TODAY on this Indigenous People’s Day – which also happens to be 10.10 ;I thought to share a little 10:10 Testament from our Thought-Seed Project to bring light in around our continued intention to visualize the human being as a Star & the Earth as a Sun; co-creating an ‘Egregore’ – our collective ‘Thought-Form’ of Good Will – our “key-call” to the powers on the Inner Planes, to enlist their aid – Everyday at 10:10 am / pm, in your time zone, wherever you are.
Our positive egregore grows between the material & spiritual worlds, connected to both, like a rainbow bridge in the etherial realm bringing the pot of gold to those who would look for it.
Folks have been asking for more insights into how to actually do the 10:10 Thought-Seed Experiment. Well friends, there is no right or wrong. It can be as simple as picturing yourself as a being of light; radiating wholeness, sharing truth, activating Will, blending colors, with all the other human souls aligned with love & light, shining together, to permeate the atmosphere with good will – illuminating the whole Earth. Short & sweet, you can do this anywhere, anytime.
Deb Safferal
If you wish to elaborate, you may want to build an imagination to help you “Think Light”. Sometimes I like to use these Steiner verses as a lead in: In purest outpoured light Shimmers the godhead of the World In purest love toward all that lives Outpours the godhood of my soul I rest within the godhead of the world There shall I find myself Within the godhead of the world (Repeat, knowing you are shimmering along with the godhead)
Iris Sullivan
Or this verse: More radiant than the sun Purer than the snow Subtler than the ether Is the Self The spirit within my heart I am that Self That Self am I
Kelly Treely
And of course our go-to verse from Waldorf Teacher & Esoteric Circle member Herbert Hahn, is the anchor for the Thought-seed for me every day:
“When I think light, my soul shines, When my soul shines, the Earth is a Star, When the Earth is a Star, then I Am, a true human being”.
in reverse: I am a True Human Being The Earth is a Star My Soul Shines I Think Light.
To extend this concept into the rest of our soul forces of Feeling & Willing, we wrote these verses to mirror Hahn’s idea.
For Feeling: When I feel warmth, my heart sings When my heart sings, the Earth resounds When the Earth resounds, I am a true I AM.
I Am a True I Am The Earth Resounds My Heart Sings I Feel Warmth
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
I Am a Free Human Being The Earth Heals My Hands Help I Will Life
Paul Carter
You might want to picture Mighty Spiritual Beings noticing our shining. Then we become a beacon which calls for a response. Powerful forces reply, by 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 every dis-ease into the light of healing wholeness…
Every day is different; you may want to feel into the sense of what is needed, for yourself, & for the world in that moment.
Lately before saying the verse, I have been setting the stage by creating Thought-pictures using my guardian angel as an energy enhancer. I invoke the angelic presence into my thinking, inviting this being to work with me to purify my astral forces, so that I may be a fit vessel for the light. I say this Steiner verse: Spirit Triumphant Flame thru the weakness of my faint-hearted soul Consume my self-seeking Burn up my egoism Enkindle compassion That selflessness That living stream in humanity May flow as a well-spring of Spiritual Re-birth.
Mandy Parker
I also picture the guardian angels of the all of you out there shining with me.
I can continue to build circles within circles, expanding out from the human, to the angelic; & then I bring in the Archangelic forces, which I picture as Columbia, the Being of America; joining in harmony with all the other Folk Spirits of the various national cultures, going beyond borders, into the universality of our unique humanness.
Kristena West
This then opens the threshold to the Archai, The Time-Spirit who holds the zeitgeist of the Age – Michael, who beckons us to work with him & the Being of Wisdom, The Sophia, to redeem the Cosmic Intelligence.
William Blake
Of course we could keep going up the ladder of the 9 Angelic realms to build higher circles of light by rising in our thinking – all the way – to meet the godhead in the Trinity.
Daniel Holeman
And then gathering & contracting that energy back down into the Earth, & into ourselves, to empower us in our becoming – the 10th Hierarchy of Freedom & Love – And the Earth – a sacred planet, a Star – the Sun of the New Jerusalem.
How do you do 10:10?
D.P. Dyyard
~Together we create a circle of protection & light In the Christic center Which has its eternal point within our heart – Ever reflecting out to the periphery of eternal becoming. ~hag
~Stellarium
10.10.22 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Fomalhaut, somtimes called “The Autumn Star”, is by far the brightest star in its constellation Piscis Australis, and is one of the brightest stars in the night sky. The dim constellations of Aquarius and Capricorn are close by. While known as the “Loneliest Star,” you can see that Fomalhaut has two relatively close and bright visitors this year: Jupiter and Saturn!
Zodiac designed by Rudolf Steiner, and painted in 1912, on the ceiling of the Anthroposophical Center in Stuttgart. In 1937 the building was destroyed.
~Autumnal vapours hover over the magic world of sense… Within the shining pageant of the light mingles a softening veil of mist… i see afar on fields of space the wintry sleep of fall… The Summer that is gone has given Herself to my call… ~hag
At Live Power Farm in Covelo CA. the nights are chilly, with swirling mists covering the valley in a thick dewy blanket of Atlantean-like vapors. We came together on the 1st day of the BDANC Michaelmas Conference at dawn, for the traditional ceremony of ‘Honoring the Cow’. When I first heard this term I thought O we’ll be singing & perhaps put a flower crown or some such on the cow. But this ceremony is more practical, essential, & down to earth – It’s about life & death. The Autumn-Tide is harvest time after all, when the plant & animal kingdoms yield to the reaping – returning the individual to the group soul in the cycle of birth & death as we enter the dark of the year. And how often are we actually present to the sacrifice, able to add our human attention & intention to the process?
Monty, the butcher, a slim rugged mountain man showed up in his truck, & we followed him to the barn. Charles & Gloria had chosen 3 cows & put them in a pen separate from the herd. Monty, with white beard & red suspenders, his small rifle held reverently on his shoulder, took some time to commune with these beings to see which one was called to be honored for this year’s ceremony.
The brown cow stood looking directly at Monty as Gloria read the powerful prayer that Nancy Poer wrote years ago specifically for this ritual, to honor the sacrifice of these cosmic & earthly beings that do so much to spiritualize the earth, & provide sustenance for the human being.
Everyone stood around embracing each other in quiet reverence. Monty raised the rife & shot the brown cow once in the skull – it crumpled to the ground without a sound in one swift movement. The shot was surprisingly not very loud at all, but for this city girl it was a shock; I gasped, & then began to hum & tone, as they brought the sacrifice out of the pen into the straw where we were standing.
Monty began the work of skinning the animal with such precision & artistry, as the community bore witness & held the sacred space. Every part of the animal is used. Harold & Luke laid out the innards which became the sheaths for the various biodynamic preparations that we then engaged in making all that day.
After breakfast & the official Welcoming by Cynthia & Harald Hoven, I facilitated a calling in of the Elementals. Altars were set up in each of the 4 directions, adorned with substances representing Earth, Air, Fire, Water & in the Center Spirit. We went from the center point as individuals, out to the periphery to form the eternal circle, with the imagination that when you square the circle it becomes the symbol for Earth. We sang & moved around the circle passing each altar until we felt called to stop at one, to commune there with our fellows who also chose to stand in that particular quarter to explore the Elemental Beings of each realm: The Gnomes & Trolls of the Earth Element in the North, The Sylphs of Air in the East, The Salamanders of Fire in the South, the Undines of Water in the West, & in the Center the Human Being as the 5 pointed Star of Spirit. Then each group reported their experience, sharing with the larger circle. We ended with another song feeling enlivened & bonded with the Elemental Beings of the land, & the Spirit of Place.
We worked for the main part of the day making the Biodynamic preparations which Harald Hoven distributes to many farms in the region: Chamomile blossoms moistened with nettle tea are stuffed into the cow’s intestines – this helps the metabolism of calcium in the soil; Dandelion Flowers put into the sheath of the cow’s peritoneum – which has an important role for silicic acid; Oak Bark was ground from trees on the land & after the cow’s skull was cleaned it was filled with this substance to combat plant diseases; & Horn Manure stuffed into the cow horns to stimulate soil life & root growth.
As the day progressed it became quite hot, almost 100 degrees. After another Circle with introductions & lunch, we finished the prep making, & gathered in the newly constructed community building for a round table discussion led by Gloria Decater & Chuck Ginsberg on ‘The evolution of Biodynamic legacy farms – old farms that need new farmers’ – A difficult issue calling to open opportunities for the future.
The next event was a workshop bringing the questions raised in the discussion into a living perspective reminding us that we have helpers on the other-side waiting for us to recognize them by rising in our thinking to meet them. The workshop was called: ‘Bridging Heaven & Earth’ – Working in consciousness community beyond the threshold for the future evolution of the Earth. Thru singing, & storytelling I brought the picture that, in the realities which Rudolf Steiner shows us in his many teachings on communicating with the ‘so-called dead’, working with the spiritual hierarchies, & coming to know the Christ as the meaning of the Earth, we learn what our beloved dead & the unborn can teach us about what it means to be human in a spiritual sense here on Earth. I taught a song that Ultra-Violet wrote, & shared a story that I crafted especially for Gloria & Stephen Decater, inspired by a healing tale from Susan Down that I call: ‘The Farmer’s Hat’. You can listen to it on my podcast ‘I Think Speech’, along with parts 1 & 2 of the ‘Festival of Life Tour’.
It finally stated cooling down a bit as we set up outside for a very interesting ‘Discussion about Sequential Spraying for Drought Remediation’ with Michael Aldinger & Alexandra Kravetz. The original intention of this technique is ‘to use the BD preps to harmonize overly wet or dry atmospheric conditions, to help create Balance, by spraying each preparation individually. Stir and spray BD 500 & BC (Horn manure and Barrel Compost) together the first evening, followed by BD 501 & 508 (Horn Silica and Equisetum) the following morning. (Note: this can and should be adapted as needed for individual and regional needs!) By following the above schedule, all nine BD preparations are sprayed in a short period, ideally coinciding with beneficial energies from the heavens to achieve maximum benefits. This is ideally done while the moon is in front of the constellation you wish to work with. Three water trines in a row are happening this November. The very best dates to encourage moisture are: Monday November 14 Moon in Cancer, Sun trine Neptune (especially beneficial) Tuesday November 15 Venus trine Jupiter, Moon opposition Saturn (especially beneficial) Wednesday November 16 Mercury trine Jupiter (especially beneficial) December 1-3 Moon in Pisces’. (See works by Hugh J. Courtney, Hugh Lovel, Lloyd Nelson & others for more background)
What I love about this is that Alexandra is setting up a spreadsheet so that all the participating farmers can add their input to co-create a document showing the Spiritual Scientific results. Kudos friends! It is very exciting to see this kind of research being done, especially since drought conditions can be devastating.
We ended the evening with a Jody’s delicious dinner of Pork & Lamb roast sourced from the Live Power Farm; much lively community conversation, & a bonfire with music & socializing under that magnificent night sky. Willow & Lew Summer brought song sheets for the sing-along – there were ukuleles, guitars & drums. Jupiter was the 1st to make his appearance in the East; & since it was the eve of the New Moon the constellations were unveiled in all their glory. What a gift to a perfect day of work & fellowship.
Stay tuned for the last installment of our ‘Festival of Life Tour’
~hag
3 October 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: First Quarter Moon occurs at 7:14 P.M. CDT today. Bella Luna is now in Sagittarius, floating amid the stars of its famous Teapot asterism.
Above Sagittarius is Aquila, which contains the famous luminary Altair, part of the Summer Triangle with its fellow stars Deneb in Cygnus and Vega in Lyra. You’ll notice this large asterism stays relatively low in the sky these days, now that fall has arrived.
508 BC – Deathday of Lucretia an ancient Roman woman whose fate played a vital role in the transition of Roman government from the Roman Kingdom to the Roman Republic. She committed suicide after being raped by an Etruscan king’s son was the immediate cause of the anti-monarchist rebellion that overthrew the monarchy. As a result of its sheer impact, the rape itself became a major theme in European art & literature
Deathay of Jarius. The record of the daughter of Jairus is a combination of miracles of Jesus in the Gospels (Mark 5:21–43, Matthew 9:18–26, Luke 8:40–56) The story immediately follows the exorcism at Gerasa. Jairus, a patron or ruler of a Galilee synagogue, had asked Jesus to heal his 12-year-old daughter. As they were traveling to Jairus’ house, a sick woman in the crowd touched Jesus’ cloak & was healed of her sickness. Jesus turned round to the woman & says: “Take heart, daughter,” your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” Moments later, a messenger arrived with the news that Jairus’ daughter had died, & he was advised not to trouble Jesus any further. However, Jesus responded: Be not afraid, only believe. (Mark 5:36) Jesus continued to the house, where he informed all those present that the girl was not dead but asleep. He then went upstairs & restored the little girl to life. In Mark’s account, the Aramaic phrase “Talitha Koum” (transliterated into Greek as ταλιθα κουμ meaning, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”) is attributed to Jesus
Deathday of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a Syrian Christian theologian & philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, the author of the set of works commonly referred to as the Corpus Areopagiticum or Corpus Dionysiacum, portraying himself as the Athenian convert of Paul of Tarsus mentioned in Acts 17:34 (Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus) This attribution to the earliest decades of Christianity resulted in the work being given great authority in subsequent theological writing in both East & West. His works are mystical & show strong Neoplatonic influence. For example he uses Plotinus’ well-known analogy of a sculptor cutting away that which does not enhance the desired image.
In a letter addressed to Polycarp, pseudo-Dionysius asks “What have you to say about the solar eclipse which occurred when the Savior was put on the Cross? At the time the two of us were in Heliopolis and we both witnessed the extraordinary phenomenon of the moon hiding the sun at the time that was out of season for their coming together…. We saw the moon begin to hide the sun from the east, travel across to the other side of the sun, and return on its path so that the hiding and the restoration of the light did not take place in the same direction but rather in diametrically opposite directions.…” This is illustrated in an astronomical fresco in the main gallery of the Escorial Library, near Madrid, Spain, which shows Dionysius the Areopagite observing an eclipse at the time of Christ’s crucifixion.
Luke, 23-45 (It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour. 45The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn down the middle) We can notice a quadrant & an astrolabe in the hands of the amazed men!
287 AD – Deathday of Saint Candidus. The Golden Legend states that he was a commander of the Theban Legion, which was composed of Christians from Upper Egypt. He opposed Maximian, who had ordered them to harass the local Christians in his name, stating that “we are your soldiers, but we are also servants of the true God. We cannot renounce Him who is our Creator and Master, and also yours even though you reject Him.” Candidus, along with St. Maurice, the other staff officers & 6,600 soldiers, were martyred at the Swiss town of Saint Maurice-en-Valais
1226 – Deathday of Francis of Assisi, Italian friar & saint. Based on a study of the life of Francis of Assisi, Rudolf Steiner shows how the development of morality is based on the belief in the Divine at the bottom of every human soul, on the boundless love that springs from this belief, and on the hope for each human soul that it can find its way back to the Divine. Anthroposophical Ethics…St. Francis, Lecture III
1250 – Deathday of Gilbertus Anglicus. His major work, the Compendium Medicinae, written in Latin, running to seven books, is an attempt to provide a comprehensive encyclopedia of medical & surgical knowledge as it existed in his day. He quotes extensively from Roger of Palma, & acknowledges that his work is indebted to Greek physicians including Galen, Hippocrates & Theophilus Protospatharius, & Arab physicians such as Averroes & Avicenna.
1884 – Birthday of, Paul Foster Case, an American occultist, founder of Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.), original member of Alpha et Omega, an organization that inherited the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Paul Foster Case played the organ in the Congregational Church, where his father was a deacon. In childhood, he started working to have lucid dreams. Rudyard Kipling, spurred his interest in their correspondence, confirming that such a phenomenon is possible, & can be developed.
Case became a member of the Order of Alpha et Omega, but he was distrustful of Enochian Magic. He explored certain practical ceremonial magic, with his sometime partner Moina Mathers.
Case was fascinated by the “New Thought” movement, he met William Walker Atkinson, & co-authored the modern literary mystification “The Kybalion”, as one of the anonymous “three wise men”.
from my library
Case studied various yoga’s & the karma of past lives, & was said to have worked with “the healer Dr. Fludd” who claimed that the Count Saint-Germain had sent him to be his teacher.
1995 – O. J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson & Ronald Goldman
2008 – The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is signed by President George W. Bush – commonly referred to as a bailout of the U.S. financial system, is a law enacted in response to the subprime mortgage crisis authorizing the United States Secretary of the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase distressed assets, especially mortgage-backed securities, & supply cash directly to banks
A. Cedur
~my words are forged in star-fire that i may speak the language of earth a sacrifice on the altar of angels… ~hag
Some of the folks from our annual Michaelmas Festival 2022 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago
Here are some highlights from our Annual Fall Prep day at Zinniker Farm:
God Bless the Zinniker’s
2 October 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The bright “star” ascending in the east at nightfall is really a planet, the largest of the planets in our solar system, Jupiter. This planet’s opposition – when Earth flew between Jupiter and the sun – was on September 26. A dark sky reveals the bright planet directly south of the Great Square of the constellation Pegasus. Between the Great Square and bright planet is a pretty, but faint group of 6 stars known as the Circlet in the constellation Pisces.
David Taulbee Anderson
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler MICHAELMAS Michaelic Firepower v26 Natura, in the being of my will I bear thy soul of motherhood and in my will enkindled firepower my spirit impulses are tempered, steeled, that feeling of the selfhood formed from them bear I in me.
Michaelmas Day was last Thursday. It will be in the week of v26 when it comes between Sunday and Wednesday. It is the last verse of the baritone’s imaginative power to incarnate the spirit’s summer gift. Next week the soprano will have the longing to recognise the stream of becoming arisen in her soul in a new seed, the baritone’s gift for her to find the inspiration for the Spirit Child’s Christmas birth. (The 4 voices of the Soul Calendar’s year were given by Karl Konig.)
MICHAELMAS II Soul Springtime v27 To fathom my depths of being arouses longing, ardently divining, that I, self-contemplating, find myself as gift the summer sun’s bequeathed my autumn mood in germinating seed, warm spring of strength to motivate my soul.
Greetings on this the fixed date start of the Michaelmas Season. The arrival of autumn always signifies a test. Are we willing to breathe in, after the out-breath of Summer? Are we willing to consciously harvest all the sense perceptions we have gathered? Are we willing to preserve & begin to digest all these life forces which we have received, giving us the reserves we need to courageously go into the dark of the year?
Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis
Around the Fall Equinox, when the Sun enters the constellation of Virgo, our morality is tested – & in Libra; the sign of the scales, human beings are indeed weighed on that stern measure. Will our inner strength hold up, when the support of nature is withdrawn?
During the growing season nature supports our human consciousness, it’s a gift given to us from the cosmos; but for the harvest we must work to fashion our own self-consciousness, if we are to remain inwardly awake.
Spiritual Science tells us that human consciousness is ever evolving. Less than 150 years ago, 143 to be exact, humanity experienced a huge shift in consciousness.
And so it was, around the end of the 19th century, that the fixed date of September 29th came to be called: ‘The Feast Day of St. Michael & All the Heavenly Hosts’.
The old legends always preface the famous story of the battle against the dragon, with an enumeration of the 9 angelic realms, with Michael standing before us as the King & herald of all the hierarchies.
And so as we strive to create the Festival of the future – which we call Michaelmas, we are invited to stand in balance between the light & the dark, to look back to the fruits of the past, & to prepare by looking to what is coming toward us from the future.
To look where we have been, & to where we are going. To contemplate the angelic choirs – that we may look to our future selves – that we may think, here & now, that step by step, we can courageously build our own strong & steady rung on the ladder of evolution, teaching us to count the human being as the 10th hierarchy. It is to this that the mighty Sun-Being Michael directs our gaze.
Vlad Apetrei & Irene Olid
But who is this powerful spiritual being? Rudolf Steiner has given us many indications. For day let’s start by looking at the name. Michael, is a question, for it means ‘Who is like god’? Questions are good, they help us think. But how can we possibly experience this earnest Sun-Being?
Well, we can sense his forces in the meteor showers that start in late August & go thru November. We can witness the power of Michael behind the shooting stars, strengthening our blood with cosmic iron, waging war there against anxiety, fear & hate, creating an inner process that penetrates our earthly thoughts with cosmic Thoughts – that our hearts may begin to have thoughts. And so it is that today I want to make a small attempt at understanding what spiritual science calls Imaginative cognition, or Heart-Thinking.
And we can start by asking a question. How can humanity, the Earth citizen, become once more a citizen of the Cosmos? – Well, it certainly won’t be by head-thinking alone. For in the intellect we are isolated from the world, isolated from the cosmos, because everyone has their own head; & in that head, their own thoughts. But In Heart-Thinking it’s not like that. Imaginative cognition takes us further in our evolutionary journey. The mysterious German word, Gemüt, which Steiner uses to describe Heart-Thinking- means something like: ‘the mind warmed by a loving heart & stimulated by the soul’s imaginative power’.
It is not dependent solely on the head, but on the rhythmic system, bringing us back to where we belong, as a being in the cosmos. For in the cosmos rhythm holds sway. You’ve heard of the ‘Music of the Spheres’ right? -Everything in sync, harmonious, in perfect balance. Until…
Gustave Doré
Once upon a time, another high spiritual being stood in his appointed place in the choir, looking up the ladder to the highest hierarchies with the thought, ‘hmm it sure would be nice to be god. It would be easy to enslave all these do-gooders. Maybe I’ll just cut the line’.
So with some other minions this being endeavored to storm the gates of heaven. Well needless to say, Michael, along with other Sun-Beings, felt the commotion coming from this agitated thinking. So Michael, as choir master, guardian of the Cosmic Intelligence=the power or intelligence that keeps the rhythms of the cosmos intact – had to hold the fort; & with the help of the other righteous angels, they cast the trouble makers out of heaven, in order to keep the Music of the Sphere’s harmonious.
And ironically because that high being wanted to rise higher, before its time, he actually fell back, becoming more hardened & densified, taking on what we would call, using the language of imagination, the super-sensible form of a serpent or dragon.
Elena Polenova
So there’s our famous story. But, you may ask, where is the dragon now?
Spiritual Science tells us that the dragon now lives within the human being. The outer cosmic conflict of Michael & the Dragon was transferred to the inner human being, because only in human nature can the Dragon now find his sphere of action. But fear not my friends, because of that, Michael now works with us to fight the dragon within our human nature. Michael has given humanity the opportunity to take up the cosmic intelligence into our heart-thinking.
Remember that picture of the 9 Angelic Realms? Spiritual Science says we have a cosmic aim within world evolution linked with the further development of the elemental beings. These spirits behind nature, dwelling in the mineral, plant, & animal kingdoms, seek to rise to a higher existence in the evolutionary process, BUT this can only be accomplished by passing through human beings!
When we enter into a right relationship with them, (that’s what the true meaning of morality is: right relationship) when we use heart-thinking to awaken consciously to our experience of nature, enlivening our sense perceptions with wonder, awe & reverence, the elemental beings can attain to this higher stage of evolution.
Rudolf Steiner tells us that we can develop a Gemüt content to our thinking, which shows us how every blossom bears testimony to the existence of an enchanted elemental being within it; & that thru our Heart-Thinking we can learn to feel the longing in this elemental being hoping to be released by us, instead of being delivered up to the Dragon.
And so, my dear friends, this is what I wanted to bring to you today: The idea that Heart-Thinking, is the modern antidote to the dragon – Heart-Thinking which empowers our will to consciously receive sense impressions, to let in the Spiritual Sun; the source of the Resurrection-forces; which enable the human intelligence to unite again with the cosmic intelligence.
In the spirit-realms, Michael’s battle with the dragon has been concluded victoriously. It is here on earth that humanity still has to complete it, in alliance with Michael – Whose gesture is no longer only that of battle. He raises his hand beckoning. The hand that was stretched out aggressively, in a threatening manner against the adversarial forces, has changed in our time, & is now beckoning. We don’t kill the dragon folks, we tame it.
Our work today is to begin to feel this transformation reflected in Michael’s gesture. As Guardian of Cosmic Intelligence, Michael counts on us to become free human beings, that we may return this gesture in kind.
I leave you now with a question, Could this someday lead to a true healing of the adversarial forces? And finally: Who is like god?
Tomorrow I will continue with part 2 of ‘The Festival of Life Tour’.
29 September 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: As twilight fades, look southwest for the waxing crescent Moon — now with its horns fairly near vertical. Orange Antares is off to her left. Between them is white Delta Scorpii, second in brightness to Antares.
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.
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 Baden.These 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 Steiner, The Apocalypse of St. John, Spiritual Science — The Gospel — The Future of Mankind
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
1954 – The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed
1957 – Twenty MCi of radioactive material is released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at Chelyabinsk
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
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
Some of the Chicago folks from ‘Building the Temple of the Heart’ 2021
Greetings friends – This is a dynamic moment in time…let’s strengthen and enkindle connections within our community and beyond. Last year’s annual conference theme was ‘Building the Temple of the Heart’ – now we can imagine entering this temple to connect with other striving souls around the World.
Join us in-person for a Community Gathering to celebrate Michaelmas as we stream the tour of the model of the first Goetheanum live from Dornach, Switzerland, followed by leading thoughts from Rev. Daniel Hafner, with Velsum Voicesas the capstone, & a potluck meal to end the afternoon.
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. 60613 on 29 September 2022 the Feast Day of Saint Michael and All the Heavenly Hosts Doors open at 11:30 am Noon CT – Live stream 1:15 pm CT – Velsum: singing: ‘Enkindling Connections-& The Heart Rose’ 1:30 pm – 3 pm Potluck – Please Bring Food & Drink to Share
Dear friends – The Michaelmas Season is here. The oblique angle of the Sun cuts across the shadows like a sword. The days grow shorter & the harvest has begun
Biodynamic agriculture has a keen focus on tuning into the natural rhythms of the Earth, & the cosmos. The alteration between night & day can be seen as the Earth breathing in & out, so it is with each turn on the wheel of year – there is a seasonal cycle in tune with the Earth’s journey around the Sun. Once a year in the Autumn the planet takes a deep breath in, as everything comes to harvest & slowly goes into a Winter dormancy.
So it’s time to gather on the land for the Fall Prep Day at the Zinniker Farm. October 1st, 2022. Suggested donation: $20 per person in support of the Stewardship of Zinniker Farm We’ll start at 1:30pm. Dress for comfort with layers. Please bring a dish to pass for the evening potluck & bonfire.
As always in the fall we will be filling horns for the BD 500 Horn Manure Preparation: It is a powerful means for structuring the soil It stimulates soil microbial activity of the soil and the production of humus It regulates the pH balance of the soil It stimulates seed germination and root development, in particular vertical growth, increasing depth of root systems It improves the development of leguminous plants (Fabaceae) and nodule formation It helps dissolve minerals even in deep layers (alios) and can helps counteract excessive salt levels.
We won’t need to make any of the compost preparations, so we will spend the remaining time with application of the preparations. We will learn how to add the preparations to the compost pile and stir and spray Horn Manure.
Once upon an autumn day that was cut thru with the thought of Winter, a little leaf was heard to sigh as leaves often do when the cold wind is swirling about. And the twig said, “What is the matter, little leaf?” And the leaf said, “The wind just told me that one day it would pull me off & throw me down to die!”
The twig told this to the branch & the trunk told it to the bark, & when the roots heard it, the branches of the tall tree rustled all over, & sent back word to the leaf, “Do not be afraid, you shall not go until you want to.”
And so the leaf stopped sighing, & instead went on nestling & singing. Every time the wind spoke, the tree shook itself & stirred up all its leaves, the branches bobbed, the thin twig twittered, & the little leaf danced merrily up & down, as if nothing could ever pull it off. And so it was all thru the month of October. And then November came & it grew colder still.
And as the outer light faded, the little leaf noticed that all the leaves around it became brighter. Some were yellow & some scarlet, & some striped with gold or curled with brown. The little leaf asked the tree what it meant. And the tree said, “All these leaves are getting ready to fly away, & they have put on these beautiful colors to celebrate.”
Then the little leaf began to want to go, too, & grew very beautiful in thinking of it, & when it was a bright orange color, like the wings of a butterfly, it noticed that the branches of the tree had no color in them at all, & so the leaf said, “O branches, why are you so lead-colored & we so golden?” And the tree answered:
“I must keep on our work-clothes, for my life is not done – but your clothes are for holiday, because your task almost complete.”
Just then a stiff gust of wind came, & the leaf let go, without worry, & the wind took it up & turned it over & over, & whirled it like a spark of fire in the air…& then it dropped gently down under the edge of the tree, among hundreds of other brightly colored leaves. There the little leaf lay dreaming of the sun & stars. And when the child picked it up & held it to the light, it flew out again & became the light.
“The best Anthroposophists are those who take what is said as a stimulus in the first place, and then place it at the service of life, so as to prove it by life itself.” ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Mission of the Folk Souls’ lecture 11
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1805 – Beethoven’s only opera,Fidelio, premieres in Vienna.
1945 –Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation
1910 – Deathday of Leo Tolstoy, Russian author & playwright “In 1828, Leo Tolstoy is born in a family of Russian counts about which he himself says that the family immigrated originally from Germany. Then we see Tolstoy losing certain higher goods of life. Hardly he is one and a half years old, he loses the mother, the father in the ninth year. Then he grows up under the care of a relative who is, so to speak, the embodied love, and from her spiritual condition, the marvellous soul condition had to flow in his soul like by itself. However, on the other side, another relative who wants to build up him out of the viewpoints of her circles, out of the conditions of time as they formed in certain circles influences him. She is a person who is completely merged in the outward world activity which later became very odious to Tolstoy and against which he fought so hard. We see this personality striving from the outset to make Tolstoy a person “comme il faut,” a person who could treat his farmers in such a way, as it was necessary in those days, who should receive title, rank, dignity, and medals and should play a suitable role in the society.
Then we see Tolstoy coming to the university; he is a bad student as he absolutely thinks that everything that the professors say at the University of Kazan is nothing worth knowing. Only oriental languages can occupy him. In all other matters, he was not interested. Against it the comparison of a certain chapter of the code of Catherine the Great (1729–1796) with The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Montesquieu (Charles de Secondat, Baron de M., 1689–1755) attracted him. Then he tries repeatedly to manage his estate, and we see him almost getting around to diving head first into the life of luxury of a man of his circles, diving head first into all possible vices and vanities of life. We see him becoming a gambler, gambling big sums away. However, he has hours within this life over and over again when his own activities disgust him, actually. We see him meeting peers as well as men of letters and leading a life, which he calls a worthless, even perishable one at moments of reflection. However, we also see — and this is important to him who looks with pleasure at the development of the soul where this development manifests in especially typical signs — particular peculiarities appearing with him in the development of his soul which can disclose us already in the earliest youth what is, actually, in this soul.
Thus, it is of immense significance, what a deep impression a certain event makes on Tolstoy at the age of eleven years. A friendly boy once told him that one has made an important discovery, a new invention. One has found — and a teacher has spoken in particular of the fact — that there is no God that this God is only an empty invention of many human beings, an empty picture of thought. Everything that one can know about the impression that this boy’s experience made on Tolstoy shows already how he absorbed it that in him a soul struggled striving for the highest summits of human existence.” ~ Rudolf Steiner, Where and How Does One Find the Spirit? Tolstoy and Carnegie, Berlin, 28th January, 1909
1976 – Deathday of Lili Kolisko, remembered for her pioneer work in anthroposophy, attending lectures by founder Rudolf Steiner starting in 1914. She developed the Capillary Dynamolisis method (Steigbildmethode), testing the idea that not only the moon, but the other planets as well, have an influence over earthly fluids. To test this, she dissolved metals classically associated to each planet & observed the pictures left by their absorption over a filter paper. She noticed consistent differences of the patterns according to the position of the planets in relation to sun & earth. Lilly Kolisko also worked on the development of a remedy for foot and mouth disease & methods for assessment of food quality from an anthroposophic standpoint. She was married to Dr. Eugen Kolisko. https://anthrowiki.at/Lili_Kolisko
Join us for our Annual NYE Conscious Community Gathering – The Theme for 2022 is Cabaret – a Cultural Sharing! All are invited to take the stage with an offering.
Circles Edge & other Waldorf alum will also perform
31 DecemberDoors open at 6:30 pm – 4248 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618
Please bring Festival Food & Drink to share
$20 goes to support the Rudolf Steiner Branch – the young People hosting & in The Band
7 – 8 pm – Eurythmy with Jan Ranck (separate fee $20)
8:30 pm – Circles Edge & Friends warm the stage & host the open mic
‘Tuning to the Stars’: Eurythmy for the Holy Nights with Jan Ranck* – Sacred Geometry, the Planets and the Zodiac LIVE IN-PERSON 26-30 Dec. 2021 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago 4 pm – 5 pm And at 7pm on 31 Dec. as part of our annual NYE Conscious Community Gathering (details above)
$100 for all 6 sessions, or $22 for each individual session. Make your payment using PayPal or QuickPay with Zelle to chase@rschicago.org (please indicate in the notes that it is for the Holy Nights Eurythmy) Cash at the door, or send a check to: Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue Chicago, IL 60618-2953 USA
* Jan Ranck – Born in the USA, Jan Ranck studied music and comparative arts at Indiana University in Bloomington. She accompanied the London Stage Group on their 1976 USA tour and went on to study eurythmy at the Eurythmeum in Dornach with Lea van der Pals, where she subsequently taught. In 1984 she joined the faculty of The London School of Eurythmy. She left there to complete her eurythmy therapy training in Stuttgart in 1989, moving afterward to Israel, where she founded and directed the Jerusalem Eurythmy Ensemble (1990) and the Jerusalem Academy of Eurythmy (1992) and was an instructor in the Jerusalem Waldorf Teacher Bachelor Program in David Yellin Academic College from 1999. Jan has held Master Classes at various venues worldwide, including the Goetheanum and the MA Program in Eurythmy held at Emerson College and Spring Valley. She is the representative for Israel in the International Eurythmy Therapy Forum.
