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus  and Gaius, so that no one can s… | The cross of christ, New testament,  Orthodoxy

Feast Day of Crispus & Gaius, Martyrs baptized by St. Paul at Corinth, Greece. Crispin headed the local Jewish synagogue. Gaius served as St. Paul’s host & was praised by St. John. Before being martyred, Crispin served as the bishop of the Aegean Islands, & Gaius served as bishop of Thessalonica, Greece.

1 Corinthians 1:14 – I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius

Acts 10:48 – So he ordered that Crispus and Gaius be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.

Acts 18:8 – Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his whole household believed in the Lord. And many of the Corinthians who heard the message believed and were baptized.

Romans 16:23 – Gaius, who has hosted me and all the church, sends you greetings. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you greetings, as does our brother Quartus.

3 John 1:1 – The elder, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth

Law and Gospel (Cranach) - Wikipedia

1515 Birthday of Lucas Cranach the Younger, He is known for portraits & mythical scenes

Santa Teresa de Avila - St. Teresa of Avila - AOTEA Poster by Br Arturo  Olivas OFS

1582 – Deathday of Saint Teresa of Ávila, a prominent Spanish mystic, saint, Carmelite nun, theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer & author during the Counter Reformation.

Her books, which include her autobiography (The Life of Teresa of Jesus) & her seminal work El Castillo Interior (The Interior Castle), are an integral part of Spanish Renaissance literature as well as Christian mysticism & Christian meditation practices. She also wrote Camino de Perfección (The Way of Perfection).

Teresa of Avila was born in 1515. Her paternal grandfather, was a marrano (Jewish convert to Christianity) & was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition for allegedly returning to the Jewish faith. Her father, bought a knighthood & successfully assimilated into Christian society. Teresa’s mother, was especially keen to raise her daughter as a pious Christian. Teresa was fascinated by accounts of the lives of the saints, & ran away from home at age seven with her brother Rodrigo to find martyrdom among the Moors.

When Teresa was 14 her mother died; this resulted in Teresa becoming grief-stricken. This prompted her to embrace a deeper devotion to the Virgin Mary as her spiritual mother. Along with this good resolution, however, she also developed immoderate interests in reading popular fiction (consisting, at that time, mostly of medieval tales of knighthood) & caring for her own appearance. Teresa was sent for her education to the Augustinian nuns at Ávila.

In the monastery she suffered greatly from illness. Early in her sickness, she experienced periods of religious ecstasy through the use of the devotional book the Third Spiritual Alphabet. This work, consisted of directions for examinations of conscience & for spiritual self-concentration (known in mystical nomenclature as oratio recollectionis). She also employed other mystical ascetic works.

She claimed that during her illness she rose from the lowest stage, “recollection”, to the “devotions of silence” or even to the “devotions of ecstasy”, which was one of perfect union with God. During this final stage, she said she frequently experienced a rich “blessing of tears.”

The kernel of Teresa’s mystical thought throughout all her writings is the ascent of the soul in four stages (The Autobiography Chs. 10-22):

The 1st Devotion of Heart, is mental prayer of devout concentration or contemplation. It is the withdrawal of the soul from without & especially the devout observance of the passion of Christ & penitence

The 2nd Devotion of Peace, is where human will is surrendered to God. This is by virtue of a charismatic, supernatural state given by God, while the other faculties, such as memory, reason, & imagination, are not yet secure from worldly distraction. While a partial distraction is due to outer performances such as repetition of prayers & writing down spiritual things, yet the prevailing state is one of quietude

The 3rd Devotion of Union, is absorption in God. It is not only a supernatural but an essentially ecstatic state. Here there is also an absorption of the reason in God, & only the memory & imagination are left to roam. This state is characterized by a blissful peace, a sweet slumber of at least the higher soul faculties, or a conscious rapture in the love of God

The 4th Devotion of Ecstasy, is where the consciousness of being in the body disappears. Sense activity ceases; memory & imagination are also absorbed in God or intoxicated. Body & spirit are in the throes of a sweet, happy pain, alternating between a fearful fiery glow, a complete impotence & unconsciousness, & a spell of strangulation, sometimes by such an ecstatic flight that the body is literally lifted into space. This after half an hour is followed by a reactionary relaxation of a few hours in a swoon-like weakness, attended by a negation of all the faculties in the union with God. The subject awakens from this in tears; it is the climax of mystical experience, producing a trance. Indeed, she was said to have been observed levitating during Mass on more than one occasion.

Teresa is one of the foremost writers on mental prayer, & her position among writers on mystical theology is unique. In all her writings on this subject she deals with her personal experiences. Her deep insight & analytical gifts helped her to explain them clearly. Her definition was used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.” She used a metaphor of mystic prayer as watering a garden throughout her writings.

Around 1556, various friends suggested that her newfound knowledge was diabolical, not divine. She began to inflict various tortures & mortifications of the flesh upon herself. But her confessor, the Jesuit Saint Francis Borgia, reassured her of the divine inspiration of her thoughts. On St. Peter’s Day in 1559, Teresa became firmly convinced that Jesus Christ presented himself to her in bodily form, though invisible. These visions lasted almost uninterrupted for more than two years. In another vision, a seraph drove the fiery point of a golden lance repeatedly through her heart, causing an ineffable spiritual-bodily pain.

I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it

This vision was the inspiration for one of Bernini’s most famous works, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa at Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.

The memory of this episode served as an inspiration throughout the rest of her life, & motivated her lifelong imitation of the life & suffering of Jesus, epitomized in the motto usually associated with her: Lord, either let me suffer or let me die.

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
~Teresa of Ávila

On this day in 1582: Pope Gregory XIII announces the new Gregorian calendar

1582 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, & Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15

Home - Rembrandt Database

1669 – Deathday of Rembrandt

Singular Voices: Janis Joplin | Operavore | WQXR

1970 – Deathday of Janis Joplin

WikiLeaks' War on Secrecy: Truth's Consequences | Time

2006 – Wikileaks is launched by Julian Assange

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Clarence Carter

My POD (Poem Of the Day)

~I set ablaze the withered limb
To liberate the ripened fruit
Witch thrives
Within the tree…
~hag

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Join Angela Foster, Deb Abrahams-Dematte & myself for a “Topic Workshop” at the AGM online Sat. 10 October 12:30-2:00pm PT //  2:30 pm – 4 pm CT // 3:30-5:00pm ET 

INVITATION: SOPHIA WORKING

We will explore the Being Anthroposophia, talk about the upcoming International Sophia Conference in 2022 & I will tell the “NEW ISIS MYTH” that I adapted from Rudolf Steiner.

Willing the Good: Love, Action, Healing  

The ASA Annual Conference and AGM

ONLINE October 9, 10, 11 2020 – CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! 

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All Souls Festival:

The Connection Between Epidemics, the Souls of the Dead, & the Spiritual World – Leading thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.

With Group Eurythmy, Singing, Social Sculpture while reading the names of the dead & Break out Sessions.

In-person at Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost & 3 fold Cultural Hub, in conjunction with the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, 4249-51 N. Lincoln Ave.

& On-line (details coming soon)

2 pm – 4 pm CDT Sunday 8 November 2020

from there to here

Exploding the Mithras Myth : Strange Notions

Michael as Mithras

Ahura Mazdah spake to Zarathustra: “When I created Mithras, who possesses the cosmic intelligence, I created him to be as venerable, as praiseworthy as Myself: Ahura Mazda”.

Zarathustra looked into the brilliant light & declared: “Him, the powerful Yazata (= worthy of worship or veneration), the mighty Mithras towering above all creatures, I shall honor Him Who owns the wide fields of the intelligences, Who knows the right sayings, Who is silent,  yet earnest, Who has a thousand ears, Who is fair, Who has ten thousand eyes, Who stands on a broad rampart, Who is mighty and sleepless and vigilant.

Mithras "deo sol invictus" = god of the invincible sun. | Gods and  goddesses, History, Ancient history

Mithras we look to: Him Who owns wide fields of eternity, the vigilant one, Whose dwelling is as wide as the universe. It is built within matter. It is spacious, exposed to no needs, radiant, and offering shelter all around. Eight helpers of Mithras are dwelling as his spies on all the mountains, on all the ramparts. …

Mithras, the owner of wide fields of light, drives around raising His arms for the sake of safety. He guides His fair chariot, able to withstand all dangers and encrested with golden ornaments, to the radiant House of Praise. The chariot is drawn by four white steeds which are immortal and enjoy the nourishment of the spirit. Their front hoofs are fashioned of gold, their hind ones of silver.”

The story of the Roman God, Mithras, is similar to the tale of Jesus Christ  and his resurrection. Born at the winter solstice and re… | Roman gods,  History, Deities

Then are enumerated the hosts accompanying Mithras at the right and left as he descends. The story goes on: In the chariot of Mithras, who owns wide fields of universe, there are a thousand bows…Moving through the air they fly on the head of the Devas. In the chariot of Mithras, who owns wide fields of intelligences, there are a thousand arrows, golden-pointed, furnished with vulture feathers, set with barbs, beautifully fashioned…Moving through the air, they fly on the heads of the Devas. (The same is said of spears, axes, daggers, clubs, and clubs with a hundred studs.)

Ancient World History: Persian Myth

Sorely afraid is the evil-doing Anra Mainyav (=Ahriman) and all the other evil beings. Ahriman shivers in fear declaring: “Let us in no wise expose ourselves to the blows of Mithras, who owns wide fields of light, waxing and working earnest for our despair. Mayest thou not, O Mithras, wax furious and send blows against us, thou, who art the most valiant of the Yazata and ownest wide fields of light.”

– From the Avesta, the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism.

Zarathustra, Revealing the Sacred Names of Mithras in the fight against Ahriman: “Mayest thou bestow grace upon me, providence and destiny, when I am writing down these first transmitted Mysteries. I am writing them down for my child, Immortality, the Mystic worthy of this our might, which the great God Helios Mithras has given to me at the hands of his Archangel, so that I, an eagle, may enter Heaven and envisage all”. (Then it is said of Mithras:)

Mithras vs Christ

“O Lord, Who hast closed with the spirit-breath the fiery keys of Heaven, thou two-bodied One, reigning over the fire, the light’s creator and guardian, breathing light, invigorated by fire, spirit-radiant, fire-rejoicing, radiantly beauteous, light-dweller, flame-whirler, light-creating, fire-planting, fire-enraged, lightning-swept, light-glorified, light-expanded, light-supporting, star-conqueror: Reveal to me the names that have not been known to mortal nature; the names never pronounced by a human tongue in lucid language, never pronounced by a human sound, or a human voice. Reveal to me the eternally living and reverenced names of you O great servant of Ahura Mazda and of man. – From a Mithras Liturgy of the Avesta.

~adapted by hag

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Mary Gulfleisch

1 October 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The Full Harvest Moon 5:05 pm cdt TODAY! You can watch our beloved satellite clear the horizon & rise in the east just moments after sunset & remain visible in the sky all night. It’s the first of two Full Moons this month — the second -a Blue Moon will occur on All Hallows Eve October 31.

Elongations and Configurations - Solar System Models - NAAP

Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation (26° from the Sun) at 11 am CDT Today. You can spot the solar system’s smallest planet this evening, in the southwest 30 minutes after sunset, By then, some of the brightest stars should be popping out of the twilight: Arcturus, Vega, Deneb, Altair, and Fomalhaut. Jupiter & Saturn should appear about the same time.

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Harvest Moon - George Heming Mason (1872) in 2020 | Google art project,  Harvest moon, Moon painting
George Mason

“History is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of humanity”. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

286 -Feast Day of Saint Piatus,  a Belgian saint, native of Benevento, Italy, Tradition states that he was ordained by Dionysios the Areopagite. He was martyred under Maximian by having the top of his skull sliced off. He may be recognized in depictions holding the sliced portion of his skull. Some of his relics can be found at Chartres Cathedral

331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela

1811 – The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans

1814 – Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw Europe’s political map after the defeat of Napoleon the previous spring

1847 – Birthday of Annie Besant a prominent British socialist, theosophist, women’s rights activist, writer, orator & supporter of Irish & Indian self-rule.

In 1890 Besant met Helena Blavatsky. She became a member of the Theosophical Society & a prominent lecturer. She established the first overseas Lodge of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain. Over the next few years she established lodges in many parts of the British Empire. In 1907 she became president of the Theosophical Society, whose international headquarters were in Adyar, Madras. She also became involved in politics in India, joining the Indian National Congress. When World War I broke out in 1914, she helped launch the Home Rule Leagueto campaign for democracy in India. This led to her election as president of the India National Congress. In the late 1920s, Besant travelled to the United States with her protégé & adopted son Jiddu Krishnamurtiwhom she claimed was the new Messiah & incarnation of Buddha. Krishnamurti rejected these claims in 1929. 

She is thought to be the reincarnation of Giordano Bruno…?

First Thomas Edison Lamp Factory - from Edisonia (1904)

1880 – First electric lamp factory is opened by Thomas Edison

1890 – Yosemite National Park is established by the U.S. Congress

1908 – Ford puts the Model T car on the market at a price of US$825.

From the Archives: The 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times - Los Angeles  Times

1910 – Los Angeles Times bombing: by union members belonging to the International Association of Bridge & Structural Iron Workers. The explosion started a fire which killed 21 newspaper employees & injured 100 more.

1918 –  Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence, also known as “Lawrence of Arabia”, capture Damascus

1924 – Birthday of Jimmy Carter, American lieutenant & politician, 39th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate

1928 – General Secretary Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union introduces its First five-year plan, including the creation of “kolkhoz” collective farming systems that stretched over thousands of acres of land & had hundreds of peasants working on them. This essentially destroyed the kulaks as a class, & also brought about the slaughter of millions of farm animals that these peasants would rather kill than give up to the gigantic farms. To meet the goals of the first five-year plan the Soviet Union began using the labor of its growing prisoner population. This disruption led to a famine in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan as well as areas of the Northern Caucasus.

1957 – First appearance of In God we trust on U.S. paper currency

1961 – The United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is formed, becoming the country’s first centralized military espionage organization

1964 – Japanese Shinkansen (“bullet trains“) begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka

1985 – The Israeli Air Force bombs Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) headquarters in Tunis

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Prompt #1642 Visual Prompt of the Week – Riding the Dragon – The Writing  Reader

My POD (Poem Of The Day)

~I looked in
& saw the dragon writhing
In rags of mortality
Spitting the cold fire of fear
Binding & Hardening…
& yet my blood was hot
Pulsing with scintillating sparks
Forged From the sword of the Archai…
Now my tongue flicks flames
Licking the fingers of gods
Knowing I am
Free
~hag

***

All Souls Festival:

The Connection Between Epidemics, the Souls of the Dead, & the Spiritual World – Leading thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.

With Group Eurythmy, Singing & Break out Sessions.

In-person at Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost & 3 fold Cultural Hub, in conjunction with the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, 4249-51 N. Lincoln Ave.

& On-line (details coming soon)

2 pm – 4 pm CDT Sunday 8 November 2020

Enflaming Enthusiasm

Simone DiMeglio

Dear Friends – Thank you for a deep rich Michaelmas experience! Here is the recording from Michaelmas 2020: Joan d’Arc – PURIFYING FIRE: The Power behind the Will (Please let me know if you can access it?)

Here is a link to the photos from the Zinniker farm expedition we went to after the fest.

Flaming Sword Photograph by Allen Penton
Dexter Crawley

So that the Michael impulses can become reality, let us become one with the flame that is enkindled today. These impulses cannot become reality without flames. But to live and work out of the flames of enthusiasm, we ourselves must become the flame. Flame is the only thing that is not consumed by flame. When we feel ourselves becoming flames that cannot be burned by flames, we can afford to leave our physical hearts behind like empty sacks, because we will possess etheric hearts, hearts that understand that humankind is entering a new age and a life of spirituality.” ~Rudolf Steiner, from “The Life of the World Must Be Constructed Anew from the Ground Up”, Arnheim, July 20, 1924. Found in “Youth and the Etheric Heart”, GA 217a

Vlad Apetrei & Irene Olid

A deep holiness broods over the dying light. Now, in ourselves we must find our own power of bestowing warmth; that we may shine from within. In the realm of the senses the plant world sinks down into death. Inwardly the fire-spirits, offspring of the lofty Beings of the Sun, bearing the Archetypal pictures of the plant kingdom, stream down into the womb of Mother Earth. All around us we see withering, the color leaving to reveal the essence. As human beings we must not allow the death of nature to draw us into sleep. In autumn we must discover the force of resurrection within, so that we can pass with full consciousness thru the gate of death with a wakened soul, in our time. This is possible by what Michael bestows as the Fire of Will. We can come into communion with the most hidden secrets of existence now, whispering: Feel yourself as bearer of the Motherhood of Nature, to conceive in love the fiery germ of Self.

May we hold the sword of light to fire up our will

~hag

2019 Top Sale 3d Universe Starry Wallpaper Sky Ceiling Wall Paper Space  Galaxy Kids Room Papel de Pared Waterproof Behang W144|Wallpapers| -  AliExpress

29 September 2020- “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna passes south of Neptune at 9 pm CDT tonight. You can find the pair in Aquarius the Water-bearer in the southeast.

Look east to find Mars above the horizon. Between Mars & Neptune on the sky is main-belt asteroid Leto, which reaches opposition at 10 pm CDT. Discovered in 1861, Leto is 76 miles across. It’s currently traveling through the constellation Cetus the Whale.

You can find yet another planet, Uranus, northeast of Mars, closer to the horizon.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The Feast Day of St. Michael All the Heavenly Hosts, also called MICHAELMAS

1227 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the Crusades. A man of extraordinary culture, energy, & ability Frederick II was called stupor mundi (the wonder of the world), by Nietzsche, also the first European, the first modern ruler – by many historians, Frederick established in Sicily & southern Italy a modern, centrally governed kingdom with an efficient bureaucracy.

He was a King of Germany, of Italy, & Burgundy. His other royal title was King of Jerusalem by virtue of marriage & his connection with the Sixth Crusade.

He was frequently at war with the Papacy, hemmed in between Frederick’s lands in northern Italy & his Kingdom of Sicily (the Regno) to the south. Pope Gregory IX went so far as to call him an Antichrist.

Speaking six languages (Latin, Sicilian, German, French, Greek & Arabic, Frederick was an avid patron of science & the arts. He played a major role in promoting literature through the Sicilian School of poetry. His Sicilian royal court in Palermo, saw the first use of a literary form of an Italo-Romance language, Sicilian. The poetry that emanated from the school had a significant influence on literature & on what was to become the modern Italian language.

He was also the first king who explicitly outlawed trials by ordeal as they were considered irrational.

Renaissance Master Caravaggio Didn't Die of Syphilis, but of Sepsis | Live  Science

1571 – Birthday of Caravaggio, Italian painter

1717 – An earthquake strikes Antigua Guatemala, destroying much of the city’s architecture & making authorities consider moving the capital to a different city

David Newbatt.

1812- Birthday of Caspar Hauser, grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. Theories link  him with the grand ducal House of BadenThese claims, & his subsequent death by stabbing, sparked much debate & controversy.

“…It was the case of that human being, so enigmatic for many people, who was once placed into this city in a mysterious way, and who in just as mysterious a way met his death in Ansbach. An author, in order to indicate the mystery of his life, wrote that as he was carried out to burial the sun was setting on the one horizon and the moon was rising on the other. I speak, as you know, of Caspar Hauser. If you disregard all the pros and cons that have been asserted, if you look only at what has been fully verified, you will know that this foundling — who was one day simply there in the street, and who since he did not know whence he came, was called the Child of Europe — could neither read nor write when he was found. At an age of twenty years he possessed nothing of what is gained through the intellect but he had a remarkable memory. As they began to instruct him, as logic entered his soul, his memory disappeared. This transition in consciousness was accompanied by something else. He possessed at first an incredible, an entirely inborn truthfulness and it was precisely in this truthfulness that he went more and more astray. The more he nibbled, so to say, at intellectuality, the more it vanished. There would be many things to study were we to enter deeply into this human soul which had been artificially held back. It is not difficult for the student of Spiritual Science to credit the popular tradition, so unacceptable to the learned people of to-day, which relates that while Caspar Hauser still knew nothing, while he still had no idea that there were beings besides himself of different form, he exercised a remarkable effect upon quite savage creatures. Savage animals humbled themselves and became mild, something streamed from him that made such beasts gentle, although they savagely attacked anyone else. We could in fact penetrate deeply into the soul of this remarkable personality, so enigmatic to many, and you would see how things that cannot be explained from ordinary life are led back through Spiritual Science to spiritual facts. Such facts cannot be learnt by speculation but only by spiritual observation, though they are comprehensible to an unbiased and logical thinking.

All this has only been said in order to show you that the modern consciousness has evolved from another, an age-old-state when man was not in direct touch with outer objects in the modern sense, but on the other hand was in connection with facts and beings of the spiritual world.” ~Rudolf SteinerThe Apocalypse of St. John, Spiritual Science — The Gospel — The Future of Mankind

Image result for 1885 – The first public electric tramway

1885 – The first public electric tramway in the world is opened in Blackpool, England

1902 – Deathday of Émile Zola a French novelist, playwright, journalist, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, & an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France & in the exoneration of the falsely accused & convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in the renowned newspaper headline J’accuse. Zola was nominated for the first & second Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901 & 1902. His death from carbon monoxide poisoning is suspected to have been murder

1924 – Ludwig Polzer holds his 1st First Class Lesson

Related image

1954 – The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed

Image result for 1957 – Twenty MCi of radioactive material is released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at Chelyabinsk

1957 – Twenty MCi of radioactive material is released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at Chelyabinsk

Related image
Image result for Adolf Arenson

1981 – Deathday of Adolf Arenson, German composer & Anthroposopher. Arenson editied many of Rudolf Steiner’s works, & composed the music for many of the plays & productions. Steiner mentions him at the end of Wonders of the World lecture 1

Biggest 1-day drops for the Dow Jones industrial average | The Seattle Times

2008 – Following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers & Washington Mutual, The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history

Related image

2009 – The 8.1 Mw Samoa earthquake strikes with a maximum Mercalli intensity.  A destructive tsunami follows, leaving 1189 dead & hundreds injured.

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Hidden Music I Painting by Umran Yegin | Saatchi Art
Erman Yegin

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~a word, a vibration, a message
Is coursing thru my blood
The rust in my veins causes combustion
Making room
For the cosmic iron to etch itself into my palms
Activating my limbs – Forging my will to awaken

~hag

***

Tuesday, September 29 MICHAELMAS ‘Talisman for Courage’ Art Workshop with Victoria Martin 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

MICHAELMAS ‘Talisman for Courage’ Art Workshop in person at the Rudolf Steiner Chicago Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago. 6:30-8:30 PM Facilitated by Victoria Martin

RSVP – viccimartin@gmail.com  312-961-3380

6:30 (sunset) Doors open: orientation. Tea, nuts, and fruit are served

7 PM sharp Visual lecture and demonstration

7:15 PM –8:00 PM workshop  – Pastels on flat canvas good for 100+ years (archival materials)

8:00– 8:30 PM discussion – We will learn all about symbols of The Michaelmas: Wings, Iron Meteorites/Stars, Scales of Judgment, Sword of Justice, and the Serpent/Dragon. There will be a wide selection of easy to render visual images in any/all of these 5 categories at each workstation. We will use a black charcoal pencil and the colors red, gold, and turquoise archival pastels on raw canvas size 11” x 11” this Talisman will be suitable for mounting on stretchers or framing (no glass needed).

Limited to 10 participants $15 tuition + $5 materials = $20 or pay what you will. Observers and guests are welcome at no charge, but please bring tree nuts, greens, fruit, or other paleo snacks.

Everyone: wear something RED: Michael’s color!

***

ON-GOING: 

Community Study – Wednesdays at  9:30 am – 11 am at the Branch – Working with Rudolf Steiner’s Karmic Relationships Vol 6.

Wednesday Morning Study Group Internet: https://meet.google.com/hdr-iaof-jkg

Phone: +1 402-828-0131 PIN: ‪867 997 908#

‘Anthroposophy’, which means Wisdom of the Human Being is a ‘Spiritual Science’ built on the research of Rudolf Steiner. Our current conversation explores: the riddles of existence, the truth of karma, the mystery of evil, historic connections, life after death and more.  We incorporate ‘The Calendar of the Soul’, eurythmy, focused discussion and seasonal artistic explorations in our study.  

For more info. contact Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Serving

Personal Recollections of Joan Of Arc, by Mark Twain

Greetings Friends on this High Holy Day of Yom Kippur, & also the eve of the ‘Feast of St. Michael & All the Heavenly Hosts’. This year our Michaelmas theme was ‘Joan d’Arc – PURIFYING FIRE: The Power behind the Will’, & my research led me to many amazing resources, including Mark Twain’s, as well as Anthroposopher Joan M. Edmunds Books. But my main source came from Rudolf Steiner who gives us many insights into this powerful individuality.

The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations: Steiner, Rudolf:  9780880102056: Amazon.com: Books

I was particularly take by what Steiner says in ‘The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations, Lecture 5, The Nature of the Christ Impulse and the Michaelic Sprit Serving It. Berlin, 1915’; a lecture series he gave right at the start of the 1st world war. I felt called to make that my personal focus. I didn’t get a chance to share it at our Festival, so here it is for your contemplation. I hope it moves you to take action as it did me.

What is the mission of The Maid of Orleans?

From the time of her enchanted childhood around the village fairy tree, & then starting at the age of 12, & for 7 years till she was martyred at 19, Jehanne (feminine form of Joannes or John) d’Arc was inspired into by progressive Beings of the Divine Spiritual World. These powers battled the inflammatory Luciferic forces of deception prevailing in humanity at that special time right before the beginning of the Consciousness Soul Age.  Joan of Arc, with the aid of Michael, (& his helpers St. Catherine & St. Margaret) was able to vanquish the seductive Luciferic forces which were vying to prevent this shift in human consciousness.

Steiner describes the miracle of her birth, how she went thru a sort of pre-earthy initiation during the potent time of the 13 Holy nights, incarnating on Epiphany, the day the Christ came into a human being at the baptism. And we can also point to her equally auspicious death. Yes it was gruesome, not unlike like the sacrifice of the Christ. In her case, it occurred because all the jealous, selfish, Luciferic forces of her enemies joined together to bring about her sacrifice by fire; not unlike the burning of Ephesus & of the 1st Goetheanum.

Trial of Joan of Arc - Wikipedia
Paul Delaroche

At her witch trial she predicted her own death, & said that within 7 years after of her sacrifice: “the English would meet with a much greater reversal of fortune than any they had known before”.

Spiritual Science tells us that the soul of Joan of Arc continued working across the Threshold to shape these events after her death. What the spiritual powers have to bring about will occur whatever the external conditions may be. Many great individualities are working with us even now from across the threshold. The Maid’s adversaries were able to bring about her death, but they were NOT able to prevent her mission.

Joan of Arc Bio, Age, Height, Death

The power behind the will of the Maid of Orleans, the forces of Michael, are working still against the immoral Luciferic forces that rage in the world.

Rudolf Steiner | Rudolf steiner, Steiner, Rudolf

Dear friends, as you are all so keenly aware, we are also having to deal with hostile forces in our time; but now-a-days these are predominantly Ahrimanic forces; not inflaming, but hardening, materialistic forces, that have come up with the industrial age. These forces are in evidence everywhere, especially if we turn our attention not only to the mechanical element, but thru-out cyber space; a distractive shrouding of the reappearance of the Christ in the etheric.

And so Spiritual science tells us that if we remain unconscious of these forces working into our sense impressions, we are offering an abode to the dragon that seeks to stupefy us. These sclerotic forces influence our earth life, creating the fearful events happening NOW all over the globe.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (1863 – 1914). On 17 August 1913, the  Emperor promoted Franz Ferdinand to inspector … | Ferdinand, History,  Historical pictures

In the above mentioned 1917 lecture, Steiner talks about how a sort of denial of the build up to the 1st World War had been present for a long time in the astral world, but was held back by something that was also astral: by the fear, doubt & hatred held in the feeling life of human beings. These negative astral forces were able to hold the war back, to prevent it, for a while. Steiner says: “…at 1st a fearful denial was able to stop war from breaking out. But then with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, there emerged a ‘reversal event’ – this recalls the words from Joan of Arc: “the English would meet with a much greater reversal than any they had known before”. In that case the selfish Luciferic forces came back to destroy the English reign after the sacrifice of Joan of Arc; & in this case of the world war, all the elements of fear from the ahrimanic powers began to gather around the sacrificed soul of the Archduke, creating a focal point, a tear at the threshold.

The Changing Face Of Satan, From 1500 To Today

It’s hard to really phantom this, but we know that anything that has a specific character on the physical plane will have the opposite character in the spiritual world. Everything is reversed in the spiritual world. An element that had a blocking effect, keeping the 1st world war at bay, was now acting in the opposite way, as a spur, an incitement, to war. So we see that a flip of the elements of fear, of the deceiving Ahrimanic elements, became a catalyst for war, which now a 100 years later, has led to the events of our present age, where there is constant war, in all realms of society.

Yin Yang Dragons by Falyne Varger (from The Best Of Fantasy Art's Facebook  Page) | Dragon artwork, Dragon pictures, Fantasy art
Tyrone Dwelzel

But fear not dear friends, Steiner tells us that we must not try to deny or rebel against these materialistic Ahrimanic elements. We must let them strengthen us; we must develop the courage of Michael to see it as something that is necessary in our time, something that has to be present, so that we can learn to reverse the fear thru our heart-thinkingtransforming these forces of resistance thru love.

Lebanese artist auctions viral painting of Beirut blast to help people in  need | Arab News
Pas Beirutt

The question is: How do we make it possible for divine spiritual forces, the ‘ever present help of the spiritual world’, to enter into our actions so that we can consciously reverse fear, doubt & hatred?

How do we offer a positive resistance to this deceptive Ahrimanic element in our age, the way resistance was offered to the Luciferic element at the time of Joan of Arc?

Social Threefolding and Commonweal | Feminist movement, Freedom, Road trip

– By taking the path towards a spiritualization of human culture – by cultivating our ability to form ideas & concepts into a thinking will for good. This is the prerequisite foundation needed to manifest the 3-fold social organism. Which we can only do if we stop listening to the prejudices & propaganda currently pounding us deeper into the materialism of our age – a voice that speaks loudly at times, or can be the faintest of whispers from the dragon within.

We generate the great strength we need to offer resistance to these hardening forces by approaching the spirit not only thru the inner powers of revelation & faith, like in the case of Joan of Arc, but by trying to concentrate our powers of understanding on what spiritual science has to give – a rational wisdom, filling us with light.

Irene Olid Gonzalez.

And when we take ahold of ourselves with this attitude, we can consciously work with what Michael, the Spirit of our Age, has to give us now in our time – Meeting every trial & test with a conscious heart-thinking, motivated by the wisdom of love.

~May we strive for at-one-ment on this solemn fast day, in preparation for our journey into the Michaelmas season, where we must kindle our own light of thinking.

~hag

***

Humanity and divinity | thehumandivinedotorg
William Blake

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

Jupiter/Saturn and Pluto conjunction 2020

28 September 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Retro. Saturn halting its westward motion, coming to an apparent stop 10 pm CDT tonight. The planet of universal memory will then begin moving eastward again — although not as quickly as Jupiter. The King questioner switched directions September 12 & is tracking east much faster than Saturn. Jupiter will ultimately catch up with the ringed planet December 21 for an extraordinary close conjunction that will bring Saturn as close as Jupiter’s own moons.

Our own Moon has pulled away from Sagittarius, where the giant planets now sit, so consider spending some time in this constellation tonight. The tiny dwarf planet Pluto, lies roughly between Saturn & Jupiter, Southwest of Saturn & Southeast of Jupiter.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

551 BC – Birthday of Confucius, Chinese teacher, editor, politician, & philosopher of the Spring &Autumn period of Chinese history

1203 – Deathday of Alanus ab Insulis, Theologian, poet, teacher at Chartres. Alan’s philosophy was a sort of mixture of Aristotelian logic and Neoplatonic philosophy. The Platonist seemed to outweigh the Aristotelian in Alan, but he felt strongly that the divine is all intelligibility and argued this notion through much Aristotelian logic combined with Pythagorean mathematic

 “Do not hold as gold all that shines as gold”

In the Anticlaudianus he sums up as follows: Reason, guided by prudence, can unaided discover most of the truths of the physical order; for the apprehension of religious truths it must trust to faith. This rule is completed in his treatise, Ars catholicae fidei, as follows: Theology itself may be demonstrated by reason. Alainus even ventures an immediate application of this principle, & tries to prove geometrically the dogmas defined in the Creed

Rudolf Steiner speaks extensively about this powerful Platonic individuality in many place such as: Karmic Relationships: Esoteric Studies – Volume III, lecture VI – THE SCHOOL OF CHARTRES

Giovanni Segantini - Wikipedia

1899 – Deathday of Giovanni Segantini,an Italian painter known for his large pastoral landscapes of the Alps. He was one of the most famous artists in Europe in the late 19th century. In later life he combined a Divisionist painting style with Symbolist images of nature. He was active in Switzerland for most of his life.

TODAY in 1924 – Rudolf Steiner gave his ‘Last Address’ in Dornach GA 238  ‘The Individuality of Elias, John, Raphael, Novalis’ with the Michael Meditation:

Springing from Powers of the Sun,
Radiant Spirit-powers, blessing all Worlds!
For Michael’s garment of rays
Ye are predestined by Thought Divine.

He, the Christ-messenger, revealeth in you —
Bearing mankind aloft — the sacred Will of Worlds.
Ye, the radiant Beings of Aether-Worlds,
Bear the Christ-Word to Man.

Thus shall the Heralds of Christ appear
To the thirstily waiting souls,
To whom your Word of Light shines forth
In cosmic age of Spirit-Man.

Ye, the disciples of Spirit-Knowledge,
Take Michael’s Wisdom beckoning,
Take the Word of Love of the Will of Worlds
Into your soul’s aspiring, a c t i v e l y !

1978 – Deathday of Pope John Paul I, born Albino Luciani, served as Pope until his sudden suspicious death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history.

***

Tuesday, September 29 MICHAELMAS ‘Talisman for Courage’ Art Workshop with Victoria Martin 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

MICHAELMAS ‘Talisman for Courage’ Art Workshop in person at the Rudolf Steiner Chicago Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago. 6:30-8:30 PM Facilitated by Victoria Martin

RSVP – viccimartin@gmail.com  312-961-3380

6:30 (sunset) Doors open: orientation. Tea, nuts, and fruit are served

7 PM sharp Visual lecture and demonstration

7:15 PM –8:00 PM workshop  – Pastels on flat canvas good for 100+ years (archival materials)

8:00– 8:30 PM discussion – We will learn all about symbols of The Michaelmas: Wings, Iron Meteorites/Stars, Scales of Judgment, Sword of Justice, and the Serpent/Dragon. There will be a wide selection of easy to render visual images in any/all of these 5 categories at each workstation. We will use a black charcoal pencil and the colors red, gold, and turquoise archival pastels on raw canvas size 11” x 11” this Talisman will be suitable for mounting on stretchers or framing (no glass needed).

Limited to 10 participants $15 tuition + $5 materials = $20 or pay what you will. Observers and guests are welcome at no charge, but please bring tree nuts, greens, fruit, or other paleo snacks.

Everyone: wear something RED: Michael’s color!

***

ON-GOING: 

Community Study – Wednesdays at  9:30 am – 11 am at the Branch – Working with Rudolf Steiner’s Karmic Relationships Vol 6.

Wednesday Morning Study Group Internet: https://meet.google.com/hdr-iaof-jkg

Phone: +1 402-828-0131 PIN: ‪867 997 908#

‘Anthroposophy’, which means Wisdom of the Human Being is a ‘Spiritual Science’ built on the research of Rudolf Steiner. Our current conversation explores: the riddles of existence, the truth of karma, the mystery of evil, historic connections, life after death and more.  We incorporate ‘The Calendar of the Soul’, eurythmy, focused discussion and seasonal artistic explorations in our study.  

For more info. contact Hazel Archer Ginsberg

***