Greetings freinds – Here is today’s essay on the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast
The Virtue associated with Virgo is: Courtesy becomes Steadiness of Feeling.
In taking up the work of understanding Mary Magdalene in her overcoming of the 7 demons, to become ‘She who anoints the Anointed One’ – I have been working with the 12 virtues as the antidote – turning those vices into virtues.
Being a double Cancer with a Pisces Moon, this virtue of Equanimity or steadiness of Feeling has never been my strong suit – too much water! But the other day it also dawned on me that perhaps it’s partly because I have always looked on ‘courtesy’ as a false societal mask, a convention that my – ‘Say it like it is’ attitude didn’t allow me to fully appreciate; especially since my dear mother, who always very courteous, another Cancer native, was often martyred. So, I thought I had to be tough – I didn’t want to be walked on like she was. But I know that because of this need to adjust to my childhood experiences, I have often let my hard crabby shell be too heavy an armor. And it hurts that some can see me as aloof, thinking my need to protect my overly sensitive feeling life is a conceit. And yet it woke me up to seek to understand & deal with my own vulnerability.
And I see that to practice this virtue I must also deal with my impatience. I must learn to see that tolerance, & patient interest, is the real form of courtesy. It shows me that to be kind, to be truly courteous, I have to practice a real ‘steadfastness of feeling’ the virtue seen in the 6 basic exercises as Equinimity. – It can’t come from a rule outside me, an unconscious convention, a dutiful patent ‘please & thank you’, or an overt inconsiderateness – but from a tactful heart, centered in equanimity, bringing a calm sobriety & the resolve to cultivate & harvest right relationship.
Erdal Bölükbaşı
We are in the season cycle when the contemplative Virgin of the heavens holds the Sun forces, sparking wholeness, to gather us up in her blue mantle, like ears of corn. We are brought home from the far fields of Summer.
The constellation of the Virgin has always been regarded since the ancient mysteries, as the bearer of the bread of life – Full-filled at the ‘Turning Point of Time’ in the ‘miracle of the loaves & the fishes’, as well as the ‘Last Supper’ & in the birth of the Sun into humanity.
If cosmic provisions are to become nourishment for the Higher Self – The “I”, we must make a connection with the powers of the depths, which lie opposite the Virgin along the axis of the Zodiac, in the constellation of Pisces, the sign of the Fishes. With this balance of Above & Below we can truly feed the “I” – & say as St. John The Divine did: “I am the Bread of Life”!
This begs the question, which our current culture has to answer: How can the food of life, which is so often taken in unconsciously, in greedy gulps -instead, be taken up & internalized with a wakeful & reverent consciousness?
If the Bread of Life is to be fully digested by the “I”, then what is required is the destruction of our selfish desires, making us ‘virgin’ again, Whole – that we may give birth to the ‘Christ in me’, to preserve & focus the activity of the will, freeing the “I” from outdated husks, to feed the Christ self.
In the social realm, the royal virtue of courtesy brings the giddiness of summer’s unconscious expansion back into a steadfast feeling of thoughtful care. A soul hygiene that brings the pendulum into right relationship, just as every out-breath is followed by an in-breath –The austerity of the Virgin leading us into the balanced scales of Libra in preparation for Michaelmas.
This must be developed in the practice of our social life. If we practice this high ideal of courtesy, not just a surface, conventional politeness, we can acquire the right heart-felt feeling, which awakens an inner organ that can reveal to us the true being of the other person, as well as opening our connection to the elemental beings, that look to us to release them from the withering blooms.
~hag
“If the sheath-bearing Virgin, who draws near with golden rays of autumn sun, in the blue firmament, is to nourish you with what she provides, you must take up this food that is the Bread of Life in your innermost being.
That you can only do, when you develop not only your senses, but with them, open up the spirit of your soul to the world around you, & deepen in your heart the fruits of your life, that you gather, shape & organize. Only the right heartfelt tact gives you the possibility of recognizing the human being in others & of becoming aware of your own human nobility!” ~Rudolf Steiner
~Petr Horalek, Slovakia 09/09/2023 – 04:00 am – Comet C/2023 P1 Nishimura, discovered on 12 August by Hideo Nishimura from Japan, next to Venus (Occult Mercury).
720 – Death/Feast Day of Aubert of Avranches According to legend, in 708 he had a vision in which the Archangel Michael instructed him to build an oratory on the rocky tidal island at the mouth of the Couesnon. Aubert did not pay attention to this vision at first, until in exasperation Michael appeared to him again, this time driving his finger into Aubert’s skull & ordering him to complete the task again. Michael is said to have appeared to him a total of three times. After this the oratory was built.
The relic of Aubert’s skull, complete with hole where the archangel’s finger pierced it, can still be seen at the Saint-Gervais Basilica in Avranches.
1305 – Death/Feast Day of Nicholas of Tolentino, known as the Patron of Holy Souls, was an Italian saint &mystic. There are many tales & legends which relate to Nicholas. One says the devil once beat him with a stick, which was then displayed for years in his church. In another, Nicholas, a vegetarian, was served a roasted fowl, for which he made the sign of the cross, & it flew out a window. Nine passengers on a ship going down at sea once asked Nicholas’ aid, & he appeared in the sky, wearing the black Augustinian habit, radiating golden light, holding a lily in his left hand, & with his right hand, he quelled the storm. An apparition of the saint, it is said, once saved the burning palace of the Doge of Venice by throwing a piece of blessed bread on the flames. He was also reported to have resurrected over one hundred dead children, including several who had drowned together.
1509 – An earthquake known as “The Lesser Judgment Day” hits Constantinople killing over 2,000
1721 – The Treaty of Nystad was signed ending the twenty-one year Great Northern War between Russia & Sweden. Rudolf Steiner speaks about the significance of this in GA 119 Macrocosm/Microcosm: Lecture 6: Experiences of Initiation in the Northern Mysteries
1898 – Deathday of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, Queen of Hungary & Queen consort of Croatia and Bohemia. While travelling in Geneva in she was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni who selected her because he had missed his chance to assassinate Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans, & wanted to kill the next member of royalty that he saw. Elisabeth was the longest serving Empress-consort of Austria, at 44 years. Rudolf Steiner gives us much to think about concerning her destiny in this lecture – BEHIND THE SCENES OF EXTERNAL HAPPENINGS, GA 178, Lecture I, Zürick, 6th November, 1917
1919 – Austria & the Allies sign the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye recognizing the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia & Yugoslavia
1933 – Deathday of A.W. Sellin, Anthroposopher & Fremason
1935 – Birthday of Mary Oliver, poet & author
1943 – World War II: German forces begin their occupation of Rome
2008 – The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history, is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland
World Suicide Prevention Day
Saturday 23 September 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire Celebrating
*Autumnal Equinox
*Yom Kippur
*Michaelmas Festival
6 – 8 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile
Please Bring Food & Drink to share,& a jar for the prep
30 September 2023 – Our Annual Michaelmas Festival & Zinniker Farm Day
Biodynamic preparation making and Michaelmas 2023 – Food for Thought
The time for biodynamic preparation making is come up again very soon. We will be making and burying the chamomile, yarrow and dandelion compost preparations. This offers hands on activity. We will be walking through grass and work in soil. Please dress accordingly and be ready to get dirty.
After the potluck join Hazel Archer-Ginsberg in an experiential activity at the bon-fire called: Food for Thought –
Bounty: What spiritual gifts have you harvested in your life so far this year? Farewells: What no longer serves? What is over? Say good-bye and thank you. Preserves: What will you keep as seed for the future?
Date: September 30th, 2023 at the Zinniker Farm Time: 1:30pm, potluck dinner Please bring a dish to share Suggested donation: $15-25 for more info.
Greetings friends – I trust that your Labor Day was light filled.
Matthew 11:28-30: “28 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
We brought a highlight to the biography of Elizabeth Vreede on her Death-day recently. And today I ran across this lecture which she gave on 11 July 1930, so I thought to share this interesting snippet:
“In conclusion, I would like to share with you the beautiful words of comfort which Rudolf Steiner spoke once during the time when we were standing in the midst of battle. It was in Copenhagen in 1911, when he was giving three lectures which were then printed in the little book ‘The Spiritual Guidance of Humankind.’
The three lectures that were then used as a basis for the book were preceded by this introduction, which, however, was not included in the printing, and which indeed also would not have fitted there. I would like to read to you the conclusion from this lecture. It is my own transcription- I do not have any other- and regrettably incomplete in places. But even if it were complete, it could hardly convey the immeasurable love, forgiveness and comfort that streamed from Rudolf Steiner to his listeners in this lecture. These were approximately his words:
~Henry Brown Fuller
‘A period of time such as ours, portending such tremendous events of soul, presents a special opportunity for us to enter profoundly into ourselves. In addition to the many duties that flow out of our movement, we must also draw into our own hearts, our own souls, so that we may clearly appreciate that only through sacrifice, are we able to follow the way which can bring a certainty in regard to the Mystery of Golgotha.
Significant times such as these must necessarily bring us something confirming the truth of the old saying, ‘where there is great light, there is much darkness’- Shadows that arise along with those gifts of which we have spoken here. This possibility of error necessarily exists in combination with the outpouring of great truths. Thus, more than at other times the human soul is at present open to error. It is also true that in the coming days of enlightenment, the greatest possible errors may occur. Error is easily possible for the weak human heart precisely because we shall be experiencing enormous events.
In consideration of what the occultists of all ages, with clear warning voices, have spoken about this possibility of error, we must learn to practice the tolerance of which we have spoken here. A blind subjection must, on the one hand, be avoided, for that can actually foster the possibility of error. On the other hand, it is also necessary to have an open heart for the new forces that will to flow now from spiritual worlds into humankind. Whoever is a good Anthroposophist knows that if we wish to foster the Light that is now wanting to stream into humankind, then we must recognize the errors that will flow into us along with the light.
Let us take confidence in knowing that there has never been a movement in which such open, loving hearts could be fostered as in our present- day movement. May we realize that it is better to be attacked by those who believe they have the only truth, in their opinion, than to attack them ourselves…between those two extremes there lies indeed a long path.
Despair may descend on us with the thought in these difficult times ‘How can I distinguish truth from error?’ In our striving, let us try to live in such a way that we can be strengthened by the idea that the truth will indeed be what can provide the highest impulses for humankind: The truth shall be closer to me than I am to myself. If I have this relationship to truth and if I should err in this Incarnation, then in the next Incarnation the truth itself will lead me back to what is right. It is better to err in this frame of mind than to cling to dogmas.
If we honestly strive for truth, then truth will be the victorious impulse in the world; through us, and through its inherent power.
If the communications of spiritual truths can awaken such feelings in the human soul, then there will be fulfilled in these Souls the mission of the new spiritual Revelation which has come into humankind – and will come ever more strongly in the future – in order to lead us up into spiritual worlds’ “.
TODAY in 1919 – Opening of the 1st Waldorf School in Stuttgart “A Ceremony of Cosmic Order”
“We can accomplish our work only if we do not see it as simply a matter of intellect or feeling, but, in the highest sense, as a moral spiritual task. Therefore, you will understand why, as we begin this work today, we first reflect on the connection we wish to create from the very beginning between our activity and the spiritual worlds. With such a task, we must be conscious that we do not work only in the physical plane of living human beings.
In the last centuries, this way of viewing work has increasingly gained such acceptance that it is virtually the only way people see it. This understanding of tasks has made teaching what it is now and that the work before us should improve. Thus, we wish to begin our preparation by first reflecting upon how we connect with the spiritual powers in whose service and in whose name each one of us must work. I ask you to understand these introductory words as a kind of prayer to those powers who stand behind us with Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition as we take up this task.
It is our duty to see the importance of our work. We will do this if we know that this school is charged with a particular task. We need to make our thoughts very concrete; we need to form our thoughts so that we can be conscious that this school fulfills something special. We can do this only when we do not view the founding of this school as an everyday occurrence, but instead regard it as a ceremony held within Cosmic Order. In this sense, I wish, in the name of the good spirit whose task it is to lead humanity out of suffering and misery, in the name of this good spirit whose task it is to lead humanity to a higher level of development in education. I wish to give the most heartfelt thanks to this good spirit who has given our dear friend Mr. Molt the good thoughts to do what he has done for the further development of humanity at this time and in this place, and what he has done for the Waldorf School. We are united with him in feeling the greatness of the task and of the moment in which it is begun, and in feeling that this is a festive moment in Cosmic Order, he will be able to work in our midst with the necessary strength.
We wish to begin our work with this in mind. We wish to see each other as human beings brought together by karma, who will bring about, not something common, but something that, for those doing this work, will include the feeling of a festive Cosmic moment. ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Foundations of Human Experience’.
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF WALDORF EDUCATION Even the large scale of the photograph did not permit the inclusion of hundreds of personages and Beings who deserve to appear. Among those from the Past are: Adam and Eve, Abraham, Joseph, St. Luke, St. Paul, St Odelia, St Christopher, Pythagoras, Thales, Julius Caesar, William Blake, Buddha, Cicero, Albertus Magnus, Brunetto Latini, Zarathustra, Gilgamesh and Ibani, Novalis, Schiller, Christian Morgenstern, Karl Koenig, A.C. Harwood, Margaret Froehlich, Henry Barnes, Roy Wilkinson, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and many, many others.
Our thanks to Paul McCartney, Jann Haworth, and Peter Blake, creators of the iconic album cover for the Beatles’ inimitable Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band .
Among those from the Present who should take their place in this photographic Pantheon are: Patrick Wakeford-Evans, Ted Mahle, Roberto Trostli, Torin Finser, Karine Munk Finser, John Alexandra, Betty Staley, Douglas Gerwin, Arthur Auer, Norman Davidson, Clifford Monks, Arline Monks, Ida Oberman, Brian Gray, Michael Heffernan, Jaimen McMillan, Bonnie River, Thom Schaefer, Donna Long, Prairie Adams, Anna Rainville, David Mitchell, Chip Romer, Allegra Allesandri, Susan Olson, Kim John Payne, Jamie York, and many, many others. ~Eugene Schwartz
Saturday 23 September 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire Celebrating
*Autumnal Equinox
*Yom Kippur
*Michaelmas Festival
6 – 8 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile
Please Bring Food & Drink to share,& a jar for the prep
“Of what significance is it to one who has gone through the gates of death when they now see embedded in the souls ebbing and flowing in our world, the memories which these souls streaming by have of the dead? When they perceive these memories what do they mean to our beloved dead?.. “ ~Rudolf Steiner*
Dear friends – For many years I have made working with the dead an important priority in my life of Applied Anthroposophy. Our dearly beloved give us so much when we dedicate our thinking toward them in the spiritual realms.
I love this idea from Rudolf Steiner: ‘We are the art of the dead’.*
~Bruce Roloff
We are called to continue our relationships with those across the Threshold. The Original Calendar of the Soul given to us by Rudolf Steiner with its marking of the birth & death days of notable individuals, affords us many opportunities to consider how our memories, spiritual thoughts, & the reading of Anthroposophical content, can be to those in the spiritual world – What would it be like to imagine it like how art is to us in the physical world..?
We are called to turn our thoughts to the spiritual worlds, not out of mere fancy, or with a wish they could still be with us, but “because of the conviction gained through Spiritual Science that in turning our thoughts to the other worlds, we are able to make a contribution to this world, by ennobling and invigorating the conceptions needed for our willing, thinking, and feeling.”*
We turn our thoughts to those we have known, or admired, in the knowledge out of spiritual science, that we can be helpful to them – & they to us, as we continue our relationship.
It seems that lately we been given some powerful opportunities to practice this. It’s always interesting to me when I take the time to connect the dots between various souls who were born or died on the same day.
Today we have an interesting combination. So take a breath, it’s going to be a long post. Just take what sticks out for you & leave the rest. And as always Please share what comes up for you.
Blessings on this working:
Planetary influences on metals. Lili Kolisko’s empirical research
TODAY in1889 – Birthday of Lili Kolisko a scientist & anthroposopher. The rising image method she developed enabled the detection of cosmic effects in earthly substances for the first time & made her a pioneer of biodynamic agriculture.
She was the daughter of a typesetter, born in Vienna. Together with her two step-sisters, she grew up very poor, burdened by her father’s drunkenness. Still she was able to attend high school & graduate with honors. After the outbreak of the First World War, she worked at a hospital where she learned to use a wide variety of medical laboratory techniques. This is where she met the young assistant doctor Eugen Kolisko. They were married in 1917. Both were united by a strong interest in the natural sciences & anthroposophy .
After Lili Kolisko had met Rudolf Steiner for the first time in 1915 , she wrote a letter asking for suggestions for the development of a chemistry oriented towards the humanities.
In 1919 the Kolisko couple had a daughter & the family moved to Stuttgart , where Eugen Kolisko worked as a teacher in the newly founded Waldorf School .
In July of the same year, Eugen Kolisko & Rudolf Steiner researched a cure for foot-and-mouth disease, which was rampant at the time. Lili Kolisko was entrusted with the laboratory work required to find out the correct dosage of the agent.
Rudolf Steiner instructed her to carry out germination experiments on plants with various dilutions & to record the result in the form of a curve. Lili Kolisko also examined the blood of the sick animals &, in 1922, when little was known about the function of the spleen, was able to prove a metabolic regulator secreted by the spleen in her pioneering work “Spleen function and the platelet question”. In the course of this work with Steiner they founded the Biological Institute at the Goetheanum..
Rudolf Steiner considered Lili Kolisko’s research work to be very important & often visited her in her laboratory to discuss the results & provide further suggestions. He worked with both Koliskos emphasizing that science needed to overcome the prevailing materialism, to make visible the ethereal qualities in matter. Together with Steiner, Lili Kolisko developed potentization methods where the material substance was gradually thinned beyond the limits of physcial, so that the etheric efficacy emerged more & more clearly. In germination tests with plants, in the dilutions, she denoted the rhythmic properties directed by Steiner’s indications.
“Lili Kolisko’s studies of the effects of the smallest entities, have put everything that has been touching in homeopathy on such a thorough scientific basis in such a brilliant way. One can consider it absolutely scientific that the smallest entities, in tiny quantities – precisely the radiant forces which are used in the organic world – are released by using these minute quantities in a corresponding way. ” ~Rudolf Steiner, GA 327
In the afterword of her study, which summarizes her work from 1923 – 1959 on the physiological & physical proof of the effectiveness of the smallest entities , Lili Kolisko writes: “In the course that Rudolf Steiner held for doctors in Switzerland in 1920, he described it as “a beautiful task to show the effects that emerge during potentiation in certain curves”. It was a nice job. Time and again one convinces oneself that if one takes Rudolf Steiner’s words seriously and follows his suggestions, they will come true in every detail. Plant growth shows an effectiveness again and again, but it is no longer bound to a substance. One perceives effects – without being able to prove a substance for it. You stand in amazement and admiration in front of the sheer effects of forces. A wonderful rhythm swings through the substance, from the terrestrial to the cosmic…You have to learn to read the curves. That too is a nice job. In Jahn in 1926, I wrote in the epilogue of the book “Physiological evidence of effectiveness smallest entities in seven metals”: The curves are spiritual into the physical shut fetched images realities they reflect Weltgesetzmäßigkeiten again! If one keeps in mind, you do not shy away from the effort to penetrate deeper into this wonderful area and to think in gratitude to Rudolf Steiner, who made this knowledge accessible to us. “~ Lili Kolisko
This rhythmization method developed by Lili Kolisko, in which she worked out differentiated shaking rhythms for individual substances, was groundbreaking for later anthroposophical research on medicinal products.
On the basis of this procedure, she also examined the influence of cosmic constellations on the creative forces in the following decades. In an elaborate series of tests with one percent metal salt solutions, she was able to determine the effect of solar and lunar eclipses and the influence of the planetary movements on the seven planetary metalsdocument. I published the results of some of her work: The “star work in earth materials” during the Cosmic & Earthly Easter event a few years back.
Together with her husband, Lili Kolisko was very active in the Anthroposophical Society. After the Christmas conference in 1924 she was commissioned by Rudolf Steiner to read the esoteric instructions given by Steiner, the so-called ‘class hours’, for the teachers of the Stuttgart Waldorf School as part of the newly established ‘First Class of the School of Spiritual Science.
After Rudolf Steiner’s death in 1925, the working conditions for the Kolisko couple, who were close to Ita Wegman & Elisabeth Vreede, became increasingly difficult due to the ongoing disputes.
Lili Kolisko’s work was also largely ignored by the anthroposophical doctors & only given little financial means, because she was not considered competent enough because she had no academic medical or pharmaceutical training. The couple left Stuttgart in 1934 & moved to London, where the ‘International Association for the Advancement of Spiritual Science’ was to be established at the suggestion of the English anthroposopher Daniel Nicol Dunlop . The plan failed because Dunlop died the following year.
In 1939 Lili Kolisko’s husband Eugen died suddenly & unexpectedly of a heart attack in a lonely train compartment of a suburban train . From then on, Lili Kolisko lived very withdrawn, but she continued her research tirelessly under the most difficult financial conditions. She also translated numerous works by her late husband into English. In 1961 she was able to complete the biography of her husband Eugen Kolisko, in which she also reports in great detail about the bitter experience with the Anthroposophical Society after Steiner’s death.
1905 – The birthday of Bernard Lievegoed born in Sumatra. His father was a journalist, his mother a teacher. When Bernard was 2 years old he contracted cholera & became paralyzed on one side. He did not learn to walk again until he was 4 years old. His daughter Christie Amons-Lievegoed points out: “When one realizes what learning to walk means in a child’s life, one can see that having to learn to walk twice has been an enormous training of will for him.” She also describes Bernard as a dreaming child, open to the wonders found in the tropical nature of his childhood, which had a deep influence. Bernard often gave credit to this upbringing which he saw as giving him ‘rich life forces’ that fortified not only his health but also the liveliness of his thinking.
His daughter describes: “In Sumatra, behind a ditch at the end of the garden, the jungle began. He saw monkeys in the trees and heard all the wonderful sounds that emanate from such a jungle at night. That fueled his imagination. What nature also provided for opportunities for adventure is described in the booklet: “The eye of the needle. We as children could not imagine our father on a crocodile hunt, although there was still much in our house that reminded us of the “Indonesian” time, such as wayang puppets and – indeed – a crocodile skin!”
Bernard’s technical interest was also apparent at an early age, diving his father’s car in the mountains. He loved all technical gadgets.
His childhood had a cosmopolitan character; it made him a citizen of the world. His journalist father took him to Washington DC, to visit the United States Congress, where he witnessed the declaration of war on Germany. Thru his father, but also thru the cultural differences between his classmates, he experienced a lot of international politics.
At the age of 17 he went to The Hague & took his final exams there. He then decided to study medicine in Groningen.
Bernard Lievegoed was 21 years old when he encountered anthroposophy. Many ‘greats’ of the medical & pedagogical movement were present at a conference in The Hague in 1926, one year after Rudolf Steiner’s death. Thru the stories of the people who had known him, Bernard experienced Rudolf & called him his true teacher.
After graduation & military service, an important event took place in 1930, a turning point in Bernard’s life – camp “De Stakenberg”, an international meeting of anthroposophists with 1200 participants.
Bernard, aged 25, was assigned the organization of this huge camping experiment & Nel Schatborn, (who later became his 2nd wife) still a medical student, became camp commander. Truus Hinse, Bernard’s fiancée, was also present; a meeting of 3 people who would be intimately intertwined with each other’s destinies. During this camp, Bernard decides to commit himself to curative education.
He visits the “Lauenstein” in Germany, the Clinic with “Sonnenhof” as an annex in Arlesheim [Switzerland] & has the feeling of being “at home at last”. He is deeply impressed by the mood, the approach & the medical care of the children.
On September 19, 1931, the Zonnehuis in Bosch en Duin was opened, with 6 children. A year later, Bernard sends a telegram to the head of the medical movement, Ita Wegman, with the text: “Habe neues Haus kauft” (I’ve bought a new house).
His first years in curative education are characterized by great intimacy & intensity of work. There was no money, & there were also few employees who knew what anthroposophical education entailed. He worked closely in consultation with Ita Wegman about spiritual, but also extremely practical matters. She was like a mother of the emerging international curative education movement. She also gave her warm support to the initiative in Holland.
For Bernard, work in Bosch en Duin begins with the deepest confrontation of his life. He is deeply saddened that Truus, whom he has been married to less than a year, dies after the birth of their son. She was only 23 years old, he was 27 years old. While he experiences deep despair inwardly, the work must be built up. Outwardly, Europe darkens. He then says: “It is my sole purpose to bring the work of Rudolf Steiner to the world. Young people must find spiritual food against National Socialism” & he wants to make sure that the Zonnehuis can have an impact in cultural life.
In 1934 Nel Schatborn comes to the Zonnehuis & a year later they get married. This is followed by the intensive years of ever-deepening curative education, of medical work & lectures in the country, of his doctorate & the trials of the Second World War.
Immediately after, one of his children dies, a grief that opens him to whole new questions. They come to meet him from the business community & prepare his professorships in Rotterdam & Enschede & his many lecture tours.
The very 1st lecture for the ‘Society for Industry & Trade’ in 1948 has far-reaching consequences, bringing questions from the business community with an emphasis on education & training. In 1953, the ‘Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences’ [now Erasmus University] appointed him professor by special appointment of social pedagogy.
In order to have a practice ground, he founded the ‘NPI’ (Dutch Pedagogical Institute for Business) in 1954. It was an entirely new initiative within Dutch society – He shows how organizations can be seen as living organisms that go thru developmental phases. The work becomes very fruitful, courses are given for managers & bosses, it was about serving & bringing out the best in people.
Bernard Lievegoed speaks of the “spirit capital of a company”, which is just as important as the economic & the production process.
In 1961 he took over the presidency of the Anthroposophy Association in Nederland (until 1975) from Willem Zeylmans van Emmichoven, who died unexpectedly.
Between 1968 & 1976 he was appointed to the Government Commission for Education, which was to reform the Dutch education system in Holland.
He was the chairman of the supervisory board of the Dutch Waldorf school teacher training VPA ( Vrije Pedagogische Akademie , today Hogeschool Helicon ). In 1973 he left Erasmus University to work for the Vrije Hogeschool (now Bernard Lievegoed College for Liberal Arts ), which he founded in 1971 working as rector until 1982.
In the last two decades before his death in 1992, he was increasingly active as a writer & lecturer. He exerted a lasting influence on the anthroposophical movement worldwide. His book ‘The Battle for the Soul’ was said to have been ‘wrested from him on his deathbed’ & only published after his death, changed my life in helping me see how I can put Anthroposophy into practice.
He was an innovator in many areas, with a special intuition for what was happening at the time; that is why his initiatives always gained social support. He knew that warm, spirit-filled enthusiasm creates fertile seeds for life – now & in the future.
1973 – Deathday of J.R.R Tolkien. His tales tell the story of human evolution in the form of a myth or fairy tale – reminiscent of the initiation rites seen in the occult traditions, & in a renewed sense in Spiritual Science. Tolkien tells about a humanity born from the Music of the spiritual Hierarchies – coming to Earth immortal & perfect, & transforming this original pureness in a love for Earth & her creations. The way Tolkien chooses numbers, images, events – everything is amazingly similar to the ancient teachings – Yes, everything reveals this presence in Tolkien’s soul – an artistic forming of past incarnations & certainly influenced by the anthroposophical Christology discussed with his friend Owen Barfield – revealing deep knowledge & images, that whisper into his inspired ear -The precise & patient, but non-intellectual, inner dialogue with the spiritual streams of a human civilization from the past, into the present & future time.
2009 – Deathday of Ernst Katz, a great teacher of anthroposophy based for many years in Ann Arbor MI, where he was professor of physics at the University there. At the retreat I attended last year in Ann Arbor, as part of the General Council of the ASA , the local community shared many stories about this powerful thinker. We heard that at the tender age of 16 Ernst joined the Anthroposophical Society & for his long life of 96 years was fully dedicated to Spiritual Science as a way of life & method of understanding the human being’s purpose on Earth.
Ernst ran the legendary Ann Arbor study group which at first held its meetings in various members’ homes. The protocol was as the same oneused in the CRC study group: Designated people present a short recap in their own words of the Steiner lecture followed by a general discussion in the group. Many folks were drawn to Ernst’s quiet way of leading. Attendance was typically 25 to 30 eager anthroposophers, & discussion was lively.
Even his physics students at the university recognized his extraordinary teaching skills & moral character. It was clear to all that Ernst saw every human connection as an event of destiny, & he treated each one with respect & reverence.
It was Ernst’s suggestion that the members of the study group buy an old abandoned fraternity house to create a place for university students interested in spiritual development to live & study – & the Rudolf Steiner House of the Great Lakes Branch was born. For many years Ernst & his wife Katherine were overseers of the building which was donated to the Anthroposophical Society in America & is now the society’s headquarters. He is still teaching from the spiritual world today!
~Arnold Böcklin
*“Each time that a dead person receives a remembrance of themself in the soul of a person who was in some way connected with them, it is always as if something streamed over to them as beauty, enhancing their life. And as to us here on earth, beauty comes from Art, so to the dead, beauty streams to them from what rays forth out of the hearts and souls of those who keep them in memory…” ~Rudolf Steiner, GA 157a – The Forming of Destiny and Life after Death: LECTURE 4: THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL AND THE PHYSICAL WORLDS, AND HOW THEY ARE EXPERIENCED AFTER DEATH – Berlin, 7th December, 1915.
~Elizabeth Wang
Thank you dear friends for keeping the connection alive!
~hag
2 September 2023 – “Speaking with the stars”: Tonight around midnight Venus (Occult Mercury) stands stationary, bringing its current retrograde path to an end. Rising now before sunrise amid the stars of Cancer the Crab – to the lower right (southeast) of the Beehive Cluster.
Greetings friends – Not sure if it was the residue from the Full Blue Corn/Sturgeon Moon or if Night School was kicking into gear for the Fall Session, but I had a series of interesting encounters last night. I dreamt I was being led thru some tunnels that I knew were underneath the Chartres Cathedral. The being leading me was humming in deeply resonate tones, which vibrated thru my whole being. She was holding a flame what seemed to be coming right out of her hand. I stumbled over a brick in the stone floor & when I looked down, in the half darkness I saw a design that looked like the Christian fish symbol. I called out to the leader but she had gone ahead & now it was quite dark & when I tried to go forward I kept tripping on the many loose bricks. Each time my foot hit the stones a tone rang out, but I couldn’t see what symbol was on them. I was reaching out my hands to try & feel my way when I touched a wall that was so soft my hand seemed to sink right in…& then I woke up.
Later after my meditation & other various morning duties, I saw that Tom Mellett had reminded me in a commet from yeaterday that today was René Querido’s birthday. He wasn’t my teacher in person, but his books have been a powerful guide for me.
So today I will share a bit about this Modern Grail Knight:
René Querido was born 1 September 1926 in Amsterdam. He attended schools in Holland, Belgium, France & after the family’s escape from Nazi-occupied Holland – went to England. In his 21st year he encountered anthroposophy. In 1948 he graduated from London University in science & mathematics. From 1949 he taught French, geography, mathematics & world religions, for 15 years at the Michael Hall Waldorf School in Sussex. From 1958 he also worked as a class teacher. In the 1960s he was a leader in teacher training. From 1975 to 1977 he was co-created the Threefold Center for Adult Education, in Spring Valley, NY, where he also taught at the Green Meadow School. From 1977 to 1991 he headed the Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California. Starting in 1991 he lived & worked in Boulder, Colorado. In 1992, after the death of Werner Glas, René Querido was asked to become General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America, which didn’t last long. Querido was the co-founder of numerous schools & anthroposophical institutions here & abroad; he gave lectures in almost every part of the world. René Querido is the author of several books.
The following interview with René Querido arose from questions by Thomas Meyer:
TM: Could you tell our readers something about your biographical background, your family name is Spanish and seems to indicate Spanish ancestry.
RQ: My family name actually goes back to Spanish-Portuguese origins in the 15th century. The family, together with the Spinoza, Casuto, Pereira and other families – twelve in all – were expelled from Portugal and found refuge in Amsterdam, where they founded a Portuguese community. Among the Queridos there is also an outstanding writer: Israel Querido, who wrote some impressive books in Dutch at the end of the last century, in the style of Dickens and Zola. He was strongly committed to the social issues of his time and was banished from the synagogue as a result of his Christian leanings.
TM: Which of Rudolf Steiner’s early students did you have a special relationship with after your discovery of anthroposophy?
RQ: Shortly after my encounter with anthroposophy at the age of twenty-one, I did come into close contact with a number of very remarkable personalities. The following people had the greatest and most significant influence on my whole future: Dr. WJ Stein, Dr. W. Zeylmans, Dr. Lehrs, Dr. Maria Lehrs (-Roeschl), Dr. Herbert Hahn, Dr. M. Kirchner-Bockholt, Erich Kirchner, Dr. van Deventer. I had the privilege of meeting these people regularly for many years. They were always willing to answer my questions and always gave me considerable encouragement.
TM: If I remember correctly, you also met Pierre Morisot , an important Chartres researcher and French student of R. Steiner?
RQ: I met Pierre Morisot on several occasions in Paris, from 1954 until his death. We used to chat in a bistro in the Latin Quarter. He dealt deeply with the Grail legend of Chrestien de Troyes. He spoke variously of Marie de Champagne, who was Chrestien’s inspirer. He was also linked to Chartres – and helped me understand the geology of the rocky plateau on which the cathedral was built – a mixture of granite and the region’s limestone. “Typical of old Druid circles,” he said. Morisot was a friendly, highly educated French gentleman who spoke softly but firmly. He had been an engineer.
TM: Not only did you often meet and experience Walter Johannes Stein , but also the young one Trevor Ravenscroft, who wrote the highly problematic book The Spear of Destiny after Stein’s death. What was your relationship with him and his work?
RQ: I didn’t meet Trevor Ravenscroft until after the death of WJ Stein [July 7, 1957]. We became friends, but I couldn’t accept a lot of what he did and said. He urged me to write a Grail book, which I refused. When I met him again much later, in 1976, in the middle of the night in London, and I was about to say something critical of his book, which had since appeared but he interrupted me with the remark that he had simply written it for the sake of easy money. I have pointed out in articles at various times that one-third of his book is true, one-third consists of half-truths, and one- third is simply the product of his fertile imagination.
TM: You also met Astrid Countess Bethusy-Huc once. What was your impression of this daughter of Helmuth and Eliza von Moltke, who played a modest but significant role in her parents’ lives?
RQ: Since this is a very moving story, I want to backtrack and share how it came about I was able to visit her in September 1958, three years before her death. It was a few months before WJ Stein’s death in the summer of 1957. For a number of years Stein had asked me to indicate the subjects on which he was to speak at Michael Hall on Wednesday evenings. I asked him again and again what he wanted to talk about, but for at least four years he steadfastly refused to respond and insisted that I choose the topic of the talk. Now, on this last occasion, I asked him to speak about occult events in recent history. He agreed and talked about Moltke’s fate, which I didn’t know anything about at the time. Not even from the ordinary historical point of view. His lecture made a deep impression on me; I wanted to know more; but he died away. Soon after his death I was at a conference in Arlesheim. During a coffee break, I looked around and considered who to approach. I chose Jürgen von Grone, who was amazed at my question about Moltke and told me that he was one of the few people (alongside Emil Bock) who was in possession of the post-mortem letters. Von Grone, who was personally well acquainted with Stein, had the impression that I was going through Stein & had been led to him. He invited me to visit him in Stuttgart at Easter (1958), where he promised to read me parts of Moltke’s notes . It was a deeply moving experience, but von Grone explained to me that I could learn half the story that way, but that I would also learn the other half if he were able to visit Astrid Countess Bethusy. And so it happened that in September 1958 I was to spend two days with Astrid Countess Bethusy. The first impression of this meeting was extraordinarily deep. Rosemarie, her daughter, met me at the train station and I was greeted by the Countess, an old lady dressed all in black who hardly spoke a word. I had lunch with the family, and then the countess told me in a low voice to come up to her room at five o’clock in the afternoon. As the old lady began to speak, she literally transformed into a being of light and warmth. She spoke in a strong voice and began to read certain things from the letters that von Grone had not told me. A conversation followed while the sun slowly went down and the room was flooded with a golden light. From this conversation I have the following points
• She emphasized that dark forces were also at work in the Odile stream.
• The monastery castle of Odilies represented a light to the east.
• Black magic powers that had been trained in the mystery centers of Italy worked against Nicholas [= Pope in the 9th century, † 867].
• During the time of St. Nicholas, Wilhelm II worked against the Christ impulse and persecuted many people.
• The danger at the end of the century consists of black “raven forces” (which should remain underground), but will try to rise above the heads of the people and weave an Ahrimanic net in order to cut off the people from the spiritual world . In 1924 they had already penetrated to the human diaphragm.
• Umi3* (*”Umi” is a spiritually important individuality, “a spirit that has been connected to us for thousands of years”) could not reincarnate due to his mystery betrayal. Rudolf Steiner gave the Countess meditations to help this individuality that had appeared spiritual to her .
• Michael’s altar in the astral world is a radiant one of Light.
• Rasputin has a terrible greed to reincarnate and he will bring with him Ahrimanic powers and other non-terrestrial beings and he will be destructive.
• Often the small things are spiritually more important than the apparently important external events.
• I met the Countess when she was 76 years old. She died in 1961, aged 94. Astrid was strongly attracted to anything religious in nature and had many spiritual experiences as a child and young woman. Rudolf Steiner referred to her connection to her mother and called them both “twins”. The countess married an older count Bethusy They had four children.
• She attended the performances of the Mystery Dramas and heard many of Rudolf Steiner’s lectures in Berlin.
• Rudolf Steiner gave her a series of meditations when she was 23 and 24 years old.
• She confirmed her mother’s connection with Odilie. – I had the impression that she was still in spiritual contact with her parents.
TM: You mentioned a meditation given to Astrid Bethusy by Rudolf Steiner, the wording of which is unknown, for the enigmatic individuality of the Umi. There are also some well-known proverbs for her as well as for her mother. They were usually placed on the reverse by R. Steiner written from photographs, as he did then with many close disciples.
RQ: When I asked the Countess in September 1958 which of the sayings meant for her R. Steiners considered her to be the most important, she said “This one here”: Let us, O world spirit, be imbued with a spirit-moving attitude, so that we do not miss what can be for the salvation of the earth and for the earth Progress, Lucifer and Ahriman in the right sense!
TM: Is there a specifically American way of absorbing anthroposophy, and how do people here come to it?
RQ: Anthroposophy tends to get a little wooden in the US. Most people find it either through Waldorf education for their children or through the arts, especially eurythmy.
TM: In your opinion, what personalities were important in establishing the anthroposophical movement in the USA?
RQ: One of the leading figures here was Mr. Greene, who was a voice teacher and who led the St. Mark’s group in one of the rooms at Carnegie Hall gathered Charlotte Parker; Henry Barnes and Paul Allen – just to name a few.
TM: What are your and your wife’s current activities in Boulder?
RQ: We are primarily active in the Boulder Anthroposophical Institution, which holds courses three times a week , while the work with the class texts takes place monthly. There are three Waldorf schools here.
1 September 2023 “Speaking with the Stars”: As dawn brightens, catch Venus (Occult Mercury) low in the east coming out of inferior conjunction with the Sun.
TODAY 31 August in 1943 – Deathday of Elisabeth Vreede, a Dutch mathematician, astronomer & Anthroposophist – one of Rudolf Steiner’s closest co-workers, part of the the original Vorstand in Dornach . ‘Vreede’ translates from the Dutch as ‘Peace’.
Elisabeth Vreede was born in Holland, at The Hague, on 16 July 1879. She was a sensitive person, & later on in her life she played an important part in the life of Anthroposophia.
Elisabeth Vreede came into contact with Theosophy in her home growing up. She was interested early on in the starry sky, & while learning French, she read the works of Camille Flammarion, a French astronomer & author. Because of his scientific background, he approached reincarnation from the viewpoint of the scientific method, writing, “It is by the scientific method alone that we may make progress in the search for truth. Religious belief must not take the place of impartial analysis. We must be constantly on our guard against illusions.”
At the University of Leyden she studied mathematics, astronomy, Sanskrit, & philosophy (especially Hegel). She was also actively involved in student life, founding a boat club & was a council member of the students’ union.
After receiving her diploma in 1906, she gave instruction at a higher girl’s school in mathematics until 1910. Then she lived in Berlin, worked on her dissertation, & worked as a secretary for Rudolf Steiner. In April 1914, she moved to Dornach to help in the building of the first Goetheanum & was often found there carving wood.
Her first meeting with Rudolf Steiner took place at the Theosophical Congress in London in 1903. Vreede was leader of the mathematics & astronomy sections in the Goetheanum in Dornach from 1926 till 1935. In her capacity as leader of the Mathematical-Astronomical Section she wrote a monthly letter, then available by subscription, about both modern astronomy & classical astrology in the light of spiritual science. The letters included explanations of the fundamentals of astronomy & discussions of astrology in the modern world, with reference to such topics as the procession of the equinoxes, comets, solar & lunar eclipses, & the meaning of the Christian holidays such as Easter & Whitsun. The Letters in English translation were published in 2007 with the title Astronomy and Spiritual Science.
Rudolf Steiner said of her: ‘this individuality does not wish to be recognized …’ Elisabeth Knottenbelt in her memoirs describes statements about her: that ‘she incarnated too early’ for the sake of serving Rudolf Steiner. “for this task [the work with Rudolf Steiner] she had assumed the sacrifice of a premature incarnation. One who, for the sake of a spiritual mission, comes in this way to earth too early must forego a lot. To a great extent one leaves one’s karmic circle of human beings behind in the spiritual word. Her life was thus really a quite lonely one, only a few persons were grouped around her without any real connection.”
Olive Whicher, personal assistant to, & colleague of George Kaufmann, recalls: “Dr Vreede used to say half jokingly that she thought she wore ‘Tarnkappe’ – an invisibility cap. I think it is true, and furthermore that the invisible cap extends to quite central themes in Rudolf Steiner’s great impulse. No doubt, as the decades pass and the souls who harbour those vital impulses have turned again towards Earth, the invisible cap will wear thin and become transparent”.
“Chilly” was the single word that summed up Elisabeth Vreede for Ernesto Genoni, Australia’s foundational pioneer of biodynamics, when he met her in 1920. Other first hand accounts bear out his impression.
Olive Whicher recalled that Elisabeth Vreede “bore the solemn and determined – even stern – expression of the thinker”.
Rudolf Steiner saw her in connection with the Platonic stream, & had indicated that she had incarnated earlier than planned in order to meet him on Earth.
Rudolf Steiner is reputed to have said that Dr. Vreede understood his work more deeply than anyone else.
After the War, Rudolf Steiner developed his idea of the threefold social order & she too had an intense interest in this initiative & work. She was the first to bring this idea of a threefold social order to England.
Elisabeth Vreede had moved to Dornach in 1913, initially living with the English sculptor, Edith Maryon.
Elisabeth Vreede experienced the tragedy of war 1st hand. She moved to Berlin (in 1916 -1917) to support British prisoners of war. She had lived in the same apartment block as Marie & Rudolf Steiner in Motzstrasse. In this philanthropic work, she worked with Dr Elisabeth Rotten – Quaker, peace activist, & co-founder of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Her feelings for Berlin were ambivalent: “my peculiar mood concerning Berlin – most wonderful and most terrible of all cities”.
Around 1918, Dr. Vreede began to construct the library & archive at the Goetheanum. Using her own means, she purchased the expensive lecture transcripts as soon as they were typed from notes. In 1920 she moved to Arlesheim, Switzerland, where she had built a little house for herself. It was the second house for which Steiner had given the model in 1919. George Kaufmann Adams wrote that: “The model for this house had been made by Edith Maryon with Dr Steiner’s help…’House Vreede’ on the hill at Arlesheim, looking straight across to the Goetheanum, became known through its hospitality to countless friends”.
Elisabeth Vreede attended Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course at Koberwitz, & was a member of the ‘Experimental Circle of Anthroposophical Farmers & Gardeners’ tasked with testing & progressing Rudolf Steiner’s “hints” for the development of a Holistic / Spiritual agriculture. She helped the farmers in developing & understanding the astronomical aspects of their work.
Vreede gave a lecture for “Agricultural Session” at Dornach in January 1926, called ‘The Significance of Astronomy for Agriculture’.
At the Christmas Conference in 1924, Steiner appointed her to head the Mathematical-Astronomical Section of the School of Spiritual Science of the recently reestablished Anthroposophical Society, & she belonged to the board of directors of the general Anthroposophical Society from 1925 to 1935. Rudolf Steiner had declared: “Fräulein Vreede is one of those who best understands my lectures”
Lili Kolisko, biodynamics pioneer, wrote: “Elisabeth Vreede, PhD, was a member of the Executive Council, on whose opinion one laid very little – one could almost say, absolutely no – value. This was in spite of the fact that Dr Steiner introduced her in the Christmas Conference [1923] with the following word: “Likewise, a very long-time member is the person I now mean and who has proven, right down to the last detail, to be the most loyal coworker here and with whom you really can also agree to the very last detail: Fraulein Dr Lili Vreede”
Rudolf Steiner stated: “her advice is always sought when we need to know something in the mathematical-astronomical realm … I wish to have this work carried on in the future by Fräulein Dr Vreede as Leader”.
In 1935 the separation within the Anthroposophical Society took place & she was expelled from the executive council & excluded along with her long-time friend & co-member, Dr. Ita Wegman from the board of directors. She was also cut off from the observatory & archives that she herself helped assemble.
Expelled at age fifty five, Elisabeth Vreede continued to travel, often in Holland and England”, also to Italy, Greece, Palestine, Egypt, Ireland and Turkey. Her last trip to Germany was in 1938 to help Jewish members of the Anthroposophical. Months before her death, she delivered the eulogy at the funeral of fellow purgee, Ita Wegman (1876-1943).
The last years of her life became more lonely. She was cut off from her friends abroad by the War. The death of Ita Wegman at the beginning of March, 1943, was a great shock for her.
Here is a quote from a letter written by her prior to her removal from the executive council: “The Being of Anthroposophy – I myself have always felt it as a spiritual being newly created by Dr. Steiner, as it were the first hierarchical Being that men have begotten, quite young and still underdeveloped, as is the case with a child—a Being that must now begin to develop further through our common work as a ‘community of knowledge’, and with the cooperation of its creator from the spiritual world. Just for this reason I find it so painful when attacks are continually made against part of the active members such as to exclude them from the work, from creating together the Being of Anthroposophy.”
Dr. Vreede gave a lecture on 3 January 1926, which was first published in Vol. 6, Nos. 42 to 46, called The World of the Stars and Human Destiny. In it she addressed the appropriate use of Astrology in our time:
“You will now understand to what purpose we have a horoscope, and that it is not there in the first instance for our own sake. You will understand that when a horoscope is made for a person’s satisfaction, there is always a certain amount of egoism connected with it; for he does not possess it for this purpose! And if you take the passages in our literature where Dr. Steiner speaks about Astrology (there are passages in many of the cycles and lectures) you will find how he emphasizes again and again that Astrology must be something social, which pays no attention to the individual but has social aims. In a true Astrology only what is universally human is considered and not the satisfaction of the egoism of the human being. By considering it egoistically, that deed of Michael is undone whereby other beings ought to be saved from plunging into the abyss.
When Dr. Steiner asked the position of the stars at the moment of a birth, it was always with reference to children who lacked one or other of the forces just described. It was then possible to learn from it which of these forces was not there in the right sense; thus it could be gathered what this human soul lacked before birth. And then it might be possible under certain circumstances to find a cure. Here we see how the matter is carried away from what is egoistic and into the social, when such abnormal children may in this way find a cure, which otherwise might perhaps not be possible. But in those children in whom certain forces were not brought in at birth these influences remain present. …Thus we see how Astrology can be used when it is kept in Michael’s sense, and not in the sense in which it is so often practiced today.”
In 1928 she invited Willi Sucher to come to Dornach & collaborated with him in working out the death asterograms of historical personalities, which was part of his substantial historic research, & which he further worked out in the late 30’s & 40’s, doing the charts & therapeutic research of special needs children in England & Scotland.
On the anniversary, in 1943, of Rudolf Steiner’s death, she spoke to the circle of friends & co-workers at the Ida Wegman clinic. They wanted to commemorate not just Rudolf Steiner but the many others who were leading Anthroposophists but were no longer known to most. She spoke in a devoted way about Edith Maryon, who also died in 1924, & Alice Sauerwein. She portrayed Count Keyserlingk & Louis Werbeck, Caroline von Heydebrand & Eugen Kolisko.
At the beginning of May 1943 she spoke once more on the 400th anniversary of the death of Copernicus. At the lecture it was noticed that only by exceptional exertion could she keep herself upright. Just a few days later on 6 May, she had to take to her bed. She had never been ill nor depended on people until that point. Thanks to the devoted care of Frau Schunemann, she was treated at home until her passing on 31 August 1943 in Ascona.
“The stars bear for us the traces of the Deeds of the Gods which lead through the Beings of the hierarchies to the frontiers of Divinity Itself.”~Elisabeth Vreede
31 August 2023– “Speaking with the Stars” – Comet 103P/Hartley 2 is passing thru the outskirts of Perseus today. This region is rising after sunset & highest in the overnight hours, so if you can stay out late to observe it around midnight or later, your view will improve.
Look for the comet near Algol in Perseus, on the western border with Andromeda. Hartley 2 is a short-period comet that returns to our skies every 6.3 years. It is expected to brighten over the next two months, as it nears perihelion — the closest point to the Sun in its orbit — in mid-October.
1528 – Deathday of Matthias Grünewald a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th century. Only ten paintings—several consisting of many panels—& thirty-five drawings survive, all religious, although many others were lost at sea in the Baltic on their way to Sweden as war booty. His largest and most famous work is the Isenheim Altarpiece
1803 – Meriwether Lewis & William Clark start their expedition to the west
1869 – Deathday of Mary Ward, Irish astronomer & entomologist, killed when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins. She was the world’s first person known to be killed by a motor vehicle
1997 – Deathday of Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Fayed & driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris
Saturday 23 September 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire
*Autumnal Equinox
*Yom Kippur
*Michaelmas Festival
6 – 8 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile
Please Bring Food & Drink to share,& a jar for the prep
