Dearly Beloved – It’s time to think comprehensively, not defensively . . . To see futuristically, not didactically . . . To fantasize fantastically, not tactlessly. Our assignment is to stop reacting to every distractive blip that leaps into our field of focus, so we can start surveying the long-term cycles of life from an expansive vista.
If we listen – Important messages will come on the Wind. Attune to the language of the breeze – Communicate with the bustling birds – Align with the Sylphs -Throw caution to the wind – Be aroused & alert -Watch banners blow – Feel the stir, the sound it makes – Like Thunder in the Night- The voices it awakens on high – Calling us to sing into the sky – & we will be heard…
The Orionids radiate from a point near the upraised Club of the constellation Orion the Hunter. The bright star near the radiant point is ruddy, somber Betelgeuse. You might catch an Orionid meteor any time till November 7. In 2021, the peak morning is October 21-22, but, the nearly full Hunter’s Moon will be shining brightly.
21 October 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The Orionids – Peak these next few days. The meteor shower of the Mighty Hunter Orion is underway, with the earth traveling once again through the trail of cosmic dust left by Halley’s Comet.
From an article by Dr Elizabeth Vreede: ” Comets represent an element that does not wholly enter the usual sphere of cosmic law, although they still contain a trace of the direct working of spiritual powers, indeed, of the very highest — the Seraphim and Cherubim. Before ordinary law may be broken through, the very highest power and insight is required. The various comets, indeed, are agents of a very special nature in our planetary system, their polar antithesis being in the moons. Just as the moons are a kind of corpse which the planetary system trails along with it, so, on the other side, the comets may be spoken of as constant purifiers of the spiritual atmosphere within the solar system. In earlier times men thought of them as the “scavengers of God,” and many superstitions have gathered around them. To the eye of Spirit, too, the mission of the comets is perpetually to expel impure astral forces from the Cosmos or to introduce new impulses.”
5 things you need to know about the Orionid meteor shower:
The meteors are actually debris from the Comet Halley – The Comet Halley hasn’t paid Earth a visit since 1986, but pieces of the famous space rock still show up every fall. Each year, around October 20-22, our planet intersects with the comet’s orbit, according to Earth Sky. Pieces of Halley disintegrate in Earth’s upper atmosphere nearly 60 miles above the planet’s surface, but not before creating quite the spectacle for those down below.
Let’s be honest, watching this thing is a commitment. Experts agree that the shower will take place before dawn on October 21 or 22, but can’t pinpoint an exact date.
10-20 Meteors Could Fall Each Hour – The Orionid Meteor Shower is a “modest shower.” That means you won’t see a constant stream of glowing rocks plummeting toward Earth at any given moment. Don’t let that fool you. Those watching from dark or rural locations will still have a front row seat for the kind of spectacle that only comes from space.
…And They’ll Be Traveling At 41 Miles Per Second – You read that right. 41 miles per second. These rocks are literally scorching across the sky as they enter Earth’s atmosphere. Roughly half of these blazing fast meteors will leave gas trails behind them that are visible for a few seconds after the meteor is gone.
From. Every. Direction.- The Orionids flying from the sky this month are named after the constellation Orion, where they appear to radiate. The thing is, these meteors generally aren’t visible until they’re at least 30 degrees from that radiant point. This means they can appear any & everywhere in the night sky. If watching with a party, focus on different areas of the night sky & be sure to call out the meteors as you see them.
Mark Zinniker, along with his wife, Petra, is the third generation to work The Zinniker Family Farm. It is the oldest Biodynamic Farm in the United States.
Zinniker Farm, like most small family owned farms need to be re-envisioned by the community, or, this important resource will not be here for future generations.
At this crucial point in time, when health and food security are paramount, we are undertaking a project to reinvent our relationship to the Family Farm. We need your support to make this progressive project a reality.
We are looking for 50 families, individuals or groups to co-create this new way of life for the farm. If you are interested in joining the conversation, we’d love to hear from you. You can join here: Email Sign Up Our starting point for this conversation is this question: How can we as a community support a viable succession plan so the farm of the future can thrive?
Listen to the video as Mark and Petra Zinniker give a little insight on what’s needed. Check out our website, www.zinnikerfarm.com for more info on the 165 acre, diversified, certified organic farm – a true slice of Heaven on Earth.
Biodynamic farming provides families with good healthy food and is a remedy for the healing and spiritualization of the earth.
What if…? The universe is made of music & stories –The Word – not fluff & stuff.
What song will you sing today to bring theworld into existence?What story will you tell?
hmmm…but, ummm…what if we aren’t consciously creating the universe? What if we are just going along, living in someone else’s narrative? What happens if we habitually expose ourselves not to The Word within, but to the voices shouting directives from outside us? – To the toxic stories that serve to enslave? What if a commercial jingle is our earworm? – The sound bite our only truth?
Friends! We could wind up living in a false universe! – A world where we are just human animals; a statistic, not spiritual beings having a human experience – A world where it’s impossible to become the purposeful prodigy we are ALL born to be.
No that’s crazy-talk; we would never choose that, right!?! We know that’s not our destiny!
So let’s wean ourselves off tell-tales that have a reductive plot line, & no real heart – fueled primarily by grotesque, negative scenarios, or delusional one size fits all ‘safety’ measures.
Francisco de Holanda
Instead, let’s celebrate the luminous mysteries that throb with truth & shape our life story: The clear meditative meanderings that don’t always lead to tidy conclusions, the budding spiritual ‘What If’s’ that feed our soul, but don’t do a thing to serve the false ego’s apathies. Let’s live into the adventure that revolves around brain-teasing breakthroughs, instead of exhausting wobbly confusion, or a status quo submission caused by fear & illusion….
Jeremy Fish
So how about it…? Let’s encourage each other to nourish ourselves with delicious, nutritious narratives & the glorious Music of the Spheres, where ‘the ever present help of the spiritual world’ resounds – inspiring us to exercise our willpower for the highest good of all.
~Once upon a timing with you
~hag
17 October 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Deneb Kaitos is the brightest star in the constellation Cetus the Whale (or Sea-Monster). In star names, the word deneb usually means tail. And so it is with this star. It marks the tail of Cetus. It shines about as bright as Polaris the North Star. Deneb Kaitos reaches its highest in the sky on October and November evenings every year. It appears in the southern sky. ~earthsky
In seaform, in cloud swirlings, in purposeful imaginings I am the Sea-Monster in the sky cracking the shell of illusion to reveal my meal a food fit for the gods, my mission: bestowing spirit life in the transformation… Do not fear my destruction for I am true life… Brooding on the face of the celestial waters I am an urge, an idea, the portent of an impossible dream I lay between heaven & earth, between goodness & evil, patience & explosion, I am innocent & rosy as dawn… I sleep with my finger in my mouth, The cord of life curled beside my open ear… I am with you but not among you… I have no ending for I have no beginning. I have always been here, a bitter-sweetness, in the silence of things Ready to awaken & renounce the false image reflected in the briny past I am the power of the primal sea, wise & generous. The power of my Autumning is metamorphosis for death in one world means birth in another…
~I come to spout the wisdom of water into the air… I come with a star seed in my mouth… I come to you To sow my sky-sea tree… Will you be there to meet me…? ~hag
“Satisfaction Becomes Serenity” or Contentment becomes self-composure
Every morning the Sun rises a little later, & every evening our Sol sets ever earlier. Darkness takes the light, slowly into its somber realm. As we move from the Virgin who helps us with our spiritual harvest into
the sign of the scales, Libra, we can think how it is the only constellation that is not a living creature; it owes its origin to the realm of created things, of mechanics. According to Rudolf Steiner it was only incorporated into the imagery of the Zodiac later in order to delineate the world of light in the upper signs more clearly from the 5 lower “nightly” signs. It is entirely dependent on the outer world, best expressed in its function of “deliberation”.
In ancient Greece the descent of the Sun into the autumn region of the dark zodiac signs was seen in the image of the abduction of Persephone, stole away from her mother Demeter, by Pluto, lord of the underworld. The Greeks hid their faces in fear from the powers of darkness & waited longingly for the return of Persephone who would awaken to new life in the Spring.
But since Christ’s descent into the shadow realm of death, in order to reconquer it for the realm of light, human beings have looked at the descent into the realm of darkness in a different way – thru the image of the mighty Archangel Michael standing next to the Virgin, with her staff of life, & in former times, bearing the balance of the world in his hands – carrying the resurrection into the dark in order to realize our true human potential in the confrontation with the forces of evil. This individuation process can only be fulfilled in the realm of earth & death – Here the human being of the present time is threatened with the danger of giving in to the lower driving forces which powerfully press in from our unconscious sense perceptions. Here the scale, as the sign of the representative of humanity, appears before our soul pointing the way forward, to balance us between levity & gravity.
In the Zodiac it is between the grain-bearing Virgin & the death-dealing Scorpion. There is a separation of the “wheat from the chaff’ – the weighing, in the “Scales of Judgement.” Will the being of Michael which we must enliven within ourselves, be able to maintain the balance of the world? That is the most earnest question which is spoken by his gaze. In the realm of the spirit his victory is assured, But on earth???
This question touches on our human contribution to the Michael Imagination – it has to do with the crisis of the “I”, which exists for everyone today. Is the average human being awake to this aspect? -Ready & able to work to overcome this crisis of humankind on earth? If we take this into our soul-life we can feel called to take up this struggle, knowing that the outcome depends on our behavior, with even the smallest matters, as well as the great tests of our times. Thru this commitment we can rise to become a spiritual comrade, a co-shaper & co-creator of the divine world. We are called in the Age of Michael to rise from being a ‘servant of God’ to being a ‘friend & brother/sister of Christ’ as promised in the Gospel of St. John 15:15.
In looking up to this world destiny of the human being in the dark time of the year which is now setting in, we find the inner emphasis that is so easily lost today, because we lose our balance to the swings of the pendulum in our soul-life. The approaching winter can invoke (in some) the hum-bug that is open to greed, like an old man seeking to dispel the fear of death thru selfish pleasure or grabby possession. The balance of the soul swings back & forth between melancholy & self-satisfied control, until it can find its center in the true “I”.
The image of the scales can become for us the means to orient our soul & spirit at this turning point in the year.
~hag
Gray Crawford
16 October 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Venus harmonizes with Chiron and retrograde Mercury today. There are two days left in the Mercury retrograde cycle, and the Mercury-Venus sextile helps ease this sometimes rocky transition.
Today, we may get an opportunity to heal our relationships through openness to learning from one another. We more readily see the beauty in human imperfection. It’s a vital time for building trust in relationships and seeing potential in one another. We recognize the value of the people, relationships, and pleasures in our lives more clearly. We can benefit from interacting with others in fresh ways, with more authenticity and sincerity.
Retrograde Mercury periods tend to send us looking to the past for further or previously hidden information. It’s a good time to see an issue in a new light. We feel the most challenging side of Mercury retrograde around the time it changes direction, which happens on the 18th, so we might want to avoid complicated decision-making for the time being. There may be too much happening now to think clearly.
However, today’s Mercury-Venus sextile stimulates a desire to cooperate, compliment, encourage, and express our affections. We’re also inclined to analyze our relationships, particularly past ones, as well as our preferences and feelings. Connecting with people from our past is also possible.
A Mars-Neptune quincunx transit is also active now, and we can feel a little stuck — uncertain what we truly want and where to head — until we get in touch with the spiritual or emotional needs we may have been overlooking. The Moon spends the day in Pisces. ~astrology cafe
“We understand only the very smallest part of human history and of our own life if we consider it in its external aspect, I mean in that aspect which we see from the limited view-point of our earthly life between birth and death. It is impossible to comprehend the inner motives of history and life unless we turn our gaze to that spiritual background which underlies the outer, physical happenings“. ~Rudolf Steiner, Karmic Relationships, Volume IV: Lecture III
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1311 – The beginning of the Council of Vienne by Pope Clement V against the Templar order
1793 – Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis XVI, is guillotined at the height of the French Revolution
1827 – Birthday of Arnold Bocklin , a Swiss symbolist painter portraying mythological, fantastical figures along classical architecture constructions creating a strange, fantasy world. Böcklin is best known for his five versions of the Isle of the Dead, which partly evokes the Cemetery close to his studio where his baby daughter Maria had been buried.
Rudolf Steiner speaks of him as an Arthurian Knight: Thus even in the 9th century, in the paganism of Europe, there still lived much of the pre-Christian Christianity. That is the remarkable fact. Moreover even in that time the belated followers of European paganism understood the Cosmic Christ far more worthily and truly than those who received the Christ in the Christianity that was spread officially under that name. Strangely we can see the life around King Arthur radiate into the present time, continued even into our time, placed into the immediate present by the sudden power of destiny. Thus I beheld in seership a member of the Round Table of King Arthur, who lived the life of the Round Table in a very deep and intense way, though he stood a little aside from the others who were given more to the adventures of their knighthood. This was a knight who lived a rather contemplative life, though it was not like the Knighthood of the Grail, for this did not exist in Arthur’s circle. What the knights did in the fulfilment of their tasks, which in accordance with that age were for the most part warlike campaigns, was called by the name ‘Adventure’ (Aventure). But there was one who stood out from among the others as I saw him, revealing a life truly wonderful in its inspiration. For we must imagine the knights going out on to the spur of land, seeing the wonderful play of clouds above, the waves beneath, the surging interplay of the one and the other, which gives a mighty and majestic impression to this very day. In all this they saw the Spiritual and were inspired with it, and this gave them their strength. But there was one among them who penetrated most deeply into this surging and foaming of the waves, with the spiritual beings wildly rising in the foam with their figures grotesque to earthly sight. He had a wonderful perception of the way in which the marvellously pure sun-influence played into the rest of nature, living and weaving in the spiritual life and movement of the surface of the ocean. He saw what lived in the light nature of the sun, borne up as it were by the watery atmosphere as we can see to this day, the sunlight approaching the trees and the spaces between the trees quite differently than in other regions, glittering back from between the trees, and playing often as in rainbow colours. Such a knight there was among them, one who had a peculiarly penetrating vision of these things. I was much concerned to follow his life into later time to see the individuality again. For just in this case something would needs enter into a later incarnation of a Christian life that was almost primitive and pagan, that was Christian only to the extent that I have just described. And this in fact was what appeared, for that Knight of the Round Table of King Arthur was born again as Arnold Böcklin. This riddle which had followed me for an immensely long time, can only be solved in connection with the Round Table of King Arthur. Thus you see that we have a Christianity tangible with spiritual touch to this very day, a Christianity before the Mystery of Golgotha which shed its light even into the time that I have just outlined ~Karmic Relationships, Volume IV: Lecture III
Wikimedia Commons
1834 – Much of the ancient structure of the Palace of Westminster in London burns to the ground
1846 – William T. G. Morton first demonstrated ether anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the Ether Dome
1854 – Birthday of Oscar Wilde, Irish author, poet, & playwright
1922 – The founding of the Esoteric Youth Circle by Rudolf Steiner. Notes from the various preparatory discussions for the founding of the Group:
‘If I am to go into what I understand with the term “esoteric group” then let me say that if you want to take the esoteric earnestly, you must say to yourself that it is an action out of the impulses from the spiritual world. One can strive toward this. Anthroposophy is a path to this end. To build such a community would constitute a decision to set upon this path.
The spiritual is a living element & so such a group must not be something dead. The group must be a force-group. The health of each part is the health of the whole. It is the mutual taking on of karma that is created in such a community. There is then mutual suffering to live through, but also mutual joy. People must be treated like fellow human beings, with all their imperfections.
What you seek is to find a friend in the spiritual world. The important thing is to remain spiritually true to the friend once found. Therefore, the 1st requirement is that you learn quite precisely what spiritual loyalty is.
Your community will have in it something of the primordial mystery of all human community. This mystery is that, what we ourselves do within the community bears no fruit for us ourselves, but for others, & that the fruits for us come from others.
We must work for the progress of humanity – Just as the physical social life consists of deeds done together, so too we strive for common deeds in the spirit – thus actually, for a social working in the suprasensible.
We must endeavor to carry spirit into the furthest consequences of our actions. This alone – that we bring spirit & love into our will – can make it possible to stand firmly against being overrun by the cultural machine. Too few people today develop real initiative. There is a lot of willfulness, but little will.
The true meditation is a fulfilling of the spiritual will that the Time Spirit bears with itself. Where such meditation is practiced, a spiritual force is able to work into the earthly events. Spiritual worlds want to work in to earthly events today, but they can do this only when, through human meditation, space is created for it. Through meditation, something like an empty space comes about. Into this space, the spiritual beings can enter with their effects. And the power of meditating such a meditation in common increases by potentization.
When we do this community-meditation, it will bring about a deeper connection of the core of our being with our sheaths.
These meditations, when used correctly, could become something like windows into the spiritual world. The words & pictures given, form only half of what is to be entrusted to us. The other half we are to find ourselves through spiritual activity.
Each of you must feel joy for the success of the other. You must avoid every feeling of rivalry & have the awareness that what each of you accomplishes, you accomplish through the power of all of the others.
Uniting yourself through a mutual promise to strive toward a common spiritual goal – & leaving one another completely free in actions & judgements in life – such a community based on this is something completely new in the evolution of humanity. And it is what is most necessary today.
For someone who comes to specific results on the esoteric path, there is always the danger of delusions of grandeur. Such a community as yours can be a protection against this. For in it, you strive together to cross the threshold of the spiritual world. And there each of you has to say that you have the efforts of all the others to thank for what you have achieved personally.
Effects will arise in the destiny between human beings who are connected with us in the community physically & spiritually. The community will never die out. With the 1st community members who reincarnate, the community returns to Earth.
By persevering with the exercises we have a chance to stand up to Ahrimanic powers that no one person can withstand.
Through the reading of the oath given by Rudolf Steiner on 16 October 1922, in the presence of the others, the admittance into the community was effected.
And now consider your community as having been founded by the spiritual world itself…Now get to know each other well.
This gave us the idea to tell each other our biography at the mutual acceptance into membership.
What has taken place now is a 1st in the post-Christian era: human beings themselves chose, out of freedom before the spiritual world, to join together esoterically’.
The 12 founding members:
Daniel van Bemmelen, co-founder of the 1st Dutch Waldorf School
Georg Groot MD, 3-fold social order, co-worker in the Berlin Group of the College Association
Herbert Hahn, called by Steiner to teach at the Independent Waldorf School in Stuttgart
Ernst Lehrs, teacher at the Waldorf school in Stuttgart, served on the committee for the Independent Anthroposophical Society founded for the youth. Later taught in The Hague, London, & Aberdeen. Also taught with his wife Maria Roeschl in the Rudolf Steiner Seminar.
Rene Maikowski, business manager of the Association for Anthroposophical College Studies, also a Waldorf teacher.
Wilhelm Rath, bookseller, man of letters, farmer, was on the committee of the Independent Anthroposophical Society.
Wilhelm Selling, mechanical engineer, colonial officer in Africa, in charge of the Theosophical library, mentor of the youth work in Berlin
Karin Selling, part of the Scandinavian Theosophical Society, teacher at the Waldorf School in Stockholm
Emma Smit, teacher & organizer of the Independent school in The Hague
Maria Spira, came from the Zionist Youth Movement, married Wilhelm Rath
Albrecht Strohschein,Walter Johannes Stein, Karl König
Albrecht Strohschein, business man, 1st co-worker in the Der Kommenden (The Coming Day) in Stuttgart, student of psychology in Jena, co-founder of the therapeutic pedagogical movement
Kurt Walther, postal officer, lecturer, & leader of many courses, the successor of Marie Steiner in the Executive Council of the Anthroposophical Socety, married Wilhelm Selling’s sister ClaraSelling, who was part of Steiner’s household
Others that came in after the founding, in the transition of the Association for the Three-fold Social Organism as it moved into the Association for Independent Spiritual Life, included: Ernst Uehli, Rector Moritz, Michael Bauer, Hermann Beck, Eugen & Lily Kolisko, Emil Leinhas, Emil Molt, Rudolf Meyer, Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz, Fredrich Rittelmeyer, Walter Johannes Stein, Carl Unger, Ludwig Webeck, H. Wohlbold
1946 – Nuremberg trials: Execution of the convicted Nazi leaders of the Main Trial
1964 – China detonates its first nuclear weapon
1968 – United States athletes Tommie Smith & John Carlos are kicked off the US team for participating in the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute
1984 – Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Readers: Katherine Thivierge, Hazel Archer, Marianne Fieber, Haidy Peterson, Farmer John, Zuri Burns, Morgan Vallat, Ultra-Violet Archer, Lisa Dalton, Lucien Dante Lazar, Elizabeth Kelly, Portland Hosts, Folks from the 6 HUBS, Eurythmy with Mary Ruud
Dear friends – The Pageant ‘Building the Temple of the Heart: The Royal Art: A Social Pilgrimage of the Soul’ that I wrote for the ASA Conference has been made into a booklet (Thanks John Beck!) If you would like to receive a copy contact ‘Deb Abrahams-Dematte’ deb@anthroposophy.org; or Cynthia Chelius cynthia@anthroposophy.org. All proceeds go to support the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America.
Beloved Michaelites, polish your shield until it shines like the Sun, & sharpen the sword of your clear thinking, so that together, we may redeem the Cosmic Intelligence to bring right perspective to our world thoughts today.
We are called to see the true image of the ‘corona’: a circling wreath, an auric rainbow of light revealing the realm of formative forces, the etheric glow of the human being wearing the crown of our divine birthright.
Our role-model for this crowning can be seen up in the starry sky. Have you ever noticed this circle of light around the Sun on a cloudy day, or embracing Bella Luna when she is Full?
Kate Morgan
Will we make it our intention to attend humanities Coronation? Or will we participate in the fear-based counter-image of the Corona – a piercing crown of thorns, eclipsing our true nature, a panicked rush toward the war-of-all-against-all, come too soon…?
Is this another attempt to darken & obscure our vision of the etheric Christ -a continued coup, usurping the Crown of Isis-Sophia – a corporate weapon of terror, gone viral, by the bought & sold media, employed by the lethal beasts of fear, hatred, & doubt…?
For some time now the world appears to have fallen under the spell of these 3 beasts. And their contagion is like a fast spreading virus –constricting the human heart, creating a shrouding corona of darkness around Mother Earth.
Is this manufactured (or karmic?) pandemic meant to trigger the negative side of the consciousness soul age, that anti-social part of us – that keeps us from unifying – from developing genuine compassion, interest & love of the other – labeling anyone who is asking questions as selfish.
These dark spikes of dis-ease drive us apart, dismember us, pin us in isolation. Will it justify the imposition of a type of global martial law unless we submit to a medical dictatorship…?
Sure it’s easy to get caught up in trying to find the narrative, but we must not let the 3 beasts of fear, hatred & doubt creep in & set-up a breeding ground in our thinking, multiplying in our feeling life, infecting our willing – so that we act out, or simply comply, taking the path of least residence, surrendering our sovereignty.
These beasts certainly create a cold environment, freezing-up the immune system, tightening tensions, giving rise to anxiety. The dots need connecting, but fear, hatred, doubt, or love of ease will not be good resources for solutions or collaborations.
Marie Dalton
Perhaps we can start by practicing Common Sense, which encourages us to keep our physical body healthy, by eating well, & exercising; Our mental body strong by practicing the 6 basic exercises, meditating…etc…; Our etheric body agile, with good rhythmic habits; And, purifying our astral body, by letting go of negative emotions & building healing imaginations. Because we know that when we are living in fear, propagating hatred, or fostering doubt, we are not only more susceptible to illness, but we close ourselves off from the spiritual world & our fellow human beings – we put up a wall, so that instead of the power of a true Democratic Republic where the people can work together to find solutions & find safety in numbers, we are hiding behind our masks or fighting against each other.
How can we call out the adversarial powers without getting infected by them? Rudolf Steiner tells us we must recognize, & name these materialistic counter-powers, which foster lies, gossip, suspicion, racism, & hypocrisy. These are the counter-images of the healthy human qualities of warmth, enthusiasm, & reverence – Faith, Hope, Charity & Love – which we must strive to cultivate.
We can work to redeem these traits in ourselves; this will have its reflection in the world. Will we take this opportunity to build our courage? This builds the health of our Soul-forces of Thinking, Feeling, & Willing, & makes straight the path of our highest evolution.
Aristotle taught us that courage can be trained. Today, more than ever, dear Michaelites we are being called to take up this training, & put it into action in our every thought, word & deed.
~hag
27 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Jupiter and Saturn shine in the south-southeast at dusk, Venus low in the southwest. They’re all close to the ecliptic, so a straight line from Jupiter through Saturn points almost exactly to Venus. ~skyandtelescope
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler MICHAELMAS Michaelic Firepower v26 Natura, in the being of my will I bear thy soul of motherhood and in my will enkindled firepower my spirit impulses are tempered, steeled, that feeling of the selfhood formed from them bear I in me.
The end of this week will be the Soul Calendar’s second mirror point. At Easter the soul turned outwards into the sense world’s dream. Now with the powerful gift of the summer sun the spiritual sun can consciously expand within my inner being all through the autumn. (qv. Eloise Krivosheia in anthroposophyla.org)
MICHAELMAS II Soul Springtime v27 To fathom my depths of being arouses longing, ardently divining, that I, self-contemplating, find my Self as summer sunlight’s gift that lives in autumn mood as germinating seed, warm spring of strength within my soul.
1066 – William the Conqueror begins the Norman conquest of England
1322- Consecration of Cologne Cathedral
1722 – Birthday of Samuel Adams, statesman, political philosopher, & one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the American Revolution, & was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to President John Adams
1822 – Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone
1825 – The world’s first public railway to use steam locomotives, the Stockton & Darlington Railway, is ceremonially opened
1854 – The steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board. This marks the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean
1875 – The merchant sailing ship Ellen Southard is wrecked in a storm at Liverpool. 400 die
1896 Birthday of Sigismund Von Gleich, German Anthroposopher. While serving in the army he became ill with lung disease, & during convalescence was given a book by Rudolf Steiner. He was soon immersed in Steiner’s philosophy, & became one of the most prolific lecturers & writers in the early years of the anthroposophical movement. He fled Nazi Germany in 1936, after publishing The Transformation of Evil, And the Subterranean Spheres of the Earth
1905 – The physics journal Annalen der Physik received Albert Einstein’s paper, “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?“, introducing the equation E=mc²
1908 – The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan
1917 – Deathday of Edgar Degas, French painter & sculptor
1940 – World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan & Italy
1959 – Typhoon Vera kills nearly 5,000 people in Japan
1962 – Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring is published, inspiring an environmental movement & the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1993 – The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia, violent ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by the separatists perpetrated against Georgian civilians by militia forces, North Caucasian & Russian allies. 50,000 were killed
1996 – The Julie N- a tanker ship, spills thousands of gallons of oil after crashing into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine
1998 – Birthday of Google
Rev. Craig Wiggins
Meeting the Dragon with our 4-Fold Being Our Annual Michaelmas Festival Leading thoughts with Rev Jeana Lee, Collaborative sculptural creation, & transformation with Rev Victoria Capon. (Bring your found objects to help build the dragon!)
September 28th, 2021 Potluck at 5:30 pm in the Branch Schreinerei – Please bring a dish to share Talk at 7pm in the Upper Room
Our inspiration can come to life through our collaboration at the Rudolf Steiner Branch – 4249 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618
In order to know how much food to order REGISTRATION ENDS OCT. 1ST
Details for the in-person conference:
$75 will cover the expenses for facilities, 3 lunches and 3 dinners, snacks, and printing.
You will enjoy a pre-AGM dinner on Thursday Oct. 7 Doors open at 5 pm. Lunch and Dinner on Fri. and Sat. and Lunch post-conference on Sunday. As well as Snacks/Coffee-Tea during the breaks.
$40 will cover only the bare expenses – no meals
Be a Master Builder Patron for $100 or more, to help pay for the tech costs!
For those who are longing for a deep dive: The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) brings transformative online content into the alchemy of individual and group inner work. The mission is to explore the urgent issues of our time through the lens of spiritual philosophy, awakening meaning, inner reflection, and outer action.
I will be facilitating one of the Chrysalis Groups: ‘The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation into the New Mysteries’ –
The Royal Art of community awaits your participation.
22 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Autumn begins in the Northern Hemisphere, & Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, at the Equinox – 2:21 p.m CDT. This is when the Sun crosses the equator heading south for the season
Our Day-star rises due east & sets due west today. Equinox” comes from the Latin words “equi” meaning “equal” & “nox” meaning “night.” This implies that there will be equal amounts of daylight & darkness, however that is not exactly the case
If the Sun were a point of light & Earth had no atmosphere, everyone would get 12 hours of sunlight & 12 hours of darkness. But the presence of air & the finite size of our star make today 8 minutes longer than 12 hours. This year, the sun will rise at 6:38am CDT on the equinox & will set at 6:47pm
Exactly equal day & night won’t happen until September 25 with sunrise as 6:42 am CDT & sunset at 6:42 pm CDT. This day is known as the Equilux! -“Lux” being Latin for light.
Also, every year when summer turns to fall, Deneb takes over from brighter Vega as the zenith star around the time when twilight fades into night
Develan Maontalphy
At the Autumnal Equinox – the wheel of the year turns & we find ourselves moving into the time of the harvest. In the tropical zodiac, at equinox, we say the Sun is crossing the celestial equator, moving from Virgo into Libra, the sign of the scales – a time to take stock. Are the scales balanced? Do they tip & spill? Are they full? Do we know what to harvest & what to plow under? Can we identify & cut away outworn habits & emotional baggage that can choke our growth?
Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis
But in sidereal astrosophy we see the Sun in relation to the actual constellations as they are now, with the Sun actually appearing in the crown of stars in the constellation of the Virgin.
When we use the tropical zodiac, the 4-foldness of the Equinoxes & Solstices form The Cross, which reminds us of an event that occurred only once in history, at the time of the incarnation of Christ. Then, the start of Spring was at 0 degrees of Aries, the Ram – the 1st sign in the zodiac.
At the Equinoxes we have the horizontal beam, a balance of light & darkness. At the Solstices we have the vertical beam, an opposition of light & dark. At Autumn Equinox the Sun is balanced in Libra, which then marks the transition from light to dark. Libra is a threshold, a gateway between the upper chakras & the lower chakras. In the upper signs, from Aries thru Virgo we have a memory of the cosmic human being before we were formed on Earth. From Libra to Pisces, the human form meets the physical world. So we can look at the upper half of the zodiac as being related to our past cosmic creation by the ‘gods’ & the lower half of the zodiac as our human journey of ‘The fall’ & then hopefully our redemption out of our own ego forces.
Iona Miller
The Sidereal zodiac shows us the vernal point has moved thru the ‘procession of the equinoxes’, (The Sun moves backward thru the constellations) so that it is now descending thru the lower half of the zodiac, taking humanity along on its evolutionary journey.
Adorning this great cross, formed from the 4 Cardinal Points of the Equinoxes & Solstices, are the 7 Festivals: Michaelmas, Advent, Christmas, Easter-tide Ascension, Whitsun & St. John’s-tide. These festivals are the 7 Cosmic Roses unfurling from the center of The Cross.
So today on this Autumnal Equinox, we can contemplate & celebrate this solar moment of equality & balance, experienced by everyone around the globe. We can also think about how the world has changed, how the constellations have moved on, how The Christ has united with the Earth, & is now working in us to redeem our evolution.
We can take our initiation in hand when we consciously co-create the festivals in the solar-cycle of the year, working to unfold the 7 Roses of transformation within, & out in the world.
Kristina Carroll
And so it is my friends, that we begin our journey, like Persephone, into the dark of the year…Feel your power go within, like the seed planted deep within the darkness of the Earth…We must be initiated into these dark mysteries before we can truly celebrate life’s renewal…
The apples fall from the tree, the corn & grain are gathered in, the grapes are crushed for wine…The Sun God is sacrificed to the night & the fertile Mother assumes the face of the Wise Crone – the Harvest Hag challenging us to face our shadow…
1452 – Birthday of Savonarola, an Italian Dominican friar, prophet & preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of secular art & culture, & his calls for Christian renewal. He denounced clerical corruption, despotic rule & the exploitation of the poor.
While Savonarola intervened with the French king, the Florentines expelled the ruling Medici &, at the friar’s urging, established a “popular” republic, declaring that Florence would be the New Jerusalem, the world center of Christianity.
When Florence refused to join Pope Alexander VI’s Holy League against the French, the Vatican summoned Savonarola to Rome. He disobeyed & further defied the pope by preaching under a ban, highlighting his campaign for reform with processions, bonfires of the vanities, & pious theatricals. In retaliation, the Pope excommunicated him & threatened to place Florence under an interdict. A trial by fire proposed by a rival Florentine preacher to test Savonarola’s divine mandate turned into a fiasco, & popular opinion turned against him. Savonarola & two of his supporting friars were imprisoned. Under torture, Savonarola confessed & the Church condemned, hanged, & burned the three friars in the main square of Florence.
Savonarola’s devotees, the Piagnoni, kept his cause of republican freedom & religious reform alive well into the following century, although the Medici—restored to power in 1512 with the help of the papacy—eventually broke the movement.
1791 – Birthday of Michael Faraday, English physicist & chemist. Although Faraday received little formal education, he was one of the most influential scientists in history. It was by his research on the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a direct current that Faraday established the basis for the concept of the electromagnetic field in physics. Faraday also established that magnetism could affect rays of light & that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, & it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became practical for use in technology.
As a chemist, Faraday discovered benzene, investigated the clathrate hydrate of chlorine, invented an early form of the Bunsen burner & the system of oxidation numbers, & popularized terminology such as “anode”, “cathode”, “electrode” & “ion”.
Faraday was an excellent experimentalist who conveyed his ideas in clear & simple language. Albert Einstein kept a picture of Faraday on his study wall, alongside pictures of Isaac Newton & James Clerk Maxwell. Physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, “When we consider the magnitude and extent of his discoveries and their influence on the progress of science and of industry, there is no honour too great to pay to the memory of Faraday, one of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time.”
1991 – The Dead Sea Scrolls are made available to the public for the first time by the Huntington Library
Festival Gathering: Tuesday 28 September on the eve of Michaelmas with Rev’s Jeana Lee & Victoria Capon
Potluck at 5:30 Talk at 7pm
At the Rudolf Steiner Branch, 4249 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618
Meeting The Dragon With Our Four Fold Being – A talk and collaborative sculptural creation
Bring Food & drink for the potluck & a found objects to help build the dragon! Then our inspiration can come to life through our collaboration.
Jeana Lee was recently ordained as a priest of the Christian Community Movement for Religious Renewal and sent to the congregation in Chicago. Previously she taught chemistry and math at Green Meadow Waldorf high school. She enjoys swimming in the lake and is interested in questions of sin and redemption.
Victoria Capon hails from the east coast and is new to Chicago. Before attending seminary she taught at the Waldorf School of Cape Cod. Now she is happily settling into serving the chicago CC congregation and exploring the Windy City
Greetings friends – Come Join us in Chicago *Special in-person activities for ‘Building the Temple of the Heart’ ASA Annual Conference and Members Meeting 7-10 October 2021:
For those who are longing for a deep dive: The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) brings transformative online content into the alchemy of individual and group inner work. The mission is to explore the urgent issues of our time through the lens of spiritual philosophy, awakening meaning, inner reflection, and outer action.
I will be facilitating one of the Chrysalis Groups: ‘The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation into the New Mysteries’ –
The Royal Art of community awaits your participation.
