Category Archives: Calendar of the Soul

Vidar Speaks

Biography, Calendar of the Soul, Community, Festival, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Upcoming Events

Thank you for your kind responses to this series around the Camphill Beaver Run Holy Nights experience. Many are thirsting to hear about such communities where a Christened Anthroposophia thrives in thought, word & deed. Here are the 2 essays so far Festival of Offering, Come Unity.

On New Year’s Eve day we began with ‘The Festival of Offering’, which set a powerful tone, & then we went into our intimate groups for Reflections from the Night. My group was graciously facilitated by Dr. Raphael Knauf, who began our sessions speaking: ‘Community above us. Christ in us’. I am always in awe of how deeply my fellows live into their thinking & are able to articulate these spiritual ideas so eloquently. We can learn so much from each other when we make a space to listen & share.

Susan Overhauser, who is one of the brilliant facility members for our AAP training brought alive for us ‘Vidar as a Guide in the Etheric’.

This young Archangel is the inspiring Being of Community life, connected with the pure ether forces:

Big thanks to Rob Treiste for this cool chart

The Four Ethers & the Four Elements overlap to create the seven layers of the Physical-Etheric World, & the 7-fold human being. To begin to understand this gives us insight into our task with Vidar.

I remember looking into Norse mythology thru the lens of Spiritual Science when my girl was in 4th grade at the Chicago Waldorf School. Rudolf Steiner tells us that Wotan or Odin was an Archangelic being, who later appeared as Siddhārtha carrying on the mission of Odin to become the Gautama-Buddha.

Javier Dominguez

Vidar, unseated by Loki, becomes the silent Aesir – the only one to survive Ragnarok, conquering the Fenrris Wolf who wants to devour the Sun.

Important to remember that every human being has a guardian angel; & that before Siddhārtha became the Buddha he had one too. When he achieved Buddhahood, his angel was ‘freed’. After much time as the silent Aesir, this angel went on to work with the Nathan Soul & with the Christ thru the pre-earthly deeds etc…(You can read about this Angel in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 2 & in Matthew 1:18–25)

Robert Paulson

Rudolf Steiner connects Buddha’s angel with Vidar. So we can see that Vidar is linked, not only to what we hear about him thru mythology, but also to Buddhism, & to the ‘Nathan Soul’ – that pure paradisiacal ‘Sister Soul of Adam’ that did not go thru the fall from paradise – but was held back in the Mother-lodge to be able assist the mission of Christ.

Steiner speaks about the Nirmanakaya of the Buddha with all its “Youthful forces” as an intermigling with the astral body of the Nathan Jesus when he was 12. These Youthful forces are a characteristic of Vidar & his work with the formative forces of the etheric.

Paulo Veronesse

Thru Spiritual Science we learn it is Vidar, who comes to the aid of the Christ Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, fortifing his etheric body when the Ahrimanic death forces were threatening to kill the physical body of Jesus before Christ’s deed on Golgotha was completed. “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him”. (Luke 22-43)

To put things into perspective we can think how everything changes; growth/transformation embraces all beings – evolution is working not only in humanity but in the ‘gods’. When the Archangel Michael got promoted to Archai, the being known as Vidar, who used to be associated with the Northern Mysteries, stepped into Michael’s position as ruling Archangel of the Sun, becoming Universal in his service, cosmopolitan like Michael.

According to Rudolf Steiner Vidar, could have become an Archangel long before that, but he took the path of renunciation, of silence – listening & waiting – building up forces, until 1879; only then did Vidar take the place vacated by Michael, to work specifically with the Christ during the 2nd crucifixion in the etheric.

The silent Aesir now speaks. Vidar’s task is essential for our present age; he creates the etheric sheath for the Being of Christ, so that we can develop a new clairvoyance to perceive & receive this Etheric Christ.

Vidar wants to work with us to achieve the necessary formative forces needed to conquer the many Ahrimanic & Luciferic influences that plague us today – So that we can attain a level of super-sensible acuity to work with Christ in our own etheric bodies.

Vidar will guide us so that we too can become Christ bearers – creating CHRISTOPHOROS ( Χριστόφορος ) in us.

Vidar was with us in the Michael School & the super-sensibile Cultus, & he helps us now & into the future, to put these lessons into practice with discernment; making us ready to achieve access to all the ethers: warmth, light, sound, life. To consciously employ them – which will help us purify our astral body & transform our etheric body.

We will need these tools to meet the mystery of evil.

Elizabeth Wang

In our striving to harmonize our astral & etheric currents, we create new spiritual organs, described by Steiner in ‘How to Know Higher Worlds’ as an ‘etheric lattice’. This gives us a reflective apparatus for our pure thinking – allowing our thoughts to press or imprint directly into our ether body – creating an etheric bridge to the Christ – giving us access to cosmic memory & the gifts from the 5th sacrifice of Christ ie. the suffocation in the etheric attended by Vidar & the Nathan Soul – this sacrifice was the catalyst for our new clairvoyance!

Thruout this gathering I kept thinking: How can I bring these ideas back to my community. Right now in everyday practical terms my take away is that Vidar as Guardian of the etheric forces can brings us together in our various groups striving to live into the Spiritual Science of Christ-Sophia. We have to be aware that an elemental being will come & inhabit the etheric forms we create – consciously with Love & Light – or unconsciously thru what is adversarial in us…

Vidar as an Archangel for our time speaks with the language of Pentecost – the fires of purification & purpose. And thru the Holy Spirit connected to Anthroposophia we can work with Vidar in our search for the Holy Grail when we ask the Parzival question of each other, in a true mood of service & enthusiasm, so that when we are ripe we can become co-creators of a new Universe.   

To close Susan Overhauser, who has worked with this new Archangel for many years, gave us a powerful Vidar verse that she wrote. Come August I hope to host Susan here in Chicago for our newly created Vidar-mas Festival which we inaugurated last year on 20 August.

In my next essay I will get into the events of the afternoon & evening of NYE. Including insights into a magnificant performance of a new play by Glen Wiliamson & Laurie Portocarrero rightly entilted ‘Fire in the Temple’.

Thanks for tuning in…

Until soon ~hag

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
EPIPHANY II
At the Altar of the Heart
v41
The soul’s creative power
from depths of heart aspires
to fire the forces of the gods
to right activity in human life
and form itself in human love
and human deeds.

and the mirror verse:
SAINT JOHN’S FESTIVAL
At the Altar of the Senses
v12
The world’s light-glancing beauty
compels me from the depths of soul
to free the god-enwoven powers of my life
in cosmic flight, forsake myself
and trusting, seek myself
in worldwide cosmic light and warmth.

Candlemas – a Cross-Quarter Festival Heralding Spring – with Willow Summer & Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Wednesday 25 January 2023 – Program – 3 pm – Potluck – 5 pm, Please Bring Food & Drink to Share

Storytelling: The Alchemy of Celtic Triple Goddess Brigid,

The Year of the Water Rabbit – Tu B’Shvat – Beeswax Crafting – Singing

Rudolf Steiner’s Seed Meditation – from ‘How to Know Higher Worlds’

‘Charm the Plow’ – Bless & Consecrate the Farm tools

Three Springs Community Farm 15300 Bodega Hwy, Bodega, CA 94922

Contact Willow for more info.

Velsum Voices Presents: ‘New Nightingale, New Rose’

A Benefit Concert to support Nancy Jewel Poer and the community events at White Feather Ranch

Saturday, 28 January 2023, at 2 pm PT

In the Peace Garden at White Feather Ranch, Placerville, CA

All Ages – Love Donation – Contribute what you will

Come join us for Velsum’s West Coast Debut!

Dress in warm clothes for a hearty heart-filled afternoon of music and celebration. We will have an outdoor fire. If it is too chilly we can meet in the Ranch House. Pack your own picnic lunch or dinner.

Can’t make the concert? You can still Donate to Nancy’s web site

*RSVP to receive directions to White Feather Ranch  hazel@reverseritual.com

‘Velsum‘ is a musical initiative formed through Lucien Dante Lazar and Ultra-Violet Archer. The songs are inspired to develop our human capacity for Love and Logic. Velsum is a celebration of harmony, rhythm, prayer, and the human voice. Each song is permeated with a sincere interest in the other, the self, the world, and the cosmos. ‘”Velsum’s music is a product of listening.” We hope that by listening to these songs, you feel heard. ~Velsum

Lucien and Ultra met as children at the Chicago Waldorf School, and became friends and collaborators as young adults. They now write, record and perform original music through the initiative Velsum. They debuted the show ‘New Nightingale, New Rose’ last winter at Angelic Organics Farm, and have performed it throughout the Midwest. Through weaving harmonies, poetic recitations, and movement, New Nightingale, New Rose invites the audience on a quest for love and wisdom.  A joyful experience awaits young and old!

Here is a short video clip of Velsum, and here you can find their link to all links! https://linktr.ee/velsum

~Velsum: Ancient Futurism~ Lucien Dante Lazar and Ultra-Violet Archer 

Here is a short video clip of Velsum find them on Instagram, Bandcamp, apple music, soundcloud, spotify, youtube

Ultra-Violet Archer – (b. Chicago, IL, 1999) is a songwriter and music producer, exploring music as a tool for healing and storytelling. After studying at Oberlin College & Conservatory and spending a year in Järna, Sweden, at the International Youth Initiative Program, she currently studies music at Columbia College Chicago. She strives to make music that invites people to honor the parts of themselves they feel but can’t yet put into words.  https://linktr.ee/UltraVioletArcher

Lucien Dante Lazar (b. Chicago, IL, 1994) is an interdisciplinary artist whose praxis is founded in the intersections of art, science, and spirituality. He received his BA from Bard College (2016), his MFA from California College of the Arts (2020), and is currently working on his PhD in the Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness program at California Institute of Integral Studies. His dissertation will concern the pedagogy of spiritual development through the diversity of the arts.

PRESENTS:

The Mystery of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

This course is available on Zoom. You will be emailed a Zoom link closer to the time of the class. The course will be recorded and you will receive a link to watch it. Go to the Infinity Foundation web site to enroll

Course Number 231154 / Zoom
Date: Thursday, May 11
Time 7:00 – 8:30 PM CST
Cost $33/23 payment 10 days in advance

Gerald Shepherd

When we tune into the Cycle of the Seasons, we experience that as the Earth breathes out in the Springtime, the beings of nature reach upwards towards the heights. The longing of the human soul also strives to meet this mood of ascension, which attunes all life to the cosmic expanses.

Together we will gain insights in how to rise up to our Higher Self by participating in this harmonizing spring-dialogue between the worlds.

This reconnection between heaven & earth was prefigured in the story of Jacob’s ladder from the Old Testament. Through his dream of the ‘stairway to heaven’, Jacob gave us a prophecy in the picture of a golden ladder on which choirs of Angels traverse between the ‘Above & Below’. The Mystery of the Ascension of Christ, 40 days after the Resurrection at Easter, fulfilled Jacob’s Prophecy. Christ as the Being of Love became the living bridge connecting us to the eternal.

Through this workshop we will learn how humanity will also be transfigured in the fullness of time. The company of the Angelic Hierarchies wait for us, their younger siblings, to ascend, first of all in our thinking, to meet them in fellowship, as they work all the while by our sides.

Festival of Offering

Biography, Calendar of the Soul, Community, Festival, History, Upcoming Events

Greetings & Happy New Year Dear Friends – While I was at the ‘Fire in the Temple’ Holy Nights Gathering, my soul was filled with life changing spiritual treasures which I have been eager to spill from the fullness of my loving cup. But somehow I couldn’t find the words that would begin to convey this powerful social & deeply evocative experience.

Camphill Beaver Run in Pennsylvania, is in the same neck of the woods where I travel for my AAP trainings at Camphill Kimberton – located in what some folks call the ‘Keystone’ or ‘Quaker’ State outside the City of Brotherly Love, where the Appalachian Mountains run thru the center, with the Allegheny & Pocono mountains rolling thru the Camphill communities rich with Biodynamic agriculture & the selfless impulse of service initiated by Dr. Karl Konig.

I always travel a day before the convergence commences – It gives me a chance to commune with the Spirit of Place & get a lay of the land. The weather was super mild & sunny, so I hiked around, drawn to a flowing brook where I strongly felt the aura of the indigenous Lenape of the Algonquin Tribe, whose name means “the real people”.

Later in conversation at the Whitestone house where I was staying, I had a long conversation with a co-worker & teacher at the Karl Konig School. I learned that when Dr. Konig went on a lecture tour to Silesia he met & married Tilla Maasberg, who was a Moravian. It was thru her that Konig was brought into a deep connection with the social & religious impulses of the “Herrnhut” brotherhood which was dear to Tilla.

The village of Herrnhut “The Lord’s Watch,” came about thru a little band of Moravian fugitives asking if they might take asylum on the land of Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf, who agreed to shelter them on his estate.

Count Zinzendorf was dismayed at the division between denominations & longed to unite the different factions in a spiritual peace. He was the first to speak of “Ecumenism.”

Herrnhut become a gathering place for many religious exiles. Folks spoke different languages – customs & creeds varied. Lutherans, Schwenkfelders, Separatists, Reformed & Brethren, lived side by side. As we might well imagine, squabbles developed. But then the community began a Bible study, holding all-night prayer vigils where they could confess & confront their sins in good will with one another, to work thru their karma. The community established “bands” – groups of 2 or more who would commune together encouraging each other spiritually.

The Holy Spirit moved thru their hearts, & the differences dissolved. Folks embraced one another in forgiveness & a spirit of love. Christ became central to their thinking.

They established a 24 hour around-the-clock prayer vigil which lasted one hundred years!

The Herrnhut Brotherhood was a busy & industrious community fostering arts & crafts & team work: spinning, weaving, carpentry, pottery, & farming…

Herrnhut became a remarkable experiment in what a Christian community could be, as well as a major catalyst for social reform. Dr. Konig brought some of this impulse into his anthroposophical Camphill intiative.

I knew Karl Konig had been in an internment camp with several other Anthroposophists, where he worked on his drawings for the Calendar of the Soul, but I had not known about this piece of history. It was fascinating to learn that he was introduced to this stream. I am always amazed how our biographies bring us into contact with various people & influences that go on to form the destiny of our lives.

I carried this enlightening conversation deeply into my thinking, & found this powerful impulse living thru my experience of the “Festival of Offering” which we were invited to participate in twice during the gathering.

This service is held every week at Beaver Run in the magnificent Rainbow Hall – a mini Goetheanum with a vaulted stage dome that has colored windows, which they open for color therapy sessions twice a week.

For the Festival of Offering the stage is set all in red – red curtains in the background, a red altar with a sharply peaked triangular top & 2 thrones with the same shape. In the center in a thick blue frame is ‘The Study of Christ for the last supper’, by Leonardo da Vinci.

Below that are 7 white candles in black holders, taller on the ends, tapering down to the middle. 3 lay people dressed all in black carry the service, which is a sublime evocation that includes prayers & a seasonal Gospel inspired reading. At the end these co-worker officiants come thru the congregation & touch our third eye in a call & response benediction.

This service is full of profound reverence which speaks to the heart of every “I”. What I found most compelling was the magic moments when after looking upon the scene of the red altar, one closes the eyes – & the striking after image pulses in – the red altar becomes pure etheric green – the image of Christ shimmers from blue to purple to red – the center transforms into a Sun filled yellow. The black candle sticks & the 3 servers in black, glow white & yellow with red aura outlines – it’s incredible – awe inspiring – exhilarating!

A veritable training for our etheric vison! I am still holding these images which are forever etched in my mind’s eye, purifying & imprinting these Christened etheric vibrations into all my sheaths.  

Of all the potent content, the loving hospitality, the living example of a healthy co-working community, the deep conversations & connections, of which I will attempt to share over the next days – This Festival of Offering touches me like a flash of revelation that has beckoned me across the Threshold into an active vison of the etheric Christ…

I pray I can continue to carry this revelation into the practical envisioning of the etheric Goetheanum, as we head toward the Centennial renewal of Anthroposophy – the opening of the tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz – giving us the opportunity to read & speak the ‘Temple of the Word’ that was imprinted into the starry script when the ‘Johannes Bau’ became a burnt offering – a sacrifice like the 2nd crucifixion which was an offering that makes possible the opening of our etheric sight. May we all see 2023 as The Year of WE!

~hag

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
Here are the Christmas and New Year verses that I’m sorry I didn’t send Hazel in time for her Christmas Eve post. I hope you’ve all had enlightened Holy Nights, and now at Epiphany may the fiery force of the Cosmic Word arise in you from the heart’s love world, the first of just 3 mentions of love in the Soul Calendar.

CHRISTMAS
The Spirit Child
v38
I feel the Spirit Child set free
from spell in womb of soul;
in heart’s bright radiance
from seed of holy Cosmic Word
the heaven’s fruit of hope
is growing into farthest worlds
rejoicing from my being’s ground of God.

NEW YEAR
The Chalice of the Sense of Self
v39
Devoted to the spirit’s revelation
I win the light of Cosmic Being;
thought’s clarifying power grows
to give me who I am
and waking in me
from thinking’s power Selfhood’s feeling flows.

EPIPHANY
Love’s Offering
v40
And when I am in spirit’s depths
then in my ground of soul
the heart-formed love world fills
my self-bound vain delusions
with power of the World Word’s fire.

The mirror verse:
SAINT JOHNSTIDE II
The Spirit Bond
v13
And when I am in senses’ heights
the gods’ true Word from spirit fire-worlds
is flaming in my depths of soul:
“Foreseeing, seek your vision, find your star,
divine in spirit ground
the spirit bond with who you are”.

Candlemas – a Cross-Quarter Festival Heralding Spring – with Willow Summer & Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Wednesday 25 January 2023 – Program – 3 pm – Potluck – 5 pm, Please Bring Food & Drink to Share

Storytelling: The Alchemy of Celtic Triple Goddess Brigid,

The Year of the Water Rabbit –

Tu B’Shvat –

Rudolf Steiner’s Seed Meditation – from ‘How to Know Higher Worlds’

‘Charm the Plow’ – Bless & Consecrate the Farm tools

Three Springs Community Farm 15300 Bodega Hwy, Bodega, CA 94922

Contact Willow for more info.

Velsum Voices Presents: ‘New Nightingale, New Rose’

A Benefit Concert to support Nancy Jewel Poer and the community events at White Feather Ranch

Saturday, 28 January 2023, at 2 pm PT

In the Peace Garden at White Feather Ranch, Placerville, CA

All Ages – Love Donation – Contribute what you will

Come join us for Velsum’s West Coast Debut!

Dress in warm clothes for a hearty heart-filled afternoon of music and celebration. We will have an outdoor fire. If it is too chilly we can meet in the Ranch House. Pack your own picnic lunch or dinner.

Can’t make the concert? You can still Donate to Nancy’s web site

*RSVP to receive directions to White Feather Ranch  hazel@reverseritual.com

‘Velsum‘ is a musical initiative formed through Lucien Dante Lazar and Ultra-Violet Archer. The songs are inspired to develop our human capacity for Love and Logic. Velsum is a celebration of harmony, rhythm, prayer, and the human voice. Each song is permeated with a sincere interest in the other, the self, the world, and the cosmos. ‘”Velsum’s music is a product of listening.” We hope that by listening to these songs, you feel heard. ~Velsum

Lucien and Ultra met as children at the Chicago Waldorf School, and became friends and collaborators as young adults. They now write, record and perform original music through the initiative Velsum. They debuted the show ‘New Nightingale, New Rose’ last winter at Angelic Organics Farm, and have performed it throughout the Midwest. Through weaving harmonies, poetic recitations, and movement, New Nightingale, New Rose invites the audience on a quest for love and wisdom.  A joyful experience awaits young and old!

Here is a short video clip of Velsum, and here you can find their link to all links! https://linktr.ee/velsum

~Velsum: Ancient Futurism~ Lucien Dante Lazar and Ultra-Violet Archer 

Here is a short video clip of Velsum find them on Instagram, Bandcamp, apple music, soundcloud, spotify, youtube

Ultra-Violet Archer – (b. Chicago, IL, 1999) is a songwriter and music producer, exploring music as a tool for healing and storytelling. After studying at Oberlin College & Conservatory and spending a year in Järna, Sweden, at the International Youth Initiative Program, she currently studies music at Columbia College Chicago. She strives to make music that invites people to honor the parts of themselves they feel but can’t yet put into words.  https://linktr.ee/UltraVioletArcher

Lucien Dante Lazar (b. Chicago, IL, 1994) is an interdisciplinary artist whose praxis is founded in the intersections of art, science, and spirituality. He received his BA from Bard College (2016), his MFA from California College of the Arts (2020), and is currently working on his PhD in the Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness program at California Institute of Integral Studies. His dissertation will concern the pedagogy of spiritual development through the diversity of the arts.

Human Wisdom

Calendar of the Soul, Community, Festival, History

Yes, dear Friends we have arrived at The 4th week of Advent.

By meeting the temptations of the first 3 weeks of Advent, we arrive at the Threshold to the Temple of the human being – the doorway to the Higher “I”.

This is the week that resonates with the human kingdom with its challenge to come to know what it means to be truly human.

The human being is an arena of great mystery.

Not only is Advent a time of preparation, an inner exercise of Becoming present, since the word Advent comes from the Latin advenire, we are invited “to arrive”.

But before we can arrive to open the present of Love’s Light – we must make our passage thru Advent, where we meet the fire, water & air trials. Part of this preparation is facing up to the  forces of Lucifer & Ahriman which are actively working in us. Inner & outer obstacles are an essential part of our experience. We must find our human wisdom – & the only way forward is to use the gift of wisdom in service to humanity.

William Adolphe Bouguereau

Gaining insight into ourselves is not an easy task – & it is not meant to be. what’s important is that we plunge willingly into the not knowing – consciously taking the journey towards true knowledge – wisdom of the Self. The Greek word ‘seauton’ speaks of our potential.

This journey of knowing ourselves is a lonely path, & yet it requires interaction with others. We become a mirror to each other. If this causes conflicts with others, it is a clue that we have stirred up a memory of a karmic connection from a former life. If such memories remain unconscious, or are denied, antipathy, & antagonism arises.

Antagonism is our signal to “Know Thyself”. The incarnation of Jesus created antagonism from the moment of birth. The family of the Matthew Jesus had to go to Egypt to escape the massacre of the innocents. And the family of the Luke Jesus had to travel to Bethlehem while Mary was heavy with child – giving birth in a sable!

As we discussed in our work with “Inner Experiences of Evolution” – when we work to “Know Thyself” we may go thru many growing pains, like dealing with rejection, which at its core is like a death. Our growth comes in with how we handle this adversity. Can we see that it gives us an opportunity to change our hearts & minds? What would it be like to transform resentment for those that push our buttons, into immense gratitude for the person who is acting as the catalyst for us to overcome our moral failings?

At the heart of this work is acceptance. We are who we are for a reason. We are in a karmic group for a reason. This reason is embedded in the purpose of our life.

This final week of Advent asks us to stop criticizing human behavior – Instead we can understand that we all have the same “Know Thyself” task – Then Love wells up – the new kind of love that was born in Bethlehem. With this understanding Christmas no longer oscillates between abstract mysticism, sentimentalism or materialism;  it is a practicalopportunity in our lives to give birth (which is painful) to a new aspect of ourselves.

Through the light of the Christ star we are guided to “Know Thyself”. Perhaps like at the altar of the Christian Community Churches, we can picture 2 Christmas trees – For only when the Tree of Life & the Tree of Knowledge become one within us will The Christ be born in the inner manger we are preparing for him.

At the heart of this activity, it is helpful to know that along with the regenerative gifts of the Archangel Gabriel present at this season, upheld by the earnest wisdom of the Archangel Uriel below; we can also experience Michael’s sword which thru our conscious intention separates our lower ego from our Higher Self. This gives us the opportunity to unite thinking, feeling, & willing, in freedom.

The gifts of the Three Kings, which comes as the culmination of the 12 Days of Christmas, reminds us of this.

~hag

18 December 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
ADVENT IV – WINTER SOLSTICE
The Midnight Sun
v37
My heart-anointed impulse strives
to bear the spirit light
into world-winter-night
that shining seeds of soul
take root in cosmic ground,
and in the senses’ dark
God’s all-transfiguring Word resound.

The sun enters the sign of Capricorn, the bridge between the heights and the depths. In the mirror verse the sun enters the sign of Leo, whose spiritual attitude is flaming enthusiasm, the power to incarnate the spirit’s summer gift in soul ground that soul seeds of the Cosmic Word now root in cosmic ground, transfiguring our feeling for the whole of life and birthing their heavenly fruit, the Spirit Child, our higher Self, at Christmas.

THE SUN ENTERS THE SIGN OF LEO
Enthusiasm For The Spirit’s Gift
v16
My foresight is commanding me
to harbour inwardly the spirit’s gift
that in the ground of soul
divine fruit ripen
for Selfhood’s harvest.

v16 is the week between Saint Johnstide and Lammas.

Next week’s verse, 38, is always in Christmas week,
so this verse is only in the week of the Winter Solstice
when Christmas is between Sunday and Wednesday,
but this impulse to carry the Spirit Light, the Christ Light, into the world
with heightened consciousness for our spiritual work is shining in our hearts
in the days before the solstice for the world’s need at the turning of its time.
It is the first of the seven appearances of the heart between now and verse 48.

what is prana and pranayama? - Matrika Yoga

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

 ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The 1st Night of Hanukkah begin tonight at sunset

1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia & China

1803 – Deathday of Johann Gottfried Herder, German philosopher, theologian, & poet – associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, & Weimar Classicism.

1829 – Deathday of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, biologist, & academic – an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred & proceeded in accordance with natural laws. He gave the term biology a broader meaning by coining the term for special sciences, chemistry, meteorology, geology, & botany-zoology

1863 – Birthday of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Rudolf Steiner has some very interesting things to say about his assassination  

1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA

1878 – Birthday of Joseph Stalin, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union

1879 – Birthday of Paul Klee, Swiss-German painter & educator

1958 – Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched

1966 – Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker

1972 –President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th

1973 –Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev & Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union

1990 – International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers & Members of Their Families is adopted.

1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments

The 4th Sunday of Advent – 18 December 2022 
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, 2 pm – 3:30 pm CST 
(after Rev. Jonah Evans talk at the Christian Community)

The Individuality of Conscience and the Goetheanum 
with Lucien Dante Lazar

Out of our conscience, we witness the Christ in the other. And through this Seeing, our I is born within us, whose self-conscious interior is the I of God. This is a mystery of John the Baptist.



When Love enters the human heart as an awakening to freedom, the Wisdom of form enters our awareness, and color, that majesty of Light, teaches us about creation. This is a mystery of the painter Raphael.

When the Word approaches us, inspiring us in our language to find the Heavenly Sophia as intellect, we write truth and honor the New Revelation of the Christ and His marriage to Sophia. And out of this marriage, we learn about ourselves. This is a mystery of Novalis.

On this last Sunday of Advent dedicated to the Human Being & the Angels, we will engage in these three Christian gifts through the social encounter, our working with color, and our thinking through language. And we will strive to harmonize these three incarnations of this significant individuality with the birth, death, and resurrection of the Goetheanum.

$10-$50 or pay what you will at the door or online www.rschicago.org/donate(credit card or PayPal)

For more Info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator 
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map) 
https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar 
www.rschicago.org/donate

Resurrection of the Temple (The first Goetheanum) by Rita de Cassia Perez, Adriana’s mother

The ‘Envy of the Gods’ – The ‘Envy of Human Beings’

Presented by Adriana Koulias*

A Winter Solstice offering preparing us for the Centennial commemoration

of the burning of the first Goetheanum.

21 December 2022, at 5 pm PT, 6 pm MT, 7 pm CT, 8 pm ET

Here is a link to the World Clock for your time zone

Online & in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago

Dear Friends – This special presentation is supported by your generous donations. $10-$50 or pay what you will www.rschicago.org/donate (credit card or PayPal)

Please type ‘Adriana’ to designate your payment

For those attending in-person doors open at 5:30 pm for our Potluck meal.

Please bring food & drink to share.

For more Info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618(map) https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar www.rschicago.org/donate

You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Adriana Koulias

Time: Dec 21, 2022, 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89586637726

Meeting ID: 895 8663 7726

One tap mobile

+13092053325,,89586637726# US

+13126266799,,89586637726# US (Chicago)

Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kbtvb8sTRI

 Work on building the First Goetheanum, which was designed and supervised by Rudolf Steiner, began after the laying of the double dodecahedron foundation stone on the 20th of September 1913. Construction proceeded for a decade under enormous difficulties in the political, economic and cultural realms, brought on by the advent of the First World War. After the war when the building was near completion, the First Goetheanum was destroyed by an arsonist on New Year’s Eve 1922/1923.

This NYE 2022-23 will be the 100th anniversary of this event and the world is again facing many difficulties, political, economic and social.  Adriana’s lecture will explore what Rudolf Steiner meant by the ‘Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human beings’ and how a consciousness of this during the coming 12 Holy Nights can provide the necessary strengthening for the coming twelve months.

During this presentation Adriana will speak about the three gifts given by Rudolf Steiner in 1913: The naming of Anthroposophy, The Fifth Gospel, and The Laying of the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum. She will explore with us how we can link our hearts to the old Goetheanum during the coming 12 Holy Nights to prepare ourselves for the coming 12 months in 2023, so we can work towards a Cosmic New Year.

In this way we will celebrate the Jubilee of the Christmas Conference and the resurrection of the living impulse of the First Goetheanum in the most auspicious way.

For Rudolf Steiner tells us: ‘My dear friends, may this link our hearts to the old Goetheanum which we had to consign to the elements. May it link our hearts also to the Spirit, to the Soul of this Goetheanum. With this vow before whatever is best within our being we want to live on not only into the new year. In strength of deed, bearing the spirit, leading the soul we want to live on into the new cosmic year.’ ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human Beings.’

Adriana Koulias was born in 1960 in Brazil. Adriana moved to Australia when she was 9 years old where she lives today. She has studied art, operatic singing and nursing.  She has been studying Anthroposophy (awareness of our humanity) as given by Rudolf Steiner for 33 years and has since 2002-3 integrated this knowledge into several novels and a number of books, international lectures and articles online and in magazines.

Creatures big & small

Calendar of the Soul, Festival, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Upcoming Events

This 3rd week of Advent honors the animal kingdom & the astral realm which we share with them. As a city girl it is not often that I get to be up close & personal with the majority of the animal world. Sure I love my cat & dog (RIP Snowy ;( And actually there are many wild creatures that live in Chicagoland. I’ve written about Coyote, Opossum & Skunk, & the various birds species that frequent my neighborhood.

Even going up to Zinniker farm, these animals, although they aren’t completely domesticated, have a relationship to human beings.

But all too often that relationship is unhealthy. Society often teaches us to fear animals; people neglect or mistreat them, control & do horrible ‘medical’ tests on them – there are sickening factory farms & yes, we kill & eat them. When we don’t honor the animal world, we are harming not only ourselves, but also the environment. Perhaps this Corona Crisis is trying to get us to see a connection between the abuse of animals & the appearance of epidemics, & all the systemic sickness & cancers in the world…

As we embark upon this 3rd week of Advent, we meet the Air Trial which asks us to develop sense free thinking – A magical kind of thinking that does not kill. But in order to develop this thinking we must first develop, fortitude & presence of mind.

Sense Free thinking is a form of perception that allows us to see the spirit behind what we see -to find the genesis of thought.

On the archetypal level, each type of animal represents a soul mood – a signature imprint – out-pictured in the constellations of the zodiac; cast off reflections of ourselves in the astral realm.

When I am on a biodynamic farm & meet the Holy Cow – I sense that their horns are like antenna to this realm of the stars. Sometimes on a walk in the forest we can find the cast off antlers of a deer, or see a great stag with a mighty rack in the distance – I always think of the “Patronus” of Harry Potter.

To Practice Spirit beholding, which we hear in the 3rd panel of the foundation stone meditation, the mind needs to be open, quiet but present & awake – “Practice Spirit Beholding in stillness of thought”.

When we reach the Air Trial, nothing compels us. We are left on our own. We have no Ground on which to stand, we must create our own moral uprightness, which builds an organ of discernment!

This is the aim of human development, to be upright. We can’t let fear take the ground from under our feet or our breath away; we must stand on the Foundation Stone & look inward to find “Where the eternal goals of the gods, Bestow the light of cosmic being, On your own I, For free and active willing”.

Yes, friends, the Foundation Stone is the secret code, the key that unlocks the human soul, the prescription & antidote for what ails thee.

It teaches us how the will that was living in us from the past must now be transformed into thinking. The light bestowed upon us for our free willing by the hierarchy of angels – the Sons of Light, live in the elemental beings behind all the things & when we think light we carry them into us.

Sense free thinking is a creative consciousness, which can only be achieved thru having a will that is free, & a soul that is balanced. This Air trial requires that our “I” hold together thinking, feeling & willing, thru our own efforts

3rd Week of Advent —
Focus: The Astral World
Symbol: The Animal Kingdom
Freed up from: Our Guardian Angel
Virtues: Bravery, fortitude & presence of mind
Beware of temptation to lose self-control

The Air trial is where we see how we imprint or project ourselves & our thoughts into the world, both good & bad. This Air Trial requires us to change our thinking, by working on our souls so that we can come to the spirit again. Ordinary sense based thinking has to be silenced so that it can unite with a harmonious will. When thought is willed it becomes an organ of perception. It becomes conscious of the way our Astral body penetrates into the world & becomes one with all we see.

Jake Baddeley

We are the creators of the past, present & future – we imprint outwardly what we think inwardly, & this becomes what we face when we look in the mirror, we see it in the eye of our neighbor – everywhere – in the outer world of nature – it even forms our next incarnation.

To enter the Astral realm consciously, we can use the tool of cognitive imagination. We can work especially with complementary colors & after images.

When we look out into the world in this way we begin to see how our soul forces, when directed consciously, can cast a light on the spirit behind all things – so that we can interact with its animating essence.

In doing this, we cannot avoid coming face to face with all that is dark & imperfect in our soul. What lives inside us unconsciously is lit up to be looked at – & we are faced with what we are – for this is the 1st aspect we see when we do these exercises – we must recognize the dross we carry in us unconsciously – which is part of what we imprint on the world around us.

Coming to this reality thru the Air Trial – We lose the ground from under our feet, we feel ourselves left up in the air – supported only by our thinking.

We must become capable of seeing the error of our selfish thoughts – so we can transforming our thinking in the light of Christ. By working on perfecting our lower desires thru moral thinking, we can enter the Temple of Higher Wisdom.

At Christmas-tide we look to the symbol of the manger surrounded by the animal kingdom that have a share in the human realm. We see these pure archetypes of the soul world as a reflection in our own hearts, waiting to give birth to the child of light.

~hag

12 December 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bundle up and head outside to watch the December Geminids, considered the best of the annual meteor displays

Picasso

THE CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated – with added titles – by Roy Sadler
ADVENT III
The Wine
v36
The Cosmic Word,
mysteriously urging to be heard,
is speaking in my depths of being:
“Inspire your life’s endeavour with my spirit light
to sacrifice yourself through Me”.

Karl König has described the Soul Calendar as 4 voices,
represented in the Soul Calendar’s 4 quarters of the year as
1 – from Easter the Tenor’s sense perception uniting with the spirit,
2 – from July the Baritone’s imaginative insight incarnating spirit,
3 – from Michaelmas the Soprano’s inspiration for the spirit’s Christmas birth,
4 – from Epiphany the Alto’s intuitive love for a new Spring world.
and in this verse quartet I’ve put in the words, not present in the original,
of senses’ & sublime in v10, imagine in v17, inspire in v36, & intuit in v43.
If anone would like to comment I’d be pleased for any feedback.

this week’s corresponding (mirror of the opposite) verse
EPIPHANY IV… IMBOLC (February 1st, the Celtic beginning of Spring)
World Consecration
v43
In winter’s depths
true spirit presence warms,
makes new appearance real
and through the heart’s force
intuits eathlife’s rise to glory
the soul’s revitalising fire in the human core
defies world cold.

this week’s opposite verse (week of June 12th)
TRINITY II
Soul Consecration
v10
To summer’s heights
the being of the sun ascends
and takes my senses’ feeling far and wide
and into the sublime, the cosmic harmony
wherein a dawning vision’s intimating faintly,
“In future you will know:
a Holy Being felt you now”.

and this week’s mirror verse
LAMMAS
The Bread
v17
The Cosmic Word,
I’ve had the grace to guide
through senses’ gates to soul ground, speaks:
“Imagine in your spirit’s depths my world expanse
to find in future Me in you”.

The 4th Sunday of Advent – 18 December 2022 
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, 2 pm – 3:30 pm CST 
(after Rev. Jonah Evans talk at the Christian Community)

The Individuality of Conscience and the Goetheanum 
with Lucien Dante Lazar

Out of our conscience, we witness the Christ in the other. And through this Seeing, our I is born within us, whose self-conscious interior is the I of God. This is a mystery of John the Baptist.



When Love enters the human heart as an awakening to freedom, the Wisdom of form enters our awareness, and color, that majesty of Light, teaches us about creation. This is a mystery of the painter Raphael.

When the Word approaches us, inspiring us in our language to find the Heavenly Sophia as intellect, we write truth and honor the New Revelation of the Christ and His marriage to Sophia. And out of this marriage, we learn about ourselves. This is a mystery of Novalis.

On this last Sunday of Advent dedicated to the Human Being & the Angels, we will engage in these three Christian gifts through the social encounter, our working with color, and our thinking through language. And we will strive to harmonize these three incarnations of this significant individuality with the birth, death, and resurrection of the Goetheanum.

$10-$50 or pay what you will at the door or online www.rschicago.org/donate(credit card or PayPal)

For more Info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator 
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map) 
https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar 
www.rschicago.org/donate

Resurrection of the Temple (The first Goetheanum) by Rita de Cassia Perez, Adriana’s mother

The ‘Envy of the Gods’ – The ‘Envy of Human Beings’

Presented by Adriana Koulias*

A Winter Solstice offering preparing us for the Centennial commemoration

of the burning of the first Goetheanum.

21 December 2022, at 5 pm PT, 6 pm MT, 7 pm CT, 8 pm ET

Here is a link to the World Clock for your time zone

Online & in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago

Dear Friends – This special presentation is supported by your generous donations. $10-$50 or pay what you will www.rschicago.org/donate (credit card or PayPal)

Please type ‘Adriana’ to designate your payment

For those attending in-person doors open at 5:30 pm for our Potluck meal.

Please bring food & drink to share.

For more Info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618(map) https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar www.rschicago.org/donate

You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Adriana Koulias

Time: Dec 21, 2022, 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89586637726

Meeting ID: 895 8663 7726

One tap mobile

+13092053325,,89586637726# US

+13126266799,,89586637726# US (Chicago)

Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kbtvb8sTRI

 Work on building the First Goetheanum, which was designed and supervised by Rudolf Steiner, began after the laying of the double dodecahedron foundation stone on the 20th of September 1913. Construction proceeded for a decade under enormous difficulties in the political, economic and cultural realms, brought on by the advent of the First World War. After the war when the building was near completion, the First Goetheanum was destroyed by an arsonist on New Year’s Eve 1922/1923.

This NYE 2022-23 will be the 100th anniversary of this event and the world is again facing many difficulties, political, economic and social.  Adriana’s lecture will explore what Rudolf Steiner meant by the ‘Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human beings’ and how a consciousness of this during the coming 12 Holy Nights can provide the necessary strengthening for the coming twelve months.

During this presentation Adriana will speak about the three gifts given by Rudolf Steiner in 1913: The naming of Anthroposophy, The Fifth Gospel, and The Laying of the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum. She will explore with us how we can link our hearts to the old Goetheanum during the coming 12 Holy Nights to prepare ourselves for the coming 12 months in 2023, so we can work towards a Cosmic New Year.

In this way we will celebrate the Jubilee of the Christmas Conference and the resurrection of the living impulse of the First Goetheanum in the most auspicious way.

For Rudolf Steiner tells us: ‘My dear friends, may this link our hearts to the old Goetheanum which we had to consign to the elements. May it link our hearts also to the Spirit, to the Soul of this Goetheanum. With this vow before whatever is best within our being we want to live on not only into the new year. In strength of deed, bearing the spirit, leading the soul we want to live on into the new cosmic year.’ ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human Beings.’

Adriana Koulias was born in 1960 in Brazil. Adriana moved to Australia when she was 9 years old where she lives today. She has studied art, operatic singing and nursing.  She has been studying Anthroposophy (awareness of our humanity) as given by Rudolf Steiner for 33 years and has since 2002-3 integrated this knowledge into several novels and a number of books, international lectures and articles online and in magazines.

The 2nd Light of Advent

Calendar of the Soul, Celestial Event, Festival, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Upcoming Events

Some thoughts for the 2nd Sunday of Advent 2022, inspired in part by a quote from SIGNS AND SYMBOLS OF THE CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL ~Rudolf Steiner, GA 90f, I. Birth of the Light, 19 December 1904, Berlin – shared by Bill Rogers & his study group in Knoxville TN.

“. . . The fifth post-Atlantean epoch repeats the three preceding periods in the great process of Advent. The three weeks of Advent symbolize these earlier epochs, and in the fourth, the human being must once again pass through briefly the way the birth of the light was experienced at Christmas. ~Rudolf Steiner

When I read that Quote it felt like an affirmation of the work we have been doing in trying to understand the Steiner’s ‘Inner Realities of Evolution’ – Such blessings – More & more the threads weave into a tapestry of grace.

Being in the midst of all the Jubilee milestones, I have been thinking a lot about how at the Christmas Conference of 1923/24 when the great Rosicrucian initiate Rudolf Steiner brought the Spiritual Beings working to bring Anthroposophy to Earth into the Vessel of the Anthroposophical Society – Planting the Foundation Stone of Love into the Temple of the Human Heart – uniting us in our karma – it was the birth of Anthroposophia as preparation for the reappearance of Isis-Sophia – a spark in the consecration on Earth of the New Grail Mysteries.

The Christmas Conference that we are gearing up to meet again after 100 years, is felt every year at Christmas-Tide. This Festival celebrating the Birth of Light at the Turning Point of Time, like the refounding at the Christmas Conference is not a single event that is one & done. No, Steiner tells us: “It is not a memorial festival commemorating what has occurred in the past. The Christmas message does not say, “Christ has been born, Christ was born.” It says, “Today Christ is born.” Today is always emphasized. This is significant. The emphasis on today should be understood in the sense in which Christ has spoken, “I am with you always even unto the end of days.”

But before we can give birth every year to this New Light, we must 1st go thru the Challenge of Advent. At this time of the year, we are tasked with taking responsibility for our own moral development – especially because at this time of year our spiritual helpers withdraw from us.

The 2nd Week of Advent —
Focus: The Etheric Realm
Symbol: The Plant Kingdom
Abandoned by: The Archangels (move beyond the Folk Spirit of place)
Virtue: Temperance / Prudence (Beware the temptation to misuse our faculty of human speech)

The plant kingdom shows us the presence & working of the life-forces that make up the etheric realm. Plants teach us how the etheric element can take hold of matter & lift it into the light. The biggest lesson is that in this living plant world, nothing exists for itself alone. Plants reveal this as a pure revelation – Everything is interwoven into an ecology of mutual support – a unified living totality of beings.

Rudolf Steiner gives us wonderful descriptions of the plant & elemental beings. We can picture the ‘group ego of the plant’ as being located in the center of the earth. And with the help of the Gnomes the roots grow down into the darkness of gravity, in order to anchor themselves in these depths. Underground, all the plants are communicating with one another in an interlocking living cooperation.

Above, the plant also strives heavenwards. And with the help of the elemental beings of warmth (salamanders) & air (sylphs) & water (undines) they unfold their constantly evolving bodies in the light. The forces of the etheric world work from the periphery – generating powers of levity. These draw the plant upwards towards the light of the Sun – making of them a reflection of the stars.

Before our eyes, matter is enchanted into a living form. As the plant grows, from root to leaf, to flower – the life force sprouts, grows, adapts & changes. In the flower, it unfolds in ever higher octaves of fragrance & color. Finally, the plant reaches its perfection to give unselfishly of its fruits. It becomes life giving food, which in working with the mineral world, nourishes the animal & human kingdoms – Then it dies away. And in this death process it completely surrenders its essence to the seed – feeding future generations to come.

Because we have an etheric body, we are alive – Death occurs when the etheric body withdraws & the material world reveals its true reality as death. By working with plants, by studying & communing with them in loving attention, we can learn to perceive & understand this miracle of life.

We can learn to feel & respond to our own etheric body. For me, doing eurythmy helps in my perception of these etheric forces, both within myself & in the space around me. With practice, we can learn to affect our physical body thru consciously moving our etheric body. We can practice feeling the life-force pulsing in the space around & within us. We can explore molding & sculpting these forces with our articulate movements. When we work in this realm with dedicated intention, we are able to release the elemental beings from their material enchantment, so that they can become one with the Christ forces available in the etheric of the Earth – revealing in turn this super-sensible realm to us.

Go on – have a conversation with your house plants – give an offering to a tree!

O Tannenbaum, OTannenbaum,
Wie treu sind deine Blätter!
Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit,
Nein, auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Wie treu sind deine Blätter!

~hag

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
ADVENT II
Can True Being Inspire Me?
v35
Can I true being know
that it may find itself anew
within my soul’s creative urge?
I feel a power trusting me
to make my Self with modesty
a member of the Cosmic Self.

This verse and its mirror are the only question verses.

LAMMASTIDE II
Can I Imagine Spiritual Need?
v18
Can I make wide my soul
that she unite with seed
of Cosmic Word conceived?
I feel my foresight asking me
to find the strangth my soul will need
to form her spirit garment worthily.

4 December 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Cassiopeia Queen of Ethiopia boasted that she and her daughter Andromeda were more beautiful than all the Nereids, the nymph-daughters of the sea god Nereus. This brought the wrath of Poseidon, ruling god of the sea, upon the kingdom of Ethiopia.

Trying to save their kingdom, Queen Cassiopeia and king Cepheus consulted a wise oracle, who told them that the only way to appease the sea gods was to sacrifice their daughter.

Andromeda was chained to a rock at the sea’s edge and left to be killed by Cetus the sea monster. Perseus arrives to kill Cetus, saves Andromeda and marries her.

Poseidon thought Cassiopeia should not escape punishment, so he placed her in the heavens chained to a throne in a position that referenced Andromeda’s ordeal. The constellation resembles the chair that originally represented an instrument of torture. Cassiopeia is not always represented tied to the chair in torment, in some later drawings she holds a mirror, symbol of her vanity, while in others she holds a palm frond.

 Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

Holiday Market at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 
4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago
10 December 2022 – from 11 am – 4 pm

Handcrafted gifts, décor & toys
Featuring Live Music, Puppetry & Candle Dipping!!!

If you would like to be a vendor contact Elizabeth Kelly 
eilisaineariadne@gmail.com

Resurrection of the Temple (The first Goetheanum) by Rita de Cassia Perez, Adriana’s mother

The ‘Envy of the Gods’ – The ‘Envy of Human Beings’

Presented by Adriana Koulias*

A Winter Solstice offering preparing us for the Centennial commemoration of the burning of the first Goetheanum.

21 December 2022, at 5 pm PT, 6 pm MT, 7 pm CT, 8 pm ET

Here is a link to the World Clock for your time zone

Online & in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago

Dear Friends – This special presentation is supported by your generous donations. $10-$50 or pay what you will www.rschicago.org/donate (credit card or PayPal)

Please type ‘Adriana’ in the memo for your payment

To register & receive the Zoom code email your receipt of payment to the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg hag@rschicago.org

For those attending in-person doors open at 5:30 pm for our Potluck meal. Please bring food & drink to share.

 Work on building the First Goetheanum, which was designed and supervised by Rudolf Steiner, began after the laying of the double dodecahedron foundation stone on the 20th of September 1913. Construction proceeded for a decade under enormous difficulties in the political, economic and cultural realms, brought on by the advent of the First World War. After the war when the building was near completion, the First Goetheanum was destroyed by an arsonist on New Year’s Eve 1922/1923.

This NYE 2022-23 will be the 100th anniversary of this event and the world is again facing many difficulties, political, economic and social.  Adriana’s lecture will explore what Rudolf Steiner meant by the ‘Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human beings’ and how a consciousness of this during the coming 12 Holy Nights can provide the necessary strengthening for the coming twelve months.

During this presentation Adriana will speak about the three gifts given by Rudolf Steiner in 1913: The naming of Anthroposophy, The Fifth Gospel, and The Laying of the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum. She will explore with us how we can link our hearts to the old Goetheanum during the coming 12 Holy Nights to prepare ourselves for the coming 12 months in 2023, so we can work towards a Cosmic New Year.

In this way we will celebrate the Jubilee of the Christmas Conference and the resurrection of the living impulse of the First Goetheanum in the most auspicious way.

For Rudolf Steiner tells us: ‘My dear friends, may this link our hearts to the old Goetheanum which we had to consign to the elements. May it link our hearts also to the Spirit, to the Soul of this Goetheanum. With this vow before whatever is best within our being we want to live on not only into the new year. In strength of deed, bearing the spirit, leading the soul we want to live on into the new cosmic year.’ ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human Beings.’

Adriana Koulias was born in 1960 in Brazil. Adriana moved to Australia when she was 9 years old where she lives today. She has studied art, operatic singing and nursing.  She has been studying Anthroposophy (awareness of our humanity) as given by Rudolf Steiner for 33 years and has since 2002-3 integrated this knowledge into several novels and a number of books, international lectures and articles online and in magazines.