Category Archives: Celestial Event

Beyond Nation

‘Let Freedom Ring –
Reclaiming the Wisdom of Columbia – Folk Spirit of America’
.

For the Greater Washington Branch of the Anthroposophical Society

TODAY Saturday 14 May 2022 – 
10 am PT / 11 MT / NOON Central / 1 pm ET – 2:30 pm ET

A zoom presentation with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Featuring Chekov Master Teacher Lisa Dalton, & Eurythmist Maria Ver Eecke – With poems read by Richard SwerlingDesmond Clark & Lark Bergwin-Anderson

Join Zoom Meeting:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86119386116 –

Meeting ID: 861 1938 6116

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

Emailasgwb.dc@gmail.comwith any questions

14 May 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars:” Despite the bright waxing Moon in the sky, tonight is still the night for intrepid comet chasers. Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) currently sits in far eastern Ophiuchus, which is close to the Moon tonight.

Sunrise: 5:46 A.M.
Sunset: 8:08 P.M.
Moonrise: 6:37 P.M.
Moonset: 4:52 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (97%)

Little Water by August Strindberg

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day (god bless the RSarchives)

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (Sourced from RSarchives, Wikilinks, astronomy.com)

Feast Day of Matthias – According to the Acts of the Apostles, Matthias was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot following the betrayal of Jesus & his subsequent suicide. This calling as an apostle is unique, because his appointment was not made personally by Jesus, since it was after the Ascension, but made before the descent of the Holy Spirit at Whitsun.

1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois & begins its historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.

1948 – Founding of the State of Israel

1912 – Death-Day of Johan August Strindberg, something of a polymath, Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist & painter, Strindberg was also a telegrapher, theosophist, painter, photographer & alchemist. Rudolf Steiner speaks about him in Karmic Relationships, Volume IV: Lecture II:

“…Thus I made the acquaintance of this doctor, a man of our own day. When I met him I was in the company of another person whom I had known very well for a long time. This other person had always made, I will not say a deep, but a very thorough impression on me. He was exceedingly fond of the society of men who were interested in occultism in the widest possible range, though an occultism somewhat externally conceived. He was fond of relating the views of his many acquaintances on all kinds of occult matters, and especially on the occult connections of what the modern artist should strive for, as a lyric and epic poet, or as a dramatist. Around this person there was what I might call a kind of moral, ethical aura. I am applying the word ‘moral’ to all that is connected with the soul-qualities under the command of the will.

I was paying a visit to him, and in his company I found the other man first mentioned, whom I knew by reputation and respected very highly for his literary and medical career. Everything that took place during this visit made a deep impression on me and impelled me to receive the whole experience into the realm of spiritual research.

Then a very remarkable thing happened. By witnessing the two persons in the company of one another, and by the impression which my new acquaintance made on me — (I had known him for a long time as an eminent literary and medical man and had a great regard for him, but this was the first time that I saw him in the flesh) — by these impressions I gained certain perceptions. To begin with however, it enabled me, not to investigate in any way the connections in life and destiny of my new acquaintance. On the contrary, my seeing them together shed light as it were upon the other one, whom I had long known. And the result was this. — He had lived in ancient Egypt, not in his last, but in one of his former lives on earth. And (this is the peculiar thing) he had been mummified, embalmed as a mummy. Soon afterwards I discovered that the mummy was still in existence. Indeed a long time afterwards I saw the actual mummy. This, then, was the starting-point. But once the line of research had been kindled in connection with the person whom I had long known, it shed its light still farther, and eventually I was enabled to investigate the karmic connections of the other man, my new acquaintance, the doctor. And the following was the result.

sunset by  August Strindberg

As a general rule one is led from one earthly life of a human being to the preceding one. But in this case intuition led far back into ancient Egypt, to a kind of chieftain in ancient Egypt. It was a chieftain who in a certain sense, indeed in a very interesting way, possessed the ancient Egyptian Initiation, but had become somewhat decadent as an Initiate. In the further course of his life, he began to take his Initiation not very seriously, indeed he even treated it with a certain scorn. Now this man had a servant, who in his turn was extremely serious. This servant was of course not initiated; but both of them together were given the task of embalming mummies and procuring the substances for this purpose, which was no easy matter.

Now especially in the more ancient periods of Egypt, the process of embalming mummies was very complicated and demanded an intimate knowledge of the human being, of the human body. Nay more, of those who had to do the embalming — if they did it legitimately — deep knowledge of the human soul was required. The chieftain of whom I spoke had been initiated for this very work, but he gradually became, in a manner of speaking, frivolous in relation to this, his proper calling. So it came about that in the course of time he betrayed (so they would have put it in the language of the Mysteries) the knowledge he had received through his Initiation to his servant, and the latter gradually proved to be a man who understood the content of Initiation better than the Initiate himself. Thus the servant became the embalmer of mummies, and at length his master did not even trouble to supervise the work, though of course he still took advantage of the social position, etc., which this honourable task involved. But at length his character became such that he no longer enjoyed great respect, and he thus came into various conflicts of life. The servant, on the other hand, worked his way up by degrees to a very, very earnest conception of life, and was thus taken hold of, in a remarkably congenial way, by a kind of Initiation. It was no real Initiation, but it lived within him instinctively. Thus a large number of mummies were mummified under the supervision and co-operation of these two people.

Time went on. The two men passed through the gate of death and underwent the experiences of which I shall speak next time — the experiences in the super-sensible which are connected with the development of karma or destiny. And in the Roman epoch they both of them came back to earthly life. They came back at the very time when the dominion of the Roman Emperors was founded, in the time of Augustus — not exactly, but approximately, in the time of Augustus himself.

The chieftain, who had gradually become a really frivolous Initiate, and who, when he had passed through the gate of death, had felt this as an extraordinarily bitter trial of earthly life, experiencing it in all the bitterness of its effects — we find him again as Julia, the daughter of Augustus. She married Tiberius, the step-son of Augustus, and led a life which to herself seemed justified but was considered, in the Roman society of that time, so immoral that at length both she and Tiberius were banished.

The other man — the servant who had worked his way from the bottom upwards nearly to the grade of an Initiate — was born again at the same time, as the Roman historian Titus Livius, or Livy.

August Strindberg

It is most interesting how Livy came to be an historian. In the ancient Egyptian times he had embalmed a large number of mummies. The souls who had lived in the bodies of these mummies — very many of them — were reincarnated as Romans. And certain ones among them were actually reincarnated as the seven Kings of Rome. For the Seven Kings were no mere legendary figures. Going back into the time when the chieftain and his servant had lived in Egypt, we come into a very old Egyptian epoch. Now through a certain law which applies especially to the reincarnation of souls whose bodies have been mummified, these souls were called back again to earth comparatively soon. And the karmic connection of the servant of the chieftain with the souls whose bodies he had embalmed was so intimate, that he had to write the history of the very same human being whom in a previous life he had embalmed, though naturally, he also included the history of many others whom he had not embalmed. Thus Titus Livius became an historian. Now I would like some, indeed as many of you as possible, to take Livy’s Roman History, and, with the knowledge that results from these karmic connections, to receive a real impression of his style. You will see that his peculiar penetration into the human being and his tendency at the same time towards the style of the myth, is akin to that intimate knowledge of man which an embalmer could attain.

We do not perceive such connections until the corresponding researches have been made. But once this has been done, a great light is shed on many things. It is difficult to understand the origin of the peculiar style of Titus Livius, who as it were embalms the human beings whom he describes. For such is his style. Real light is thrown upon it when we point to these connections.

Thus we have the same two people again as Julia and Titus Livius. Then Julia and Livy passed once more through the gate of death. The one soul had had the experience of being an Initiate to a considerable degree, and having then distorted his Initiation by frivolous conduct. He had discovered all the bitterness of the after-effects of this in the life between death and a new birth. He had then undergone a peculiar destiny in his new life on earth as Julia, of which life you may read in history. The result was, that in his next life between death and a new birth (following on the life as Julia) he conceived a strong antipathy to this his incarnation as Julia. And in a curious way this antipathy of his was universalised. For spiritual intuition shows this individuality in his life between death and a new birth as though perpetually crying out: “Would that I had never become a woman! It was the evil that I did in yonder life in ancient Egypt which led me thus to become a woman.”

We can now trace the life of these two individualities still farther. We come into the Middle Ages. We find Livy again as the glad poet and minstrel in the very centre of the Middle Ages. We are astonished to find him thus, for there is no connection between the external callings. But the greatest possible surprises that a human being can possibly have are those that result from a real study of successive lives on earth. The Roman historian, with his style that proceeded from a knowledge of man acquired in embalming mummies, with his style so wonderfully light — we find him again as the poet Walther von der Vogelweide. His style is carried upwards, as it were, upon the wings of lyric poetry.

Walther von der Vogelweide lived in the Tyrol. He had many patrons; and among his many patrons there was one very peculiar man, who was on familiar terms with alchemists of every kind, for there were scores of alchemists at that time, in the Tyrol. This man was himself the owner of a castle, but he frequented all manner of alchemists’ dens and hovels. In so doing he learned extraordinarily much, and (as happened in the case of Paracelsus too) by spending his time in the dens of alchemists he was impelled to study all occult matters very intensely, and gained an unusually intense feeling for occult things. He thus came into the position of rediscovering in the Tyrol what was then only known as a legend, namely, the Castle in the Mountain — the Castle in the Rocks — (which indeed no one would have recognised as such, for it consisted of rocks, it was hollowed out of the rocks) — I mean, the Castle of the Dwarf King Laurin. The daemonic nature in the district of the Castle of the Dwarf King Laurin made a profound impression on him. Thus there was a remarkable combination in this soul — Initiation which he had carried into frivolity, annoyance at having been a woman and having thus been drawn into the sphere of Roman immorality and, at the same time, Roman cant and hypocrisy about morals; and lastly, an intimate knowledge, though still only external, of all manner of alchemical matters, which knowledge he had extended to a clear feeling of the nature-daemons and of other spiritual agencies in nature.

August Strindberg

These two men — though it is not recorded in the biography of Walther, nevertheless it is the case — Walther von der Vogelweide and this other man often came together, and Walther received many an influence and impulse from him.

Here we have an instance of what is really a kind of karmic law. We see the same people drawn together again and again, called to the earth again and again simultaneously, complementing one another, living in a kind of mutual contrast. It is interesting once more, to enter into the peculiar lyrical style of Walther. It is as though at last he had grown thoroughly sick of embalming dead mummies and had turned to an entirely different aspect of life. He will no longer have anything to do with dead things, but only with the fullness and joy of life. And yet again, there is a certain undercurrent of pessimism in his work. Feel the style of Walther von der Yogelweide, feel in his style the two preceding earthly lives: feel too, his restless life. It is extraordinarily reminiscent of that life which dawns upon one who spends much of his time with the dead, when many destinies are unburdened in the soul. For such indeed was the case with an embalmer of mummies.

Now we go on. — My further researches into this karmic chain led me at length into the same room where I had visited my old acquaintance, whom I had recognised as an Egyptian mummy. And now I perceived that this very mummy had been embalmed by the other man whom I now met in his room. The whole line of research led me back to this same room. In effect, I found the soul who had passed through the servant of the old Egyptian embalmer, through Titus Livius, through Walther von der Vogelweide (the most celebrated of the Middle High German lyric poets) — I found him again in the doctor of our time, in Ludwig Schleich.(a German surgeon,writer philosopher, poet & painter)

Thus astonishingly do the connections in life appear. Who, with the ordinary consciousness alone, can understand an earthly life? It can only be understood when we know what is there in the foundations of a soul. Theoretically, many people know that deep in the foundations of the soul there are the layers of successive earthly lives. But it becomes real and concrete only when we behold it in a specific instance.

August Strindberg, celestograph, 1894. Courtesy Royal Library, Stockholm.

Then inner vision was directed out of this room once more. (For in the case of the other man, who had been mummified by this one, I was led to no more clues — at any rate to no important ones.) On the other hand I now perceived the further soul-pilgrimage of the old chieftain, of Julia, of the discoverer of Laurin’s Castle. For he came back to earth as August Strindberg.

Now I would like you to take the whole life and literary work of August Strindberg and set it against the background which I have just described. See the peculiar misogyny of Strindberg, which is no true misogyny, but proceeds from quite different foundations. Look, too, at all the strange daemonic elements that occur in his works. See his peculiar attraction to all manner of alchemistic and occult arts and artifices. And at length, look at the adventurous life of August Strindberg. You will find how well it stands out against the background which I have described.

Then read the Memoirs of Ludwig Schleich, his relations to August Strindberg, and you will see how all this arises once more against the background of their former earthly lives. Indeed, from the Memoirs of Ludwig Schleich a very remarkable light may suddenly arise, a light truly astonishing. For the man in whose company I first met Ludwig Schleich — the man of whom I said that in his ancient Egyptian life he was mummified by Schleich — it is he of whom Schleich himself tells in his Memoirs that he led him to Strindberg. In a past life, Strindberg and Schleich had worked together upon the corpse. And the soul who dwelt in that body, led them together again.

Thus, all that we have to explain to begin with about repeated earthly lives and the karmic connections in general, becomes real and concrete. Only then do the facts that appear in earthly life become transparent. A single human life on earth is an entire mystery. What else can it be, until seen against the background of the former lives on earth? ~Rudolf Steiner http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA238/English/APC1957/19240907p01.html#sthash.phuf3nNA.dpuf

Yoram Raanan

Announcing an exciting Event on Ascension Thursday, May 26th   7 – 8:30 pm Eastern time.

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder – Celebrating the Festival of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

“In heavy clouds let Him ascend
And so also let Him downward tread.
In cooling streams let Him be sent,
In flames of fire blaze His descent,
In air & essence, sound & dew
To permeate our whole earth thru” ~Novalis

Ascension is a Festival of the Elements, & of the Hierarchies, it relates to the Transfiguration & the fulfillment of the promise of the ‘Second Coming’. Together we will explore the mystery of ‘As Above so Below’.

            Hazel Archer-Ginsberg is a trans-denominational minister, essayist, lecturer, performer, and poet. She writes and curates ‘Reverse Ritual, Understanding Anthroposophy Through the Rhythms of the Year’ and the ‘I Think Speech’ podcast. Hazel’s been the Cultural Events and Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago for over 10 years. She is a member of the Central Regional Council, the School for Spiritual Science, the Esoteric Youth Circle, and the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America.

                  Register by contacting Diane McGary, mcgary.family@comcast.net, by Sunday, May 22nd. You will receive an email with the zoom link on Tuesday May 24.

Hope to see you there!! – YES! Please feel free to spread the word!

Yours, Diane McGary, mcgary.family@comcast.net, for the the Eastern Region

A Whitsun Festival of United Soul Endeavor & Spirit Community

with the Eastern, Central and Western Regional Councils of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Sunday 29 May 2022 – 3 – 4:30 pm PT, 4-5:30 MT, 5-6:30 pm CT, 6-7:30 pm ET

We will be working with Rudolf Steiner’s THE FIFTH GOSPEL GA 148, Lecture II, 2 October 1913, Oslo

The Whitsun Festival highlights one of the greatest challenges of being human: placing our individual gifts, our individual “I”, in right relationship within the social realm. This challenge is strongly felt during this time of the consciousness soul age. Our groups striving to know Spiritual Science must work together as a community, to have the possibility to create this type of culture, and the opportunity is here for each of us to meet, human to human, where a sacrament is possible in every encounter. Our individual strength comes from our personal development and is enhanced by weaving our gifts together with others, knitting our social world in conscious community.

For more info. contact Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

Topic: All Regions Whitsun

Time: May 29, 2022 05:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

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The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
Mysteries of the Holy Grail – from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
June 1, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
“Anyone who approaches these mysteries today must feel that they are confronting and challenging themselves by striving for the virtues of Parzival, while knowing that — because of modern conditions — they are in fact someone else also, the wounded Amfortas. Today we bear this divided nature within us: aspiring Parzival, wounded Amfortas. That is what self-knowledge must lead us to feel. From this recognition will flow the forces which make a unity again of this duality, and will thus advance us a little further in world evolution.”~ from Chapter 15,  Rudolf Steiner, The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 15 “Acknowledging Amfortas,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Berlin on 7 February 1913 (GA 144, lecture IV), will be the focus of the June 1 meeting.

A transcript of the entire lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link. Please consider giving to the development and maintenance of the digital library of Rudolf Steiner’s work.  Scroll to the bottom of this message to read more about the RSArchive.org and SteinerLibrary.org
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
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Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106
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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

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
          Mariarosa – pages 117-123b
          Marianne – pages 123b-129
7:50  Conversation
8:25   ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse

“Mother’s Day For Peace”

Listen to the podcast for today on ‘I Think Speech‘

Happy Mother’s Day to all motherers – Motherhood is a soul quality – If you have cradled, fed, held, hugged, nurtured, counselled, driven around, stayed up late for, cleaned up after, shared joys, shared heartaches, nursed late at night, helped out, cheered on, fought for, worried about, taken pride in, stood behind, defended, believed in, & loved with all your heart above & beyond what is asked for in any other situation, unconditionally & respectfully…If you are a place called ‘home’ to someone – a refuge from the world, an embrace full of warmth & understanding – then you are a ‘mother’.

And we can remember & honor the fact that we all have life & the continuity of life, growth & change on our planet because of the Mother-line. The Mothers have gifted all with the pulse & rhythm of life – the heart of the Mother ! The Mother-Line connects all of Humanity. Happy Mother’s Day to Grandmothers, Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Aunties, Girlfriends, all Kindred & Mother Gaia who sustains us all !

Happy Mother's Day – Pagan Newswire Collective – Minnesota Bureau
Belinda Grey

The Her-Story of MOTHER’S DAY– The earliest mother’s day celebrations, can be traced back to the Spring Festivals of the ancients, honoring the Mother of the gods…& the Queen Bee…

Much later…in the 1600’s, England celebrated a day called ‘Mothering Sunday’, honoring the matriarchy…the Queens of England…

Diana Rico

As Christianity spread thruout Europe the celebration changed to honor the ‘Mother Church’…

Here in the US, in 1870, Julia Ward Howe the woman that actually wrote the words to the battle hymn of the republic, knowing all too well the horrors of war, called for women to rise up & oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, & to commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She called it “Mother’s Day For Peace”

Her idea was influenced by Anna Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker, who had attempted starting in 1858, to improve sanitation thru what she called Mothers’ Work Days. She organized women thru-out the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, & in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union & Confederate neighbors.

Anna Jarvis’ daughter, also named Anna Jarvis, would of course have known of her mother’s work, & the work of Julia Ward Howe. Much later, when her mother died, this second Anna Jarvis started her own crusade to found a ‘Memorial Day for Women’.

The first ‘Mother’s Day’ was celebrated in West Virginia in 1907 in the church where the elder Anna Jarvis had taught Sunday School. So to pay homage to her ancestor, she began a campaign to establish a national Mother’s Day on the 2nd Sunday of May…the anniversary of her mother’s death…which just happened to be 40 days after Easter…as a day dedicated to peace.

And from there the custom caught on – spreading eventually to 45 states. Finally the holiday was declared officially by states beginning in 1912.

And in 1914, hoping to get the female vote & also as a distraction from his declaration of the 1st World War, President Woodrow Wilson, confirmed the first national Mother’s Day. So ironic as the original impulse was all about working to prevent war.

But what does it mean to us today…? You know I’m not taking about the commercialized happy-faced take-your-mother-to-brunch-cliché’s. Hallmark may not be talking…but this is heavy stuff…the concept of ‘mother’ is highly charged for most of us…we all have, or had, a mother…good or bad or in-between…We may be a mother ourselves…what does that bring up…plenty…right…there’s a lot there I know…

So maybe today we can try & access some of these impressions & feelings & memories…to pound out the pain…rattle the wonder…to sing our story…to dance in the healing process…to mother ourselves…

So choose your weapon of peace…your surgical tool…your pruning shears, or hammer, or monkey wrench…A drum or shaker…these will do…as we explore & experience our Mother’s Day anthem ponding in the heart-beat we all share

Blessings to all those who create & give life

xox

~hag

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
EASTERTIDE IV
The Marriage Gift
v4

I feel the essence of my being,
speaks clear sensing,
perceptive feeling in the sunlit world
uniting with the flowing light;
it would enliven clear thought
with warmth
and marry Man and World.

This verse is part of the Fire Festival quartet:
v4 Beltane, v17 Lammas, v30 Samhain and v43 Imbolc,
times of perception, imagination, inspiration and intuition.

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”.

SAMHAIN (HALLOWEEN)
Sun Inspiration
v30

In sunlight of my soul
ripe fruits of thought arise;
all feeling turns to sureness
of conscious self-awareness.
I joy to sense
the autumn’s rousing of the spirit;
within me will the winter wake
the summer of the soul.

IMBOLC (EPIPHANY IV)
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 towards her glory;
the soul’s revitalising fire in the human core
defies world cold.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day (rsarchive.org is such a blessing!)

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (Indications from the orignal Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner + Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

8 May 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: First-quarter Moon (exactly first-quarter at 8:21 p.m. EDT). Now the Moon is under the front hook-end of the Sickle of Leo. The brightest star of the Sickle is the bottom of its handle, Regulus. Spot Regulus about 10° (a fist at arm’s length) left of the Moon. ~sky&telescope.com

1760 – Death-day of Count Zinzendorf , A social reformer & bishop of the Moravian Church. The Zinzendorf family belonged to one of the most ancient of noble families in Lower Austria. Among his ancestors was the Emperor Maximillian I.

Zinzendorf did not intend to found a religious organization distinct from the area’s Lutheran Church, but to create a Christian association, by demonstrating practical benevolence, that might awaken dull Lutheranism. He began to think that true Christianity could be best promoted by free associations of Christians, which in the course of time might grow into churches with no state connection.

In 1722, Zinzendorf offered asylum to a number of refugees from Moravia & Bohemia & built the village of Herrnhut on a corner of his estate.

Out of study & prayer, the community formed a document known as the Brüderlicher Vertrag, the ‘Brotherly Agreement’, today known as “The Moravian Covenant for Christian Living.” The Moravian Church is one of the few denominations that emphasizes a code of Christian behavior over specific creeds.

In these communities, a radical equality of spiritual life was practiced. Nobility & Native Americans shared common quarters; slaves were full members of the Church & could be elected to offices of leadership.

Zinzendorf’s interest in missionary work was sparked by meeting two Inuit children.

In 1736, accusations from neighboring nobles & questions of theological orthodoxy caused Zinzendorf to be exiled from his home in Saxony. He & a number of his followers moved to Marienborn (near Büdingen) & began a period of exile & travel, during which he became known as the “Pilgrim Count.”

In 1741, Zinzendorf visited Pennsylvania, becoming one of the few 18th century European nobles to have actually set foot in the Americas. In addition to visiting leaders such as Benjamin Franklin, he met with the leaders of the Iroquois.

Zinzendorf’s theology strongly included the emotional life of the believer as well as the intellectual. He criticized the coldly intellectual approach common in his day, & built a great deal of practice around the transformation of the emotions. He referred to this as the “religion of the heart.”

1805 – Death-day of Friedrich Schiller, some say he was poisoned (GA 64) The coffin containing what was purportedly Schiller’s skeleton, was brought in 1827, into the Weimarer Fürstengruft (Weimar’s Ducal Vault), later also Goethe’s resting place. On 3 May 2008, scientists announced that DNA tests showed that the skull of this skeleton is not Schiller’s, & his tomb is now vacant.

Friedrich Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, & playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with the already famous & influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning human freedom. Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship & these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism. They also worked together on Xenien, a collection of short satirical poems in which both Schiller & Goethe challenge opponents to their philosophical vision.

Schiller wrote many philosophical papers on ethics & aesthetics. He synthesized the thought of Immanuel Kant with the thought of the German Idealist philosopher, Karl Leonhard Reinhold. He elaborated Christoph Martin Wieland’s concept of die schöne Seele (the beautiful soul), a human being whose emotions have been educated by reason, so that Pflicht und Neigung (duty & inclination) are no longer in conflict with one another. Beauty, for Schiller, is not merely an aesthetic experience, but a moral one as well: the Good is the Beautiful.

His philosophical work was particularly concerned with the question of human freedom, a preoccupation which also guided his historical researches, & found its way as well into his dramas. Schiller wrote important essays on the question of the sublime, addressing one aspect of human freedom—the ability to defy one’s animal instincts, such as the drive for self-preservation, when, for example, someone willingly sacrifices themselves for conceptual ideals.

my mom Betty Mae

~Today I am
The thought of myself
In my Mothers forehead…
May I listen to the voice of the messenger
Bringing her song up from the dead –
A silver star bruised & hanging on a cloud
As I roll gold into life
Like the scarab
& stand with the flowering hawthorn on the obsidian altar…
~hag

‘Let Freedom Ring – Reclaiming the Wisdom of Columbia – Folk Soul of America’.

A zoom presentation with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg For the Greater Washington Branch of the Anthroposophical Society

1 pm ET – 2:30 pm ET Saturday 14 May 2022

Join Zoom Meeting:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86119386116

Meeting ID: 861 1938 6116

Email asgwb.dc@gmail.com with any questions

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

Yoram Raanan

Announcing an exciting Event on Ascension Thursday, May 26th   7 – 8:30 pm Eastern time.

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder – Celebrating the Festival of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

“In heavy clouds let Him ascend
And so also let Him downward tread.
In cooling streams let Him be sent,
In flames of fire blaze His descent,
In air & essence, sound & dew
To permeate our whole earth thru” ~Novalis

Ascension is a Festival of the Elements, & of the Hierarchies, it relates to the Transfiguration & the fulfillment of the promise of the ‘Second Coming’. Together we will explore the mystery of ‘As Above so Below’.

            Hazel Archer-Ginsberg is a trans-denominational minister, essayist, lecturer, performer, and poet. She writes and curates ‘Reverse Ritual, Understanding Anthroposophy Through the Rhythms of the Year’ and the ‘I Think Speech’ podcast. Hazel’s been the Cultural Events and Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago for over 10 years. She is a member of the Central Regional Council, the School for Spiritual Science, the Esoteric Youth Circle, and the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America.

                  Register by contacting Diane McGary, mcgary.family@comcast.net, by Sunday, May 22nd. You will receive an email with the zoom link on Tuesday May 24.

Hope to see you there!!

YES! Please feel free to spread the word!

Yours,

Diane McGary, mcgary.family@comcast.net, for the the Eastern Region

The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
Mysteries of the Holy Grail – from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
June 1, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)View this email in your browser
“Anyone who approaches these mysteries today must feel that they are confronting and challenging themselves by striving for the virtues of Parzival, while knowing that — because of modern conditions — they are in fact someone else also, the wounded Amfortas. Today we bear this divided nature within us: aspiring Parzival, wounded Amfortas. That is what self-knowledge must lead us to feel. From this recognition will flow the forces which make a unity again of this duality, and will thus advance us a little further in world evolution.”~ from Chapter 15
 Rudolf Steiner, The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 15 “Acknowledging Amfortas,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Berlin on 7 February 1913 (GA 144, lecture IV), will be the focus of the June 1 meeting.

A transcript of the entire lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link. Please consider giving to the development and maintenance of the digital library of Rudolf Steiner’s work.  Scroll to the bottom of this message to read more about the RSArchive.org and SteinerLibrary.org
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
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If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com or Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu.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 KonigAgenda for this meeting (CST)
 
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Mariarosa – pages 117-123b
          Marianne – pages 123b-129
7:50  Conversation
8:25   ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse

DEAR EARTH MOTHER

Blessed Be Dear Earth Mother,
Mother in every caress and gesture,
in touch and whisper becoming song,
soft and reassuring that all is well,
rocking as I nestle close to her breast,
her heart pulsing, waves gently washing,
informing me as I sleep, wake, and sleep again.

Day by day I am encouraged to take up my staff,
fearless in innocence to welcome the angels in,
confirming that tedious, indelible connection,
and week by week watching, seeing more
as shadows take on form and feeling,
recognized as beings who bless and protect,
freeing me for life as I will grow to know it,
with bright awareness upright and speaking
truth that I am yet to know or conceive,
until I own the voice within, claiming autonomy.

Mother looks on as I grow and explore
month by month through the seasons,
and year by year discerning destiny’s revelations,
until the time arrives for me to stand alone,
Mother older now, ensouled and gentle still,
having released me with an unseen golden thread
confirming the bond that will always be.

As I become a Mother I carry Her with me,
Her skill, presence, touch and warm embrace
firmly rooted in life’s etheric rhythms,
and whether man or woman Mother’s blessing flows
with tears and laughter, joy and sorrow,
every Mother with a Mother to hold her
in loving arms and eternal wisdom. ~Nicholas Morrow

Portals of Perception

Jeanie Tomanek

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~The portals of perception
Raw & cluttered await
The revealing –
It is my Self I see –
A 1000 colors swirling in liquid light
A star covered in rising clouds
Hung by a thread from its ocean Moon
Hail Self
Traversing eternity
In moral steps of time
Where the Guardian beckons
~hag

Grass-fed • Holistic • Regenerative • Biodynamics – Thank you to all who came out to support the Zinniker Farm. May we continue to build a bigger table. Please contribute.

 Zelle: chuck@chuckginsberg.com or Venmo: https://www.venmo.com/u/Chuck-Ginsberg

Blessings on the Farmers https://familyfarminitiative.com/

2 May 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars:” In the twilight the thin crescent Moon is like a crown to Mercury & the 7 Sisters.

TOP 25 QUOTES BY NOVALIS (of 112) | A-Z Quotes

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day (so thankful for rsarchive.org)

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (From the Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner & Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

1519 – Death Day of Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, & architect. “…We know how Leonardo worked at the “Last Supper”. He often went and sat on the scaffolding and brooded for hours in front of the wall, then he would take a brush and make a few strokes and go away again. Sometimes he only went and stared at the picture and went away again. When he was painting the Christ Figure, his hand trembled. Indeed, if we put together all that we can find concerning this subject we must say that neither outwardly nor inwardly was Leonardo happy when painting this world-renowned picture. Now there were people at that time in Milan who were displeased with the slow progress of the picture, for instance a Prior of the monastery, who could not see why an artist could not paint such a picture quickly, and complained to the Duke. He too thought the affair had lasted too long. Leonardo answered: “The picture is to represent Jesus Christ and Judas, the two greatest contrasts; one cannot paint them in one year; there are no models for them in the world, neither for Judas nor for Christ”. After he had been working at the picture for years, he said he did not know whether he could finish it after all! Then he said that if finally he found no model for Judas he could always use the Prior himself! It was thus extraordinarily difficult to bring the picture to a conclusion but within himself Leonardo did not feel happy. For this picture showed the contrast between what lived in his soul and what he was able to represent on the canvas. Here it is necessary to bring forward a hypothesis of Spiritual Science, which may be reached by anyone who studies what can by degrees be learned about this picture.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Leonardo da Vinci, His Spiritual and Intellectual Greatness, At the Turning Point of the New Age

1611 – The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker

1729 – Birthday of Catherine the Great of Russia, the longest-ruling female leader of Russia. The Catherinian Era, is often considered the Golden Age of the Russian Empire & the Russian nobility. She enthusiastically supported the ideals of The Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot. As a patron of the arts she presided over the age of the Russian Enlightenment, a period when the Smolny Institute, the first state-financed higher education institution for women in Europe, was established.

1772 – Birthday of Novalis, the pseudonym & pen name of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, poet, author, mystic, & philosopher of Early German Romanticism. His study of mineralogy & management of salt mines in Saxony, was often ignored by his contemporary readers Novalis concerned himself with the scientific doctrine of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, which greatly influenced his world view, transforming Fichte’s Nicht-Ich (German “not I”) to a Du (“you”), an equal subject to the Ich (“I”). This was the starting point for Novalis’ Liebesreligion (“religion of love”) dedicated to his beloved Sophie who died of tuberculosis.

Everything beloved is the centre point of a paradise.” – Novalis

Novalis took the name from “de Novali” which was an old family name. The future Baron von Hardenberg was born into a noble German family in lower Saxony. He was sent to a religious school as a boy, but he was stifled by the strict atmosphere and he never adjusted to its severe discipline. He later lived with his uncle who introduced him to the French literature and rational philosophy. He then went to Weissenfels, where his father moved, and entered the Eisleben gymnasium. In 1790-91 he studied law at the University of Jena, where he met Friedrich von Schiller and Friedrich Schlegel. Novalis completed his studies at Wittenberg in 1793.

In the 1790s, the ideas of the French Revolution spread among idealistic intellectual circles throughout Europe, greatly inspiring the young Novalis. He was also deeply moved by reading the mystical philosophical writings of Goethe. Goethe’s book “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship”, which he read in 1795, influenced him deeply; he considered it the Bible for the “New Age”. In 1795-96 he studied the works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. At the age of 21 he moved to Tennstädt and took up job in civil service.

When Novalis was a young man, he fell in love with a teenage girl named, appropriately enough, Sophie (Sophia is a personification of the goddess of wisdom, the feminine embodiment of the divine in Western gnostic traditions). His experience of love for the young woman was so deep that it became a transformative, “mystical” experience for the young and impressionable Novalis, whose reading had made him receptive to the concept of ideal love. Sadly, Sophie von Kühn died two years later of tuberculosis.

In 1798 Novalis published a series of philosophical fragments, “Fragmenten”. The loss of his beloved caused an infinitude of pain and sorrow for the hapless young lover, but it also served as strong inspiration and source of creative energy. His “Hymnen an die Nacht” (Hymns to the Night – 1800) was the resultant work. This is a collection of prose, poetry and aphorisms in praise of the sacred encounters with nature, night, sleep, and the magnetic connection between the masculine and the feminine.

Novalis – organic radicals

Novalis died at the age of 29 of tuberculosis, the same disease that claimed Sophie. He is considered one of the early German Romantics, and he is sometimes referred to as “the prophet of the Romantics”. ~from nicholasjv.com

Philipp Otto Runge’s Der kleine Morgen inspired by Novalis’s ideas

“…When we consider the life of Novalis, what an echo we find there of the Raphael life for which Hermann Grimm had so fine an understanding! His beloved dies in her youth. He is himself still young. What is he going to do with his life now that she has died? He tells us himself. He says that his life on Earth will be henceforth to “die after her”, to follow her on the way of death. He wants to pass over already now into the super-sensible, to lead again the Raphael life, not touching the Earth, but living out in poetry his magic idealism. He would fain not let himself be touched by Earth life.

When we read the “Fragments” of Novalis, and give ourselves up to the life that flows so abundantly in them, we can discover the secret of the deep impression they make on us. Whatever we have before us in immediate sense-reality, whatever the eye can see and recognise as beautiful — all this, through the magic idealism that lives in the soul of Novalis, appears in his poetry with a well-nigh heavenly splendour. The meanest and simplest material thing — with the magic idealism of his poetry he can make it live again in all its spiritual light and glory.

And so we see in Novalis a radiant and splendid forerunner of that Michael stream which is now to lead you all, my dear friends, while you live; and then, after you have gone through the gate of death, you will find in the spiritual super-sensible worlds all those others — among them also the being of whom I have been speaking to you today — all those with whom you are to prepare the work that shall be accomplished at the end of the century, and that shall lead mankind past the great crisis in which it is involved.” ~Rudolf Steiner, The Individuality of Elias, John, Raphael, Novalis – The Last Address – Dornach, Michaelmas Eve, 1924

May 2, 1924 – Deathday of Edith Maryon an English sculptor who worked closly with Rudolf Steiner on the carving of the First Goetheanum & on the Scultural Group called The ‘Representative of Humanity’. From Anthrowiki: Edith Maryon grew up as the second of six children of the wealthy master tailor John Simeon Maryon and his wife Louisa Church in central London. She attended a girls’ school and later a boarding school in Geneva, Switzerland . In the 1890s she studied sculpture at the Central School of Design in London , from 1896 at the Royal College of Arts , which she appointed in 1904 as an “Associate”. She went public with sculptural portraits and created reliefs in a classically inspired, traditionalist style.

After first meeting Rudolf Steiner in 1912/13, she moved to Dornach in the summer of 1914 and played a decisive role in the construction of the first Goetheanum . Together with Steiner, she was largely responsible for the design of the well-known large-scale sculpture The Representative of Humanity between Lucifer and Ahriman as well as colored eurythmy figure sculptures, which she also executed in wood. These works are stylistically close to Expressionism . Edith Maryon resisted any haste. For this reason, the work was not destroyed in the fire of the first Goetheanum on New Year’s Eve 1922/23, but has been preserved and is still on display in the (second) Goetheanum today.

When there was a housing shortage in Switzerland, Edith Maryon – together with Paul Johann Bay – designed three houses for employees on Dornacher Hügel between 1920-22. At that time called “English houses”, today they are called eurythmy houses .

Edith Maryon was in constant personal or letter contact with her teacher, Dr. Steiner. In a brotherly and sisterly way, he confided a great deal to her and dedicated some of his texts to her. While working in the sculptor’s studio around 1916, she once saved him from a serious, perhaps fatal, fall. In 1923 (after the burning of the first Goetheanum) Edith Maryon fell seriously ill. At the end of the year she was appointed head of the section for fine arts at the Goetheanum (without being able to hold the office) and died the following year of complications from tuberculosis .

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

From Necessity to Freedom – The Evolution of Human Consciousness

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

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

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

Join Zoom Meeting – Conversation 6:45 pm PDT, Presentation 7 pm PDT
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81856833235?pwd=Z29CQ1hVUWFEUjE1alkyb2RMSVIwZz09

Meeting ID: 818 5683 3235
Passcode: 576668

‘Let Freedom Ring – Reclaiming the Wisdom of Columbia – Folk Soul of America’.

A zoom presentation with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg For the Greater Washington Branch of the Anthroposophical Society

1 pm ET – 2:30 pm ET Saturday 14 May 2022

Join Zoom Meeting:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86119386116

Meeting ID: 861 1938 6116

Email asgwb.dc@gmail.com with any questions

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

Announcing an exciting Event on Ascension Thursday, May 26th 7 – 8:30 pm Eastern time. for the Great Boston Branch.

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder – Celebrating the Festival of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

In heavy clouds let Him ascend
And so also let Him downward tread.
In cooling streams let Him be sent,
In flames of fire blaze His descent,
In air & essence, sound & dew
To permeate our whole earth thru
” ~Novalis

Ascension is a Festival of the Elements, & of the Hierarchies, it relates to the Transfiguration & the fulfillment of the promise of the ‘Second Coming’. Together we will explore the mystery of ‘As Above so Below’.

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg is a trans-denominational minister, essayist, lecturer, performer, and poet. She writes and curates ‘Reverse Ritual, Understanding Anthroposophy Through the Rhythms of the Year’ and the ‘I Think Speech’ podcast. Hazel’s been the Cultural Events and Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago for over 10 years. She is a member of the Central Regional Council, the School for Spiritual Science, the Esoteric Youth Circle, and the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America.

Register by RSVPing to Diane McGary, mcgary.family@comcast.net, by Sunday, May 22nd, and You will receive an email with the zoom link on Tuesday.

Hope to see you there!!

YES! Please feel free to spread the word!

Yours,
Diane McGary, mcgary.family@comcast.net

Ever Weaving

The Convergence was an amazing blend of Head, Hands & Heart – a True modern Rosicrucian experience of Art, Science & Spirit – something for everyone. It was very full, especially the Saturday program which went from 8:30 am till almost 11 pm.

Many folks commented that the Soul Journey would be even more potent as a stand-alone weekend retreat…Something to think about – Let me know if you would like to co-create that with me to bring it to your community…(I still have a few ‘scripts’ available or a PDF if you prefer)

Weaving Color’ followed the Soul Journey, another time to explore the Self artistically, as well as continuing the Dante theme by ‘Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic within the Earthly’ with pastels, a favorite medium of artist Helen-Ann Ireland. Many folks went outside to let the natural world be their source of inspiration. ‘Weaving Stories’ with Tess Parker followed, a chance to go into small triads to share milestones in our biography relating to The Sophia.

After a dinner on our own, the ‘Weaving Community’ Sharing Stage was a big hit, hosted by Lucien & Ultra; warming the space with their amazing original acapella harmonies – opening the way for so many diverse offerings from the community. Even though it had been a long day no one wanted to leave because the acts were such a blast; from comedic singing with Dick Halford, to storytelling with Farmer John Peterson, to a Shakespeare sonnet by John-Scott Legg & so much more. A cornucopia of talent, warm heartedly presented & received by all.

Orthodox Easter Sunday gave us the most precious gift in the 8 am ‘Weaving Light’ session. All the light was blocked out & the ingenious creation made by Helena Hurrell & Lisa Edge was set in front of a window. When the drape was removed we were bathed in the natural warmth & harmony of the metal gold infused glass sculpture that transferred the sunlight to us in a powerful color light therapy experience, inspired by the glass windows at the Goetheanum. WOW. I can still see it in my mind’s eye & feel it working in my etheric heart.

Michele Mariscal’s Heart math was the perfect opening for Carrie Schuchardt’s ‘Weaving Fire’ lecture which brought elements of the past thru the Celtic triple Goddess Brigid to the Nagasaki Madonna – The ‘Wounded Madonna’ was returned to the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki City on Easter day, the 23rd of April 2000, inspiring Carrie & all the lives she touches at the House of Peace to this day.

After another delicious meal provided by the hotel restaurant, we gathered for the ‘Weaving Water & Wholeness’ closing ceremony lead by Joyce Reilly from indications given to her from Michael Lipson. We moved water, adding salt, & gathered the ‘Soil Stir’ from our opening with Angela Foster to take home in little handmade envelopes along with a paper rose inscribed with the foundation Stone Meditation – Bringing the potency of Sophia Rising back home to our prospective spirits of place. And so it is that Anthroposophia is ever rising from the center to the periphery & on & on…

More tomorrow…

~hag  

29 April 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Tomorrow’s New Moon on April 30th (exact at 3:30 p.m. CDT) brings a partial solar eclipse in Taurus where Venus (occult Mercury) is standing strong. Steiner speaks about an eclipse of the Sun as allowing our unconscious will forces, which are usually mediated by the Beings of the Sun to flow out in an abnormal way into the Universe affecting especially our beloved dead. So being forewarned we can hold the light of the 2nd hierarchy in our sun-filled hearts holding the Michaelic sword of keen thinking & the shield of protection & discernment during this time.

1:45 p.m. CDT the eclipse begins. The maximum eclipse happens a couple of hours later, at 3:41 p.m. CDT. The eclipse will end at 5:37 p.m. CDT. We won’t see it here, but we can still hold the intention to hold the light…  

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

From Necessity to Freedom – The Evolution of Human Consciousness

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

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

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

Join Zoom Meeting – Conversation 6:45 pm PDT, Presentation 7 pm PDT
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81856833235?pwd=Z29CQ1hVUWFEUjE1alkyb2RMSVIwZz09

Meeting ID: 818 5683 3235
Passcode: 576668

Original Art "Lady Liberty" by ????..Chalk Medium Abstract Detail | eBay

Let Freedom Ring – Reclaiming the Wisdom of Columbia – Folk Soul of America

with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg for the Greater Washington DC. Branch

Saturday 14 May 2022ZOOM & other Details coming soon

                     

Recapitulation

Shiloh Sophia McCloud

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

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

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

Maria Ver Eecke leading us in Eurythmy gestures

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

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

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Sophia-Rising-tess-1024x768.jpg

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

UVA & the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

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

Tess & Angela

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

Soil Stir
HeartMath Institute Science

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

EclipseWise - Eclipses During 2022

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

2,691 Fireside Chat Illustrations & Clip Art - iStock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More tomorrow…

~hag

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

From Necessity to Freedom – The Evolution of Human Consciousness

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

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

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

Join Zoom Meeting – Conversation 6:45 pm PDT, Presentation 7 pm PDT
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81856833235?pwd=Z29CQ1hVUWFEUjE1alkyb2RMSVIwZz09

Meeting ID: 818 5683 3235
Passcode: 576668

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

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Socrates

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

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

Tariq ibn Ziyad

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

1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Ridgefield

1810 – Beethoven composes Für Elise.

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

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

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

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