Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human, a recapitulation

The inscription of the New Isis: “I am, the Past, the Present & the Future, every mortal should lift my veil” was a living motif for our Convergence – an invitational undercurrent that layered in with the overlay of Orthodox Holy Week, which I pointed out was being celebrated in places like the Ukraine – A reflection also of the 3 panels of the Foundation Stone Meditation.

The 18 ‘Soul Journey’ leaders got to meet & rehearse in the ‘Kiva Room’, early on Orthodox Maundy Thursday, warming & sanctifying the space. We came together for the 1^st time as a group in person under the enlivening direction of Lisa Dalton. We set the 123 chairs into a mandala that formed a 4-fold elemental cross with an encircling center & an open periphery. Thru speech, eurythmy & the dramatic arts we worked to activate the energy which became the heart of the Convergence.

That evening in a soft opening thru the warmth of Tess Parker‘s welcoming, we continued the mood of a true recapitulation of Maundy Thursday, giving us the new Sacrament. We came together, in our case to receive a bountiful dessert reception sweetening the ‘ArtActs’ which were revealed for the 1st time & then built-up thru out the time together in preparation for our ‘Soul Journey’ – Singing, with former Waldorf Teacher Jill McCormick, who was recommended by local Micky Leach – Eurythmy, with Maria Ver Eecke, therapeutic eurythmist for the School of Eurythmy, Spring Valley, NY – And Speech Recitation with Lisa Dalton, master teacher in the Michael Chekhov Technique. These ‘ArtActs’called in the future while bringing us fully into the present.   

Orthodox Good Friday gave us the morning to explore the many sacred sites in Santa Fe. It was like being at summer camp seeing so many Anthroposophists out & about, meeting in synchronistic karmic ways around town. 

After lunch we gathered our diverse experiences into a communal present moment thru our official opening with Tess.

Micky Leach wove in the past to help us attune to the Spirit of Place, which was an ever present Being among us.  Santa Fe’s unique blend of Spanish & Native Cultures against the majesty of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains & the spectacular sunsets over the Jemez range, have made a deep imprint into my soul. The early Native American inhabitants called Santa Fe “Dancing Ground of The Sun“; while the founding frontiersman at the turn of the 20th century referred to it as “The City Different.” During our early planning team meetings we took to dubbing it Saint Fae to honor the elementals, or The Iron (fe) of the Divine Feminine…

Then Angela Foster led us in ‘Weaving Earth’ with a ‘soil stir’ inviting everyone to mix in the soil they brought from their holy grounds. How perfect to begin our journey grounded on the Earth, honoring the Mother who holds us all on Earth Day. I contributed some horn silica made on the oldest Biodynmaic Farm in America by Petra & Mark Zinniker.

The ‘Heart Math’ sessions that Michele Mariscal brought thru out our time together, always helped center us in the present.

Mary Stewart pointed up the eclipse picture questioning & connecting the past cycles with what is to come, in our ever present responsibility to join the cosmic conversation in our “Speaking with the Stars’.

The evening ‘Fireside Chats‘ gave folks a chance to be in the present thru sharing & informative conversation.

Holy Saturday, holding the imprint of ‘The Harrowing of Hell’ started early with ‘Weaving Ether’ thru the ‘ArtActs’. (23 April was also the last day of Passover; Shakespeare’s Birth & Deathday; the Feast of St. George; in 215 BC – A temple dedicated to Venus Erycina is completed in Rome; & in 1879 Notre Dame burns)

The wildfires were beginning to redden the air with smoke as the winds howled outside, dust devils swirling.

Stephanie Georgieff streaming in from Bulgaria took us deep into the past with the history of Our lady of Guadalupe, revealing also her connection to the starry worlds with indications she received from Astrosopher Brain Gray.

In our ‘Weaving Stories’ session led by Tess Parker, we touched into all 3, tracing our relationship to the Sophia from early childhood, into the now, with a chance to inform the future.  

I gave a ‘prelude’ to the ‘Soul Journey’ to set the stage for Anthroposophia:

Prelude .:. A 100 years ago in 1922 Rudolf Steiner was bringing Spiritual Science to public audiences of 3000 or more. Many of the lecture themes involved the impulse for a renewal in the social sphere, emphasizing the transition from old to new methods of inner development. Steiner was attacked many times by the old guard, & his life threated by Nazi factions, for bringing to the public what was considered secret teachings before the New Michael Age. But Steiner knew that at the beginning of the 20^th Century the spiritual world was calling for a renewal of the Mysteries, to foster the mission of the Consciousness Soul in the New Michael Age…Steiner called it the ‘New Mysteries’.

We are about to enter the very heart of our Sophia Convergence, & you are invited to step into a deeply intensive experiential Soul Journey into these New Mysteries…What do we mean with this phrase ‘New Mysteries’? Well, in the old mysteries the human being was like a passive vessel thru which the gods worked. The spiritual powers overshadowed the unconscious soul forces of the human being…The gesture was a pouring in – like a triangle pointing down – symbol for water. The New Mysteries, empower us with the opposite gesture – a rising up – like the symbol of fire – the triangle rising up – like the tongues of fire rising up from the heads of the apostles.

Steiner referred to this as the Reverse Cultus or Reverse Ritual, which sounds strange in English, but is a fancy way of saying: We must now do the work, we must choose out of our own free will, to rise up in our thinking to meet the spiritual, in ourselves, in each other & in the world…We are called to take up the indications for inner development given by Spiritual Science to activate Anthroposophia within our soul forces.

And the concept of ritual must also be renewed. Steiner says it is an action of the will, done in reverence. The reversal means we do it with this new gesture of rising up in awakened consciousness.

And of course we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater – we are meant to bring the 2 triangles together to form a 6 pointed star – symbol of the Alchemical Marriage of fire & water – Steiner gives us the 6 basic essential exercises to develop this 6 pointed star in our etheric heart.

The lecture which Steiner gave 100 years ago in 1922, on New Year’s Eve, an hour before the fire began burning in the 1st Goetheanum, was called: “THE SPIRITUAL COMMUNION OF HUMANKIND: Spiritual Cognition is a True Communion, the Beginning of a Cosmic Ritual Suitable for the Human Being of the Present Age”. This concept shows that when we spiritualize our thinking we are consummating a new kind of communion.

Steiner gave this concept right at a powerful moment of transition, when the 1^st Goetheanum was about to become a burnt offering, sacrificed, & inscribed into the ethers, like the Temple of Artemis, in Ephesus – At this historic moment Steiner talks about the New Mysteries. In it we hear: “The first beginning of what must come to pass if Anthroposophy is to fulfil its mission in the world, is that the human being’s whole relationship to the world must be recognized to be one of cosmic ritual or reverse cultus…”

Here Steiner is referring to the fact that the supersensible Michaelic School must now be enacted here on Earth…Maybe you’ve heard of this Michael School? Maybe you have a remembrance of being there, in the 14th & 15^th Centuries in the life between death & rebirth – perhaps with many sitting here today? The idea that we go to school & then just leave those teachings behind doesn’t make sense does it? We are meant to bring those teachings into our lives now on earth.

We know that with the burning, & thru the early death of Rudolf Steiner, the adversarial forces were able to diffuse this important impulse…But now, dear friends, after 100 years, these New Mysteries are calling to be renewed. We are meant to continue Steiner’s work. And this Soul Journey, is our humble attempt to at least begin to ‘follow that good star’ which Rudolf Steiner showed us at the Christmas Conference… And of course, the 1st prerequisite for the New Mysteries is that they must be received in complete freedom.

Ok, that is my little prelude…So now we have our lunch time – a time to not only socialize – but to mentally, physically, & emotionally prepare…For – ‘‘ANTHROPOSOPHIA: OUR ALCHEMICAL SOUL JOURNEY – A UNION OF WISDOM & LOVE”.

More tomorrow…

~hag

Wednesday May 4^th 7 pm PDT on ZOOM for the Sacramento Faust Branch

From Necessity to Freedom – The Evolution of Human Consciousness

From the vaporous cleft of Mount Parnassus, and the birth place of Greek Philosophy, to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, and the Holy Grail – From Prophesy to Warning, from Fate to Karma, From Destiny to Free Will.

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings

We appreciate your support of the ongoing work of The Faust Branch in making these offerings available. Admission for lectures: Faust Branch members $5, non-members $10. No one excluded for lack of funds. Admission fees may be made via PayPal

Join Zoom Meeting – Conversation 6:45 pm PDT, Presentation 7 pm PDT
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27 April 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: This is a great week to wake up early and look at the planets all in a line! The crescent Moon will glide by Venus and Jupiter, forming a lovely triangle on Tuesday morning, April 26, and especially Wednesday morning, April 27. Look an hour before sunrise. At the end of the week (Sat, 30th), Venus & Jupiter converge for their big conjunction. See info: Almanac.com/night-sky-april

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

470 BC- Birth Day of Socrates; teacher of Plato – “Remember, no human condition is ever permanent. Then you will not be overjoyed in good fortune nor too scornful in misfortune”.~Socrates

399 BC – Death Day of Socrates. The Karma Lectures of Rudolf Steiner (vol. 4/10) indicate that this was his teacher ‘s father G.T. Schroer.

711 BC –Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula…The Karma Lectures of Rudolf Steiner indicate Darwin to be a later incarnation (vol. 1/10)

1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Ridgefield

1810 – Beethoven composes Für Elise.

1861 – American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.

1882 – Death day of Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist, lecturer, & poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism & a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society. Emerson wrote on a number of subjects, never espousing fixed philosophical tenets, but developing certain ideas such as individuality, freedom, the ability for humankind to realize almost anything, & the relationship between the soul & the surrounding world. “Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul”. He remains among the linchpins of the American Romantic Movement, & his work has greatly influenced the thinkers, writers & poets that have followed him…The Karma Lectures of Rudolf Steiner (vol. 4/10) indicate that he was formerly known as Tacitus – considered to be one of the greatest Roman historians.  He lived in what has been called the Silver Age of Latin literature. He is known for the brevity & compactness of his Latin prose, as well as for his penetrating insights into the psychology of power politics.

1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.

1950 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed formally segregating races.