Category Archives: Biography

Preparing the Preparers

Rita Cassia

10:10 TestamentIn this present age of Michael, we have a mighty opportunity to give birth to the being of Anthroposophia – to develop our higher ‘I’ on the earth. In the ‘Apocalypse of John: Lecture XII’ Rudolf Steiner said: “We are preparing for the preparers. The Anthroposophical spiritual movement is today but a very small flame; in the future it must develop into a mighty spiritual fire!” 

Terry Randel Cantrell

Our current world situation calls us to be alert to the formative forces that are seeking to be developed now into a New Etheric Heart, which must begin to be enlivened even if at 1st it is just thru our Cognitive-Imagination, so that in our next major incarnation in the Michael stream, it can take full effect.

etheric heart ~Rudolf Steiner

This New Etheric Body must be formed thru our individual efforts, which we then co-create into the larger Christic egregore – A New Etheric Body of the Michaelic Movement – as a seed for all of human evolution, in which we consciously participate in a Sun-becoming process. This is a systematic, spiritual-scientific practice. It is built up & formed, step by step, in a most disciplined, consistent way – a fully conscious & experiential application of the 4 stages of the Reverse-Cultus:

  1. Communion as pure thinking – “Spiritual Knowledge is a real communion, the beginning of a cosmic ritual that is suitable for human beings today”. We rise in our thinking to meet the spiritual world behind sense perception.
  2. Transubstantiation or Transformation, from matter to spirit
  3. Offering a meeting Ego to Ego “That good can become
  4. Revelation of destiny unfolding as “Christ in Me

These essential guidelines of the modern spiritual path, that were given to us a 100 years ago by Rudolf Steiner, are the ‘New Mysteries‘ which will prepare us for the Social-Heart-Thinking Art of a modern community of Anthroposophia.

etheric heart ~Rudolf Steiner

BTW: Please don’t get discouraged if you can’t always join into the 10:10 Thought Seed. Set your alarm to at least mark it. Even a split second moment of attention adds to the spark.

~hag

‘The Angel Standing in the Sun’, Joseph Mallord William Turner

Sun, thou bearer of rays,
Thy light’s power over matter
Magics life out of the earth’s
Limitless rich depths.

Heart, thou bearer of soul,
Thy light’s power over spirit
Magics life out of the human being’s
Limitless deep inwardness.

If I gaze upon the Sun
Her light speaks to me in radiance
Of the Spirit, filled with grace,
Wielding through the beings of worlds.

If I feel within my heart
The Spirit speaks its own true word
About the human being, loved by him
Through all time and eternity.

Looking upwards, I can see
In the Sun’s bright disc
The mighty heart of worlds.

Looking inwards, I can feel
In the heart’s warm beat
The human Sun ensouled.
~Rudolf Steiner

10 February 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Taurus the Bull resides near the constellation Orion. In particular, it contains two famous star clusters that are easy to spot: the Pleiades and the Hyades.

Antique etching of front half of a bull superimposed over a star chart.

According to Greek mythology, the constellation Taurus commemorates the god Zeus changing himself into a beautiful white Bull to win the affections of the Phoenician princess Europa. After Europa hopped onto the Bull’s back, the Bull swam across the Mediterranean Sea, taking Europa all the way to the island of Crete. Later, Zeus and Europa became the parents of Minos, the legendary king of Crete.

Europa carried by Zeus, after he was transformed into a bull. This is a terracotta figurine from Boeotia, ca. 470 BCE–450 BCE ~ Wikimedia Commons.

Meanwhile, the Zuni of New Mexico used the Pleiades cluster as an agricultural calendar. When the Pleiades – which the Zuni called the Seed Stars – disappeared into the western dusk in spring, they knew it was safe to plant their seeds, as the danger of frost had passed. However, the Zuni also knew the planting must be done before the Pleiades reappeared in the east before sunrise, or immature plants would succumb to autumn frosts.

The Zuni were hardly alone in their reverence for Taurus’ Pleiades star cluster. Indeed, probably no other star formation has enjoyed such worldwide renown for timekeeping, celebration and storytelling. ~earthsky

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY sourced from Commons

547 – Death day of St. Scholastica, foundress of the women’s branch of Benedictine Monasticism. The patron saint of nuns, & convulsive children. She is invoked against storms & rain. The most commonly told story about her is that she would go & visit her twin brother Benedict of Nursia near his abbey once a year, They would spend the day praying & discussing sacred texts. Sensing the time of her death was drawing near, Scholastica asked him to stay with her for the evening so they could continue their discussions. Not wishing to break his Rule, Benedict refused, insisting that he needed to return to his cell. At that point, Scholastica closed her hands in prayer, & after a moment, a wild storm started outside. Benedict asked, “What have you done?”, to which she replied, “I asked you & you would not listen; so I asked my God & he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me & return to your monastery.” Benedict was unable to return to his monastery, & they spent the night in discussion. Three days later, from his cell, her twin saw her soul leaving the earth & ascending to heaven in the form of a shining white dove

630 – Feast Day of St. Austrebertha. A popular legend states that one day, while looking for the donkey whose task it was to carry the laundry of the monks to the convent, she came across a wolf. The wolf admitted to killing the donkey & begged for forgiveness. Austrebertha forgave the wolf but commanded him to carry the laundry himself, a task that the wolf performed for the rest of its life

1909 – Deathday of Felix Koguzki – a herb collector, a simple man from the people who had deep insights into the spiritual world . Rudolf Steiner got to know him during his student days in 1880, when he regularly took the train from Inzersdorf to Vienna. He was the living model of Felix Balde from Steiner’s Mystery Dramas . Felix Koguzki is also regarded as the messenger of the secret master reported in GA 262 (pp. 30-31 ). There it says: “I did not meet M. ( Master), but first of all to a messenger from him who was fully initiated into the secrets of the effectiveness of all plants and their connection with the cosmos and with human nature. “( GA 262 , p. 16). It is sometimes assumed that Alois Mailänder is the secret M, but there is no clear evidence. Steiner writes about his encounter with Koguzki in “My Course of Life”:

as if he as a personality were only the organ of speech for a spiritual content that wanted to speak from hidden worlds. When you were with him you could look deep into the secrets of nature. He carried his bundle of medicinal herbs on his back; but in his heart he carried the results which he had gained from the spirituality of nature in his gathering. I have seen some people smile, who at times joined them as a third party when I walked through Wiener Alleegasse with this “initiated” person. It was no wonder. Because its expression was not understandable from the start. In a sense, you first had to learn your “intellectual dialect”. At first I couldn’t understand him either. But from the first time I met him, I had the deepest sympathy for him. And so it gradually became to me.

If one takes the usual concept of “learning”, one can say: “Learning” could not be done from this man. But if you yourself had the view of a spiritual world, you could gain deep insights into it through someone else, which was completely fixed in it.

And at the same time everything that was enthusiasm was far removed from this personality. When you came into your home, you found yourself in the midst of the most sober, simple country family. Above the door of his house were the words: “In God’s blessing everything lies.” One was entertained, as with other villagers. I always had to drink coffee, not from a cup, but from a “mug” that held almost a liter; in addition I had to eat a piece of bread that was huge. But the villagers didn’t look at the man for a fanatic either. The way he behaved in his hometown made every ridicule bounce off. He also had a healthy sense of humor and knew how to talk to young and old at every meeting in the village in such a way that people enjoyed his words.

This man remained close to my soul, even when life had led me away from him again. You can find him in my Mystery Dramas in the figure of Felix Balde. “( GA 28)

The Anthroposophical Society in America presents Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human – Santa Fe, New Mexico ~ April 21-24, 2022 Hotel Santa Fe Hacienda and Spa 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! 

***Early Bird Rate Until February 26 ~ Exclusively For Those Who Book With Hotel Santa Fe***


Join us in New Mexico, the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia. Join together in community as Sophia emerges and rises in her many facets and expressions- past, present, and future. 

You will be an active participant in this gathering that will engage storytelling and biography, art and color, eurythmy and movement, singing and speech, with offerings from speakers Carrie Schuchardt, Mary Stewart AdamsHazel Archer-GinsbergStephanie Georgieff, and more. 

Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other. 


VENUE & TRAVEL 

Our gathering will take place at the lovely Native American-owned Hotel Santa Fe. We recommend you book your stay with the hotel to create a connected communal atmosphere for our gathering. The hotel has a full restaurant, pool, hot tub, and spa, as well as kivas and cozy sitting areas. Please call or email to make reservations with our special room rate for suites at $179/night. Each suite includes a refrigerator, microwave and sitting area. So much of what Santa Fe has to offer is within walking distance from the hotel. 

HOW TO BOOK: Email stay@hotelsantafe.com or call reservations at  877-259-3409 

**Ask for ASA Gathering to book with our special rate of $179/night for a suite. **

Registrants will receive suggested activities from our local organizers to explore in Santa Fe before or after our gathering. Extending your stay? The special ASA hotel rate is available for 3 days prior to and 3 days after the ASA gathering. 

AIR TRAVEL: Fly to Albuquerque or Santa Fe (note that flights are more limited and subject to the weather as Santa Fe is a small airport.)

There is a shuttle from Albuquerque to Santa Fe or car rentals available. Uber or Lyft is available if you fly into Santa Fe.

HOTEL and VENUE ADDRESS:
1501 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone: (877) 259-3409 


TICKETS
The ticket price includes access to all conference activities, snacks, coffee/tea and beverages, dessert reception Thursday, dinner Friday, lunch Saturday and brunch on Sunday.

No refunds after March 21, 2022

EARLY BIRD with ROOM BOOKING (until 2/26): $295*

STANDARD TICKET (After 2/26): $350

SUPPORTER TICKET: $425 

*Must book at Hotel Santa Fe to receive this special early bird rate! Email stay@hotelsantafe.com or call 877-259-3409 to book. Please specify your reservation is for the ASA Gathering. 

EXHIBITORS: If you are interested in being an exhibitor please fill out this form. 

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: Limited assistance is available, please fill out this form. 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! 

Early Bird Only with Room Booking – After 2/26 more tickets will be released!


SCHEDULE  
(subject to minor changes) 

THURSDAY, April 21

7 pm               Gathering Together  – with a dessert reception 

7:30- 8:30 pm  ArtActs: Past – Present – Future Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech
 

FRIDAY, April 22

                        Explore Santa Fe on your own and continued arrivals 

1:00 – 2:30 pm   Welcome: Spirit of Place with organizers 

                          WEAVING EARTH Opening Ceremony with Angela Foster and friends

2:30pm-3:00pm  Break 

3:00-4:30 pm     Encountering the Celestial Goddess Anthroposophia with Mary Stewart Adams 4:30-4:45 pm     Break

4:45- 6:00 pm    WEAVING AIR ArtActs  Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech 

6:00-7:30 pm     Dinner Together*

8:00 pm             Fireside Chats – Story and Sharing.  Breakout circles lead by friends and organizers 

8:30 pm             Stargazing with Mary Stewart Adams 
 

 SATURDAY, April 23

                         Breakfast – On your own

8:30 – 9:30 am    WEAVING ETHER Eurythmy

9:30 – 10:00 am  Break  

10:00-11:15am   Presentation with Stephanie Georgieff 

11:30 – 12:30pm WEAVING STORIES Biography Work

12:30 – 2pm        Lunch Together*

2:00 – 3:30pm    Anthroposophia: Our Alchemical Wedding  with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends – At the heart of the gathering is a Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know    Thyself’’ – a movable feast, with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, speaking verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth with Hazel Archer- Ginsberg. This experience is built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions. 

3:30 – 4 pm        Break

4:00 – 5:00 pm   WEAVING COLOR Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic  within the Earthly Pastels with Helen-Ann Ireland

5:00 – 5:30 pm   WEAVING STORIES Biography Conversation

5:30pm              Dinner – On your own

7:30-9:30pm      WEAVING COMUNITY Sophia Rising- Past, Present, and Future. Bring something to share! Poetry, Instruments, Story 
 

SUNDAY, April 24

8:00 – 9:00 am      WEAVING LIGHT Bathe in the Natural Warmth and Harmony of the Metal Gold with Helena Hurrell – A metal color light therapy experience inspired by the glass windows at the Goetheanum 

9:00-10:30 am      WEAVING FIRE with Carrie Schuchardt 

10:30 – 12:00pm  Brunch Together*

12:00-1:00 pm    WEAVING WATER Water Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends
                          WEAVING WHOLENESS Closing with Angela Foster and Friends 

Notes:

*Meals marked with an asterisk are included in the price of the ticket 

Coffee, tea, and snacks will also be provided through the conference 

A quiet room will be provided for contemplation 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

See you Santa Fe! 


PRESENTERS AND GUIDES (Not a full list-more to come!) 

Eyahnna DalBo (artist of the Sophia Rising painting) came to anthroposophy 30 years ago when her daughter attended a Waldorf school. Her studies have included an undergraduate degree in fine art and graduate work in psychology using the arts for healing.  In her private practice, she developed various energetic modalities. Her experience with subtle energy fields gave her the opportunity to teach and take part in designing a curriculum for a 2-year program focusing on energy healing. As a consultant, she initiated numerous therapeutic programs to assist in pioneering the field of art therapy. Through the gift of an apprenticeship with indigenous people she was able to bring their practices and ceremonies to what she offered deepening her ability to be of service.  As an artist, she continues to utilize the spoken word, movement, sound, and visual imagery to honor and create a field that fosters awareness, growth, and transformation.

Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian, and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast “The Storyteller’s Night Sky”.  Through her research in spiritual science and her education in literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars.  Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas of contemporary astronomy in order to understand the new star wisdom of astrosophy.

Carrie Schuchardt co-founded The House of Peace in 1990, a home that is a physical and spiritual refuge for victims of war in a community with adults with special needs. In the last 15 years over 400 refugees from approximately 30 countries have been received in the healing embrace of The House of Peace, giving supportive assistance in establishing themselves in the US. In addition to the daily work of The House Peace, Carrie participates in many activities for the conversion of consciousness and policies from war to peace. Carrie has begun a network of women who witness publicly, Women Weeping, where women dress in mourning carrying symbolic lifeless children in order to help people feel what is rarely expressed in the media: the grief of hundreds of thousands of mothers in war zones around the world who lose their children to the terrible violence of war.

Stephanie Georgieff After nearly thirty years as a practicing Naturopath and Acupuncturist, Stephanie Georgieff has chosen to transform her healing vocation into writing and lecturing on various aspects of Christian Spirituality and its relationship to emotional and physical health. She has lectured throughout Europe and North America on various subjects, but her passion is on the Middle Ages and the Divine Feminine. Georgieff hosts a podcast “The Black Madonna Speaks,” writes for numerous publications, and has her own Blog: The Heart of the Black Madonna. The Black Madonna, Mysterious Soul Companion is the first in a series of books examining how the Black Madonna as an art form offers healing insights to our collective past and present. These volumes also explore the invitation humanity has from the spiritual world to co-create a healthy and peaceful future.

Helena Hurrell is an art and metal color Light therapist trained in the UK/Germany and certified by the Medial Section at the Goetheanum 

Angela Foster has been an active student of anthroposophy since 2008. After growing up in Texas, Angela is now embracing life in Atlanta, Georgia as an artist, teacher, and mom of two daughters, shepherd to two mini sheep. As a conscious practitioner of “beginner’s mind”, Angela has completed programs in foundation studies in Anthroposophy numerous times and is currently enrolled in Foundation Studies in Goethean Science through the Nature Institute. She and her husband manage the Anthroposophical Resource Center (ARC) an initiative in Decatur, Georgia that offers space for community events and serves as a little house for Anthroposophia.

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & theI 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

Helen-Ann Ireland has been involved in anthroposophical studies for over 30 years as a Waldorf teacher, member of the School for Spiritual Science, Class holder, and now as chair of the Anthroposophical Society of America. A special interest has been in the area of the Divine Feminine and the Being of Sophia.

Michele Mariscal has 30 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She is a skilled facilitator in soft skills, speaker, coach and author. She is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist as well as a Trainer and Coach with the Institute of HeartMath. She facilitates greater heart-based living for individuals and organizations Michele is also a five-time author with her most recent publication of Growing Through Grief – The Alchemy of Healing from Loss. 

Joyce Reilly Joyce studied psychology in college and was fascinated by the idea of a therapeutic community. She has worked in Camphill for many years, and is trained as a Waldorf and Therapeutic teacher.  She founded Gheel House, a therapeutic community near Kimberton Pennsylvania, still thriving after 37 years. Joyce’s interests expanded to international conflict work and refugee resettlement. She works with organizations such as the Janusz Korczak Association, Karuna Peacebuilders, Kiwimbi International, Good Grief, the Worldwide Storytelling and Puppetry Association, and especially with the New York Anthroposophical Branch, and also works part-time at the local public library. Joyce is also trained in Psychosynthesis therapy and Anthroposophical psychology – currently practicing as a life coach and counselor.

For questions or inquiries please email programs@anthroposophy.org or call the office at 734-662-9355 

Sculpting Sacrifice

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~TODAY I AM –
An old gnarled tree near the shore,
Roots swallowing the sand & rock
Pecked by the high-tide & the wild wind…
A 1000 fledglings have nested in my boughs
& beneath, I give shelter to all…
How do you see me?
As firewood or freedom…?
~hag

Prayer to our Angel by Rudolf Steiner

You my heavenly friend, my angel who has led me to the earth and who will lead me through the gate of death, into the spirit-home of the human soul; You who knows the paths since millennia, do not cease to enlighten me, to strengthen me, to advise me so that I will emerge from the weaving fire of destiny as a stronger destiny vessel and will learn to fill myself ever more with the meaning of divine world goals.

Lanie Gentlen

Rudolf Steiner goes on to say:

‘This prayer is a direct invocation of the human soul to their angel. Every human being has an angel, an individual guiding being, who constantly accompanies the individual, and who gives this earthly human being, out of immediate perception of the total web of destiny, the right impulses and indications – IF this soul wishes to take them up. The angel accompanies this human soul intimately, its strivings, tasks, needs and fears. The angel grabs this soul with its entire being, at the same time grasping the spiritual world with its laws and possibilities. The angel helps and guides the human soul on its assigned paths.

9 February 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Venus (occult Mercury) has returned as a dazzling morning lantern, emerging into view from beyond the southeast horizon well before sunrise. A month ago, on Jan. 8, Venus had her inferior conjunction – passing between the Sun and Earth to make her transition from evening to morning star. And now Venus is at her brightest.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1872 – Birthday of Edith Maryon. She studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London & exhibited her work at the Royal Academy. When she met Rudolf Steiner & Anthroposophy she discovered her raison d’être. Maryon wrote to Steiner that “for some years I have always felt there is something for me to do, and that sometime I shall meet the Master who will tell me what it is and explain some of the things that have puzzled me so much. For a long time I searched…and when I saw you in Berlin I knew at last I was right about the Master…is there really any definite thing for me to do… if there is may I know now what it is?” (1 Jan 1913). Months later, from Munich, Maryon wrote to Steiner: “I must find some definite work to do, or be forced to return to England. There is a feeling that perhaps there may be something for me to do here, so I will not go back unless absolutely obliged. You will see that it is necessary for me to come to a conclusion about the kind of work I will do during the rest of my life, and I do want some advice…Your pupil, L Edith C Maryon” (10 Jun 1913).

Sculpture by Edith Maryon

Maryon arrived at Dornach, Switzerland, in January 1914. These were very early days for the project of relocating Anthroposophy headquarters to Switzerland. It was propitious timing since six months later the Great War would begin & engulf Europe & the world in catastrophe. Maryon was a trailblazer: “There was hardly any other artist coming to work in Dornach before her, capable in the way Edith Maryon was, of sacrificing – that is, largely giving up her own deeply rooted style, born out of the aesthetics of Greece, in favour of a new Mystery art”.

The next decade was a period of intense industry & creativity for the English sculptor, a period in which she found her life’s purpose. “Edith Maryon…was helping him [Steiner] with the Goetheanum building and above all with the great wooden sculpture The ‘Representative of Humanity’…Miss Maryon throughout those years was one of his closest collaborators…the studio in which the work was going on became his study for a great part of the day. Here he received his visitors, and she was acting very largely as his secretary” (George Kaufmann Adams, 1958). Adams related a visit to Dornach after the war: “We were received in the most friendly way by the Dornach members and above all by Miss Maryon herself. She gave us mallet and chisel and let us help with parts of the sculpture where there was much superfluous wood and our unskilled hands could do no harm”.

Adams reported that Steiner was “anxious for an English edition of the book [on the Threefold Social Order], and as no one else was at hand, Miss Maryon had undertaken to translate it. In style – like many of the attempted translations of Dr Steiner’s works in those days – it was impossible…and we said so frankly. We were then invited to Dornach to go into the whole question”. (Adams went on to extemporaneously translate many of Steiner’s lectures, for example at Oxford & Torquay, as well as books, for example Steiner’s Agriculture Course)

by EM

Edith Maryon & Rudolf Steiner carried on an extensive exchange of correspondence beginning in 1912, when Maryon wrote to Steiner on 16 October from London. Steiner wrote to Maryon from his travels including from Ilkley, Penmaenmawr, London, Stuttgart, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Mannheim, Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, Kristiania (Oslo), and & The Hague. Steiner’s salutation to Maryon progressed in the course of 1919 to 1920 from “Mein liebes Fraulein E. Maryon” (My dear Miss E Maryon) to “Mein liebes Fraulein Edith Maryon!” (My dear Miss Edith Maryon) to “Meine liebe Edith Maryon!)“ (My love Edith Maryon!)

Theirs was an artistic partnership: “Rudolf Steiner stood, day after day, beside his colleague in the high ceilinged sculpture studio. During this time they not only worked with their hands, but also conversed intensively on every imaginable subject – from art, through politics to things of the deepest concern. Over & above this his studio had become for Rudolf Steiner a refuge of inner peace in which – well protected from visitors by Edith Maryon – he could both do a lot of esoteric work & also relax”. Maryon worked tirelessly with Steiner to create the ‘The Representative of Humanity’. She was “one of the closest colleagues and pupils of Rudolf Steiner”.

Maryon was appointed by Steiner as the leader of the Section for Sculptural Arts at the Christmas Conference of the Anthroposophy Society at Dornach in December 1923, & was unanimously elected as the vice-president of the Anthroposophy Society at the General Assembly on 21 January 1924.

Edith Maryon died on 2 May 1924 reportedly of tuberculosis, & many say from a broken heart (a depletion of her etheric forces  which were tied up in the burning of the Goetheanum.) In his memorial tribute, Steiner stated of Edith Maryon that: “When we began to build the Goetheanum, she was one of the first to devote herself to the work…With a perfect control of her technique, her special gift was to give spirituality to stately form. This artistic skill she devoted entirely to the service of the Goetheanum…earnestness showed itself in her appearance. One could see a person who had not been spoiled by the amenities of life, though she had been sorely tried by the hand of fate…She participated most actively in all that went on at the Goetheanum. The spiritual contents of the Christmas Assembly and the Class lectures…up to the last days of her life she pondered on how this Section [Sculptural Arts] should develop its activity in the right way…Her work for the this Society will always be remembered as being most earnest and devoted”.

1881 – Deathday of Russian novelist Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky – Rudolf Steiner speaks about him in GA157 – The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations – 14 lectures Berlin

Sophia%20Postcard%202022.png 
Early bird registration is now open for  
Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human…
Converge with us this April 21-24 in Santa Fe, New Mexico! 

Join us in the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia in her many facets and expressions – past, present, and future. We will explore the divine feminine through storytelling, biography, art, color, eurythmy, singing, speech,

amazing offerings from Carrie Schuchardt, Mary Stewart AdamsHazel Archer-GinsbergStephanie Georgieff, and more. 

Click here for more info & to register for the Early Bird Rate*

*Early Bird Rate until February 26 ~ exclusively for those who book their lodging with Hotel Santa Fe (which is also our venue for the gathering!)

After February 26 we will release the next round of tickets. 

EARLY BIRD with ROOM BOOKING (until 2/26): $295STANDARD RATE (after 2/26): $350SUPPORTER RATE: $425 

Find out all you need to know on our event registration page!

Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other.

See you soon!Tess Parker, Director of Programs , and the Sophia Rising Organizing Committee   

Art by Eyahnna DalBo

Ask

Image result for brigid goddess art
Fay Denny

The Celtic Triple Goddess Brigid has a lot to say: SHE SPEAKS on the ‘I Think Speech‘ podcast

Love Equals Freedom Digital Art by Su Ferguson - Don Burkheimer

Dear friends – I am forever finding myself in the great Quest – a mind-set that asks questions – a mood of wondering. So when this quote came up in our CRC study of the Holy Grail I knew it was meant to be shared & hopefully received by those who are also on the Quest…

“…The overwhelming impression for us today certainly is that there are too few individuals who can be active representatives of our spiritual movement. It is generally still easier to be effective among human beings by means of force, control, and injustice than by means of freedom. The truth that is to be proclaimed through anthroposophical spiritual science is permitted to count only on human freedom. It must find people who ask questions. One certainly cannot say, Why doesn’t this truth possess in itself the strength to compel human souls by virtue of divine-spiritual power? It does not wish to do that; it cannot do that. The reason is that it will always consider inner freedom, the freedom of the human being in general, to be something absolutely inviolable. If the human being is to come to anthroposophy out of his own judgment, he must become one who asks questions; out of the innermost freedom of judgment he must convince himself. The word of spiritual truth will be spoken to him; convincing himself of it is something he must do on his own. If he wishes to cooperate and be active in society, he must do so out of the innermost impulse of his heart. Those who belong in the truest sense of the word to anthroposophical spiritual science must become people who ask questions.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy by Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, 17 April 1921

Peter Olsen

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~may we walk the middle path
between fire & ice…
where the shadows of forever
& the light of now
pulse the world.
such is the way.
the empty filling & the full emptying…
so live with the certainty
that your yin loves your yang
over & over in to the out…
& dance the joy of movement ever changing…
~hag


TX

Greetings friends – I am just now re-acclimatizing after our General Council of the ASA retreat in Austin TX – such a vibrant city. We were blessed to have eurythmy with Barbara Bresette-Mills which helped enliven us after many hours of intense work – the perfect invigorating impulse that came each day after lunch.

Anthroposophical Society in America

Eileen Bristol, a woman of heart in action, who works deeply with Kathy Serafin for APO – the Anthroposophical Prison Outreach program, joined us to give an update on this powerful initiative that is thriving in the hearts & souls of many human beings whose karma has brought them to Anthroposophy thru their work.  Eileen stayed for lunch & was in my eurythmy breakout group which was a joy.

Besides helping to start the local Waldorf School; working at the bio-dynamic Onion Creek Farm; Eileen runs the Sahara Lounge, named ‘Best Dive Bar’ in the Austin 2021 Readers Poll.

She generously offered the large backyard space for our community gathering, where folks from near & far came to nosh, socialize & meet the GC, amongst the kitschy Texas antiques & welcoming picnic tables. My dear friend & CRC colleague Lisa Dalton drove 3 hours from Fort Worth TX, helping to extend the invitation for collaboration with the Novalis Branch, which is part of our Central Region. Besides taking in many local sites after the GC retreat, like the river walk & the Elizabeth Ney museum, Lisa & I must have hit every thrift store in Austin!

May be an image of one or more people, people playing musical instruments, people standing and indoor

After going to Black’s BBQ for some down home southern hospitality, a few of us went back to the Sahara Lounge for Eileen’s famous Africa Night, which draws in a hugely diverse crowd & offers a free buffet along with the amazing live music. We danced to the Joshua Thomson World Jazz Trio which featured sax, drums & an Ud – the 12 stringed instrument central to Arabic music, which originated over 3,500 year ago in Persia. Some friends came for the second band playing Latin Jazz, but couldn’t quite stay up for the late show with the Sahara Allstars featuring Eileen on bass & I believe her son Topaz McGarrigle on guitar…Next time!

I am in awe of the innovative impulsing stirring in the GC – a will toward initiative – The striving for engagement between point & periphery –  a movement toward the next 100 years that calls us all to action, as we co-create a New Turning Point in Time, together.  

~hag

Cindy Laxstrumm

Today on this New Moon – Lunar New Year of the Water Tiger – on the Eve of the Cross Quarter between Winter Solstice & Spring Equinox – Imbolc – Brigid’s Day – Candlemas – HERE is a video from a program I did for the Theosophical Society called: ‘Mysteries of the Celtic Goddess Brigid’ ENJOY!

Waning Moon, Venus, Mars, Jan. 28-30, 2022.

1 February 2022– “Speaking with the Stars”: The sky’s biggest asterism is the Winter Hexagon. It fills the sky toward the east and south these evenings. Start with brilliant Sirius at its bottom. Going clockwise from there, march up through Procyon, Pollux and Castor, Menkalinan and Capella on high, down to Aldebaran, then to Rigel in Orion’s foot, and back to Sirius. Betelgeuse shines inside the Hexagon, off center.

New Moon – exact at 11:46 am

THE CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated – with added titles – by Roy Sadler

Easter is very late this year on April 17th, and Ash Wednesday not till March 2nd.
Verse 46 must always begin in the first week of Lent, so verses 44 & 45 have to extend through the whole of February. I’ll come to v44 next week. Today I’m going to concentate on the verse I posted for last week, verse 43, the Imbolc verse, which usually reaches February, buit not when Christmas, always verse 38, has been on a Friday or as it was last year on a Saturday.

Imbolc, meaning literally “in milk”, the beginning of the lactation period of ewes after bearing their young, was originally a customary thanksgiving festival, pouring milk onto the earth as an offering of nurturing, to assist in the return of fertility and the earth’s generosity to its people, for whom it was the return of Spring. It is the first of the four Gaelic fire festivals, and was conceived in honor of the goddess Brigid in her maiden aspect, pregnant with the seed of the Sun, ripe with the promise of new life as the earth seeds deep within the soil begin to awaken, and was regarded as the beginning of spring. It was followed by the Beltane marriage festival for the beginning of summer, the Lammas harvest feast festival, a beginning of autumn, and the Samhain wise woman festival, a gateway to winter that became Halloween. They were originally full moon festivals and celebrated at the 4 turning points of the day: Imbolc, a lantern procession from midnight; Beltane at dawn; a midday feast for Lammas (Anglo-Saxon ‘hlaf-mas, “loaf-mass”); & a sunset Samhain celebration.

The 4 quarters of the Soul Calendar, in their physical, etheric, astral and ego realms, can be described as the senses uniting with the spirit from Easter to July, the imagination to incarnate the spirit for Michaelmas, the inspiration for the spirit’s birth at Christmas, and the intuitive love for the new spring world. I had already incorporated the word ‘imagine’ into verses 17 (verse 43’s opposite) and ‘inspire’ into verse 36 (the mirror of v17).

LAMMAS
The Bread
v17
The Cosmic Word
I’ve had the grace to lead
through senses’ gates to soul ground speaks:
Imagine in your spirit depths my world expanse
to find in future Me in you.

ADVENT II
The Wine
v36
The Cosmic Word,
mysteriously urging to be heard,
is speaking in my depths of being:
Inspire your life’s endeavour
with spirit light of mine
to sacrifice yourself through Me.

And this last week, observing the potential of the first new tree buds and the new daffodil shoots, I added ‘intuit’ in v43. A literal translation could be ‘to give to cosmic glory through the heart’s force the power to exist’ but my free translations are an attempt to bring a meaningful new poetic impulse to these wonderful meditations.

IMBOLC
The Consecration Of The World
v43

In winter’s depths
true spirit presence warms,
makes new appearance real
and through the heart’s force
intuits earthlife’s rise to glory;
the soul’s revitalising fire in the human core
defies world cold.

Tishrei Tamar

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1462 – Birthday of Johannes Trithemius, German polymath, lexicographer, historian, and cryptographer

1861 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.


1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.

1893 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey

1895 – Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.

1896 – La bohème premieres in Turin at the Teatro Regio (Turin), conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini.

1960 – Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.

1972 – Deathday of Valborg Werbeck-Svärdström, a Swedish singer, voice teacher, & anthroposophist. When she was ten, her family moved to Stockholm, where the music educator Alice Tegnér discovered her talent. She was already performing at the age of eleven. After completing school & her studies at the Conservatory, she gave her debut & was received into the Ensemble of the Royal Swedish Opera. She was hailed as the new Jenny Lind” – the Swedish nightingale. As a concert & opera singer she experienced enormous success in many of the European countries. In 1906 she married Louis Michael Julius Werbeck, the German writer & musician from Hamburg & moved with him to Germany.

In 1908 she met Rudolf Steiner and received from him indications for her work & encouragement not to give up her successful singing career, but rather to pursue it against her original intentions. Her studies with experienced teachers had certainly guided her to a successful operatic career, but it had shown her that these methods of instruction also endangered her natural voice. She began searching for new methods of developing the voice, & remained in close contact about this with Rudolf Steiner until his death. At the same time she began to build up a method of singing therapy that she later was later to develop further together with Eugen Kolisko, who took singing lessons with her from time to time, & with Ita Wegman. In 1938 her book ‘’Uncovering the Voice: The Cleansing Power of Song’’ appeared in German. The rise of National Socialism in Germany made her work increasingly difficult. Eventually she had to close her school & spent the War years in semi-isolation in Silesia. The years following the War she devoted totally to her therapeutic work & to the instruction of a circle of young musicians that had gathered around her.

***

Footsteps in the snow Photograph by Sonya Kanelstrand

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~my footsteps imprint possibility
on the unique shapes that gather together as fallen snow
that which is
follows in stride
& that which is not yet
flows in front
with the wind…
~hag

“Out of the substance of soul and spirit, human beings have to fashion the tools with which to plough a way, the soul-way leading to the castle of the Grail, to the mystery of the Grail, to the mystery of bread and blood, to the fulfilment of the words ‘This do in remembrance of me’. This is, truly, in remembrance of the mighty event of Golgotha, if the symbol of the bread — of what, in other words, develops from the earth through the synthesis of cosmic forces — is understood. It is done in full remembrance if we understand once again how to grasp the world through a spiritualized cosmology and astronomy, and if we learn to comprehend the human being in terms of his essence: the element where the spiritual directly enters him — the mystery of the blood. The path that leads to the Holy Grail must be found through inner work in human souls. This is the task of cognition and the social task.”~Rudolf Steiner, 
The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 8“The Lapse into Matter”, and Chapter 9
“Piercing the Thicket”, excerpts from Steiner’s lectures given at Dornach on 16 & 17 April 1921 … 
focus of the February 2 meeting.

Chapters 7, 8 & 9 in the book can be found online at the CRC’s website by clicking this link
A transcript of the 16 April, 1921 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link
A transcript of the 17 April, 1921 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing  study conversation.  The study has been divided among two volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail — from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  To connect to the audio/video-conference:

Video Conference Details:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106

Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,81116556762# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,81116556762# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location
        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcHr5EVwrv

If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
Agenda for this meeting (CST)
 
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Michael – Chapter 8
          Camille – Chapter 9
7:50  Conversation
8:25   ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
There is a knighthood of the 21st century
whose riders do not ride through the darkness of physical forests as of old,
but through the forest of darkened minds.
They are armed with a spiritual armor and an inner sun makes them radiant.
Out of them shines healing, healing that flows from the knowledge of the human being
as a spiritual being. They must create inner order, inner justice, peace and conviction in the darkness
of our time.
~Karl Konig

Blue Hag of Winter

Podcast for  The Cailleach  on ‘I Think Speech

Greetings friends – Here in the Heartland we are finally experiencing a worthy accumulation of glorious snow – a white hushing blanket fluffed & growing with each unique crystal. A magical transformation of elemental forces that brings a rosy glow to the face & delights the human heart. So that got me thinking about The Cailleach (KAL-y-ach) who is the Crone Goddess of Winter & transformation, said to control the weather & the winds. She strikes the ground with her staff, a Druidic white wand of power, made of birch, willow, bramble, or broom, causing the earth to be covered with a blanket of frost. She also determines the length & harshness of the season, which begins on October 31st, the Samhain festival, peaking just before the Cross-quarter of Imbolc, but often extending up till the Spring Equinox.

Bet Hanrahan

As a veiled Crone, with one eye & pale blue/grey skin, The Cailleach or twilight hag, has been feared & revered across Celtic cultures for over 3000 years. Depicted as a giant with a bow-legged stride, She leaps across mountains & plains with a power to shape & transform the landscape, rocks falling from Her gathered apron. 

Her name means “Veiled One” & She is very old.  No one knows for certain where She came from. When the Celts arrived in Ireland The Cailleach was already there. 

Legend has it that ‘Fintan the Wise one of a 100 lives’ accompanied Noah’s granddaughter, Cessair, to Ireland before the great Biblical flood. He thought himself the first to set foot on the island but found Cailleach living there, & could see she was far more ancient than himself. He is said to have asked of her, “Are you the one, the grandmother who ate the apple in the beginning?” but received no answer.

Philip Carr-Gomm

There is a tale of a wandering friar & his scribe, who came to the old Crone’s stone domicile. He inquired as to her great age, which he had heard stories of. She replied that she didn’t know, but that every year she killed an ox & made soup from the bones—& perhaps they could gauge her age by the number of ox bones tossed up in the attic. The young scribe climbed the ladder & threw the bones down one by one for the friar to count. The friar duly made a mark on his paper for each bone, & the great pile of bones grew until he had run out of paper. He called up to the young scribe, who replied that he had not even cleared one corner of the pile of bones. Such was the great age of the Cailleach.

She has been called ‘Old Wife’, ‘Old Woman’ & the ‘Blue Hag of Winter’.  In Celtic myth the Hag represents the spirit of the land, holding sovereign power over the earth. For a Celtic king to retain power, he was required to “marry” the Goddess of the earth. As ‘divine hag,’ she represents the dark side of the Mother who brings death & rebirth.

Some scholars believe “Cailleach” was more like a title of initiation, for the name is associated with various figures thru out history & mythology – passed down thru oral tradition.

In Irish mythology she is said to have had seven maidenhoods, before bearing children by many husbands, before becoming eternally aged, outliving all her husbands & children. She is the maternal ancestor of every Irish tribe.

The Cailleach is said to be responsible for raising mountains & creating the ancient burial cairns & barrow mounds.  She is a Goddess of the Underworld, associated with the ancestors & the realms of death & rebirth. The Cailleach is connected to the bean sidhe (Banshee), the wild women of the Faeries, She oversees the faerie mounds & entrances to the realm of the Fey.  You will also find Her near sacred standing stones, the “bones of the earth”.  Her companion the Owl is associated with death, the underworld, magic, & the ability to see spirits.  She is said to be a shapeshifter, & can transform into a giant bird – “cailleach-oidhche”, “the night hag”, old Gaelic for “owl”.

Lenny Lecerton

On Imbolc, legend has it that the Cailleach runs out of her store of winter firewood & goes to gather more. If the day is fine & dry, it means that she will be able to gather more firewood & prolong the harsh winter months, but if it rains, she will have no fuel & so will have to give way to Spring. This tradition traveled across the Atlantic & fed into what is known as Groundhog Day.

Terry Nix

And so it is that on Imbolc the Cailleach is said to cast her staff under a holly bush; her way of handing it over to Brigid. She then, swirls around 3x’s, & turns into a grey boulder, until the Wheel again turns to Samhain. The stone she transforms into is said to remain moist despite the warmth of the summer months because of the life force it contains. Countless standing stones are said to be sacred to her.

Tom Skellett

The Cailleach is associated with more locations across the Gaelic-speaking world than any other deity. Her ability to form the landscape means that many prominent mountain landmarks are attributed to her. According to legend, she either dropped or threw stones from her apron as she passed thru the land & these grew into rock formations or mountains.

In daily life The Cailleach inspires the local healer, called bean feasa ‘wise woman, fortune-teller, sorceress, charm-worker – Witch.’

Rachel Patterson

To reclaim the Crone, is to become synonymous with wisdom & sovereign female agency, operating outside the oppressive hand of patriarchy.

Many Gaelic oral narratives recount cures performed by the local bean feasa thru her gifts of prophecy & second-sight. Part herbalist, part oracle, the ‘wise woman’ is the representative of the Goddess who visits the spiritual world to gain insight. As healer she diagnoses & heals emotional traumas, both individual & communal. Like shamanic figures the world over, she treats illness by balancing the relationship between the human being & the spirits of the otherworlds. She restores well-being by bringing into harmony matter & Spirit.

Bailey Brown

As a Goddess of transformation & death, She oversees the culling of the old, & lets die all that is no longer needed. And also with the passing of the Winter months, the Cailleach finds & guards the seeds for the coming re-birth of Spring. She stands at the cusp of life & death, intimately connected to the wise women who preside as midwives over birthing, & who prepare the dead for burial.

Catlin Bextter

As the “Veiled One” the Cailleach guides us through our inner realities & dreams.  She teaches us to let go of (allow to die) all that no longer serves our higher purpose, & guides us thru the many deaths & rebirths of our life phases. She is the final face of the Triple Goddess who rules the wheel of reincarnation.

May we embrace the “Veiled One” knowing the transformative power of darkness, will lead us into the growing light of re-birth.

~hag

24 January 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Mercury (occult Venus) reached inferior conjunction yesterday at 6 am CST. It’s now hidden from our view by the Sun’s bright glare but will just begin to peek out of the dawn as a morning star by the end of the month.

The Pleaides is already high an hour after sunset. Look south to find this young cluster of stars northwest of Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull. Many people think the Pleiades looks like a spoon or ladle, and some even confuse it with the Little Dipper (which is much larger, fainter, and in the north). At least six bright stars are visible to the naked eye.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

AD 41 – Roman Emperor Caligula, known for his eccentricity and sadistic despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. The Guard then proclaims Caligula’s uncle Claudius as Emperor.

AD 76 – Birthday of Hadrian, Roman emperor. He is known for building Hadrian’s Wall, which marked the northern limit of Britannia, yet he visited almost every province of the Empire. Hadrian energetically pursued his own Imperial ideals & personal interests. He encouraged military preparedness & discipline, & fostered, designed or personally subsidized various civil & religious institutions & building projects. In Rome itself, he rebuilt or completed the Pantheon, & constructed the vast Temple of Venus & Roma. In Egypt, he rebuilt the Serapeum of Alexandria. An ardent admirer of Greece, he sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the Empire & ordered the construction of many opulent temples there. His intense relationship with the Greek youth Antinous, who he adopted & named his successor, on the condition that he adopt Marcus Aurelius & Lucius Verus as his own heirs, led to Hadrian’s establishment of an enduring and widespread popular cult. Hadrian died & Antoninus had him deified, despite opposition from the Senate. Hadrian has been described as enigmatic & contradictory, with a capacity for both great personal generosity & extreme cruelty, driven by insatiable curiosity, self-conceit, & above all, ambition.

Hadrian had an abiding & enthusiastic interest in art, architecture & public works. Rome’s Pantheon (temple “to all the gods”), originally built by Agrippa & destroyed by fire in 80, was restored under Hadrian in the domed form it retains to this day. Hadrian’s Villa at Tibur (Tivoli) provides the greatest Roman equivalent of an Alexandrian garden.

Hadrian was familiar with the Stoic philosophers Epictetus, & Favorinus, & with their works. Shortly before the death of Plotina, Hadrian had granted her wish that the leadership of the Epicurean School in Athens be open to a non-Roman candidate.

Hadrian had a great interest in astrology & divination & had been told of his future accession to the Empire by a grand-uncle who was himself a skilled astrologer.

Hadrian wrote poetry in both Latin & Greek; one of the few surviving examples is a Latin poem he reportedly composed on his deathbed:

Animula, vagula, blandula
Hospes comesque corporis
Quae nunc abibis in loca
Pallidula, rigida, nudula,
Nec, ut soles, dabis iocos…
~P. Aelius Hadrianus Imp.

Roving amiable little soul,
Body’s companion and guest,
Now descending for parts
Colourless, unbending, and bare
Your usual distractions no more shall be there…

There may be a connection between the individuality known as Hadrian & Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz, one of Rudolf Steiner’s most valued & independent-minded colleagues, who was born in Prague – in the midst of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – to an aristocratic family with royal connections. Leaving behind the traditions of his background, he was to become a key actor in Rudolf Steiner’s regenerative ‘threefold’ social impulses, working tirelessly for a genuinely unified & free Europe. Polzer-Hoditz also fought to protect Rudolf Steiner’s esoteric legacy & the integrity of the Anthroposophical Society that had been founded to further his work. Following Steiner’s untimely death, Polzer-Hoditz fostered a broad range of friendships & alliances with key figures such as D.N. DunlopWalter Johannes Stein & Ita Wegman. In the final decade of his life he concentrated his energies on world issues, seeking to influence events in Europe in particular, lecturing widely & writing a number of books & memoranda. Polzer-Hoditz sought to build a true understanding between Central & Eastern Europe & to cultivate a spiritual connection with the West.

1965 – Death-day of Winston Churchill, English colonel & politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel Prize laureate.

1978 – Soviet satellite Kosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada’s Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.

1993 – Death-Day of Thurgood Marshall, American lawyer & jurist, 32nd United States Solicitor General.

1991 – Deathday of René Maikowski, member of the Esoteric Youth Circle. Born in Berlin of a Russian-Polish father & a Franco-Swiss mother, he spoke all these languages fluently. Fighting in WW1 awakened in him a longing for a meaningful & humane way of life, which sparked an interest in social issues, politics, history & economics. He was drawn to Rudolf Steiner because of his views on the 3 fold social organism.

Steiner appointed him secretary of the ‘Association for Anthroposophical University Work’, in 1920, a confederation advocating anthroposophy in the universities. With Steiner he organized Higher education courses. He worked with Ernst Lehrs, Albrecht Strohschein & Fritz Kubler to help with the East-West Conference in Vienna in 1922. These 4 young men went to Dornach with the purpose of asking Rudolf Steiner to help them form the ‘Pedagogical Youth Course’, which Steiner held in Stuttgart in Oct. 1923.

Maikowski, traveled with Steiner all that year, & helped him form the ‘Free Anthroposophical Society’ mainly for the youth. He was part of the executive committee with Maria Roschl, Wilhelm Rath, & Hans Buchenbacher.

In GA 259 Rudolf Steiner calls him “Theoretician of Youth’ as he was doing a lot of the programming. Steiner loved Maikowski because he was always full of questions; & he revealed to him that as an initiate Steiner could only do something if it was asked of him. Once when they were entering a city where Steiner had never been, he called for quiet saying: “I want to see if anyone is meditating, because if there is even one person who meditates, it changes the aura of the city”.

Steiner commissioned him to set up various Waldorf Schools. When the National Socialists began to harass the Waldorf schools, Maikowski tried to use the influence of his brother who was an SA officer, but it was no use, the authorities shut down the school anyway. He stepped down as the head of the Confederation. (Many anti-Waldorf sites mention Maikowksi saying he was a Nazi, which he wasn’t)

René Maikowski was much missed by his students, who called him: Die Flamme due to his ardor & enthusiasm in the classroom. After the war he worked to rebuild many of the schools, traveling as far as Russia & Israel. He died at the age of 92.

2003 – The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.

~like a black jackal
on a freezing dark night
i am stealth…
i make a quiet passage to heaven
& yet i still search
for secrets among the cold colored stones…
~hag

“Out of the substance of soul and spirit, human beings have to fashion the tools with which to plough a way, the soul-way leading to the castle of the Grail, to the mystery of the Grail, to the mystery of bread and blood, to the fulfilment of the words ‘This do in remembrance of me’. This is, truly, in remembrance of the mighty event of Golgotha, if the symbol of the bread — of what, in other words, develops from the earth through the synthesis of cosmic forces — is understood. It is done in full remembrance if we understand once again how to grasp the world through a spiritualized cosmology and astronomy, and if we learn to comprehend the human being in terms of his essence: the element where the spiritual directly enters him — the mystery of the blood. The path that leads to the Holy Grail must be found through inner work in human souls. This is the task of cognition and the social task.”~Rudolf Steiner, 
The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 8“The Lapse into Matter”, and Chapter 9
“Piercing the Thicket”, excerpts from Steiner’s lectures given at Dornach on 16 & 17 April 1921 … 
focus of the February 2 meeting.

Chapters 7, 8 & 9 in the book can be found online at the CRC’s website by clicking this link
A transcript of the 16 April, 1921 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link
A transcript of the 17 April, 1921 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing  study conversation.  The study has been divided among two volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail — from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  To connect to the audio/video-conference:

Video Conference Details:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106

Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,81116556762# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,81116556762# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location
        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcHr5EVwrv

If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
Agenda for this meeting (CST)
 
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Michael – Chapter 8
          Camille – Chapter 9
7:50  Conversation
8:25   ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
There is a knighthood of the 21st century
whose riders do not ride through the darkness of physical forests as of old,
but through the forest of darkened minds.
They are armed with a spiritual armor and an inner sun makes them radiant.
Out of them shines healing, healing that flows from the knowledge of the human being
as a spiritual being. They must create inner order, inner justice, peace and conviction in the darkness
of our time.
~Karl Konig