A Tang dynasty (618-906 AD) era mirror depicting the moon goddess with the moon rabbit.
Last night the winds of change unveiled Bella Luna in her Harvest fullness. My beloved & I went on a ramble. It was such a clear night that the Moon Rabbit was front & center. When my girl was little we had a book of Buddhist stories called the Jakata Tales – There was one that we loved where the Rabbit in the Moon is known as “Tsuki no Usagi”.
“Many years ago, the Old Woman of the Moon decided to visit the Earth. She disguised herself as a beggar & asked Fox (Kitsune), Monkey (Saru), & Rabbit (Usagi) for some food.
Monkey climbed a tree & brought her some fruit. Fox went to a stream, caught a fish, & brought it back to her. But Rabbit had nothing to offer but some grass. So he asked the beggar to build a fire. Then Rabbit jumped into it & offered the only thing he had: himself.
Quickly the beggar changed back into the Old Woman of the Moon & pulled Rabbit from the fire. She said “You are most kind, Rabbit, but don’t do anything to harm yourself. Since you were the kindest of all to me, I’ll take you back to the moon as a reminder to all of your selflessness”
The Old Woman carried Rabbit in her arms back to the Moon& he is still there to this very day. Just look at the moon in the night sky & the selfless Rabbit is there!”
Christine Kemp
21 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”
Astrid Jibodh
“The Master said, “A true teacher is one who, keeping the past alive, is also able to understand the present.” (Analects 2.11)” ~Confucius
Feast of St. Matthew, a 1st-century Galilean, the son of Alpheus. As a tax collector he was literate in Aramaic & Greek. After his call, Matthew invited Jesus home for a feast. On seeing this, the Scribes & the Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors & sinners. This prompted Jesus to answer, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13)
19 BC – Deathday of Virgil, Roman poet
1780 – Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.
1792 – The National Convention declares France a republic & abolishes the absolute monarchy
1860 – Deathday of Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher & author
1866 – Birthday of H. G. Wells
1912 – Birthday of Chuck Jones, American animator, producer, & screenwriter
1934 – A large typhoon hits western Honshū, Japan, killing 3,036 people
1938 – The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500-700 people
1942 – In Dunaivtsi, Ukraine, Nazis murder 2,588 Jews
1972 – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos signs Proclamation № 1081, placing the entire country under martial law marking the beginning of his authoritarian rule
1976 – Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Chilean socialist government of Salvador Allende, overthrown in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet
1991 – Armenia is granted independence from Soviet Union
1993 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspends parliament & scraps the constitution, triggering the Russian constitutional crisis
1996 – The Defense of Marriage Act passes the United States Congress. The law prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriage, while allowing states to adopt any marital definition of their choosing
1998 – Deathday of John Wood, Anthroposophical translator
1999 – Chi-Chi earthquake occurs in central Taiwan, leaving over 2,400 people dead
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.
The harvest season is upon us once again…The Jewish New Year has begun, Sweet with the seal of At-One-ment…& now, the ancient celebration of Sukkot comes, to bring community together for a unique opportunity to experience an amazing blend of Honoring the Ancestors, Giving Thanks, & opening to receive prosperity’s blessings…
“When you sit in the Sukkah, ‘the shade of faithfulness,’ the Shechinah spreads Her wings over you…”
When our daughter was in 3rd grade we started celebrating Sukkot – In the Waldorf pedagogy this age is all about leaving the garden of paradise, The children live into stories about Moses & the wandering in the desert, & learn to build shelters. Her class was very close, so we had gatherings in our sukkah every year to share food, tell stories, create Autumn art, Invite in the Matriarchs of the Torah, & many other loving ancestors, & perform the ancient ritual of waving the Lulav, for blessings of abundance…
The Festival of Sukkot is quite a drastic transition, from one of the most solemn holidays in our year- Yom Kipper, to one of the most joyous. This festival is sometimes referred to as the ‘Season of our Rejoicing’. Sukkot begins at Sunset tomorrow when the Full Harvest Moon starts to rise, & lasts for seven days.
The word “Sukkot” means “booths,” & refers to the temporary dwellings that we build to celebrate this holiday. The name of the holiday is frequently translated as “The Feast of Tabernacles,” & Like Passover & Shavu’ot, Sukkot has a dual significance: Historical & Agricultural.
The holiday commemorates the forty-year period during which the Hebrew People were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. Sukkot is also a harvest festival, & is sometimes referred to as the ‘Festival of Ingathering’.
This is harvest time, so we decorate the sukkah with the bounty of autumn, dried squash & corn, pumpkin & gourds, all the vegetables that make you think of Halloween & Thanksgiving. Building & decorating a sukkah is a fun, family project, much like decorating the Christmas tree.
Our family went out to Angelic Organics for the Autumn Field Day yesterday & brought home some harvest bounty, including potatoes we dug up ourselves in the u-pick garden. Visit Farmer John’s web site – it’s time to order your shares for next year!
Another observance related to Sukkot involves what are known as The Four Species, etrog (a citrus fruit, representing the heart), a palm branch (in Hebrew, lulav, representing the spine of the upright human being), two willow branches (arava, representing our eyes) & three myrtle branches (hadas, representing our lips & tongue). We take these four plants & use them to “rejoice.” The six branches are bound together & referred to collectively as the lulav. The etrog is held separately in the left hand. With these four species in your right hand, one recites a blessing & waves the species in all six directions (east, south, west, north, up & down, symbolizing the fact that the Divine is everywhere).
Ushpizot is an Aramaic word meaning guests. According to Jewish tradition, each night of Sukkot, a different set of guests is invited to rejoice with us in the Sukkah. While the custom of inviting Ushpizin, seven biblical male leaders, has been widely celebrated, there are also medieval sources that suggest inviting the seven female prophetesses: Sarah (Genesis 16,21), Miriam (Exodus 2:1-9; 15:20-21), Deborah (Judges 4-5), Hannah (I Samuel 25), Huldah (II Kings 22:10-20), and Esther (Book of Esther).
So come join us in spirit, with thoughts of World Peace, & be part of this experiential celebration…What great leaders, proud Matriarchs or daring Daddies would you like to invite into the sukkah…? Let this ancient tradition made new, empower you…
Blessings & Peace
~hag, Ultra-Violet, CG
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler AUTUMN EQUINOX The Soul’s Luminescence v25 I may, belonging to myself now, begin to shine a dawning inner light across the darkening of space and time. To sleep is nature’s urge; the depths of soul shall wake and bear the sun’s warm glow through winter storms and snow.
This week’s mirror verse MICHAELMAS 111 Soul Sunpower’s Radiance Of Thought v28 I can, revived within, now feel my own wide breadth of being, my strength of sun-empowered soul whose radiance of thinking solves life’s riddles and lifts the wish-fulfilling wings left lame by hope.
19 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: It’s the Eve of the Harvest Moon.
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.
Dear Friends – As we move closer to the Autumnal Equinox & deeper into the earnestness of the Michaelmas Season, I find that every day I am meeting with inspired happenstance leading me hither & thither on a Social Pilgrimage of the Soul – only to find yet another golden nugget, a well baked brick, for the experiential Pageant: ‘Building the Temple of the Heart – the capstone community offering for the ASA annual conference & members meeting.
Yesterday an inspiration came forth while I was thinking of what to share at the closing around the Sophia Conference in the Spring. Graced by the research muses I rediscovered this amazing Steiner quote which speaks to both conference themes:
“When we are more and more able to experience the content of anthroposophy in our heart, in our feelings, then it is as if living, cosmic beings enter our souls. Then, anthroposophy will appear to us increasingly as a living being. And we will become aware that something is knocking at the threshold of our heart saying, ‘Let me in, because I am you yourself; I am your true nature, your very humanity’ ~ Rudolf Steiner, Supersensible Man, 18 November 1923, Lecture V
Dear Friends – Now more than ever we are called to join our soul forces together. I hope you will consider being part of the Conference 7-10 October. Maybe you will choose to meet with kindred souls in person in your neck of the woods, or simply join us online for a potent & festive event.
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.
See you there
~hag
17 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The gibbous Moon hangs lower right of bright Jupiter at dusk this evening. To their right, Saturn glows dimmer in the background. Later in the night, as the sky turns, Bella Luna will come directly below Jupiter, and Saturn will move lower than both of them. That’s how you’ll find them oriented around midnight.
I turn to history not for lessons but to confront my experience with the experience of others and to win for myself a sense of responsibility for the state of the human conscience ~ Zbigniew Herbert
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1179 – Deathday of Hildegard of Bingen, “the Sybil of the Rhine” a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, & polymath.
She is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama, the oldest surviving morality play. She wrote theological, botanical, & medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, & poems, while supervising miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias. She is also noted for the invention of a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota.
Hildegard 1st saw “The Shade of the Living Light” at the age of three. Hildegard was hesitant to share her visions, but at the age of 42, Hildegard received instruction from God, to “write down that which you see and hear.” Still hesitant to record her visions, Hildegard became physically ill. The illustrations recorded in the book of Scivias were visions that Hildegard experienced, causing her great suffering: “But I, though I saw and heard these things, refused to write for a long time through doubt and bad opinion and the diversity of human words, not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility, until, laid low by the scourge of God, I fell upon a bed of sickness; then, compelled at last by many illnesses, and by the witness of a certain noble maiden of good conduct [the nun Richardis von Stade] I set my hand to the writing. While I was doing it, I sensed, the deep profundity of scriptural exposition; and, raising myself from illness by the strength I received, I brought this work to a close – though just barely – in ten years. (…) And I spoke and wrote these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person, but as by the secret mysteries of God I heard and received them in the heavenly places. And again I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, ‘Cry out therefore, and write thus!’
Hildegard’s visions caused her to see humans as “living sparks” of God’s love.
On 17 September 1179, when Hildegard died, her sisters claimed they saw two streams of light appear in the skies & cross over the room where she was dying.
“Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around Him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground, and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God.”
1787 – The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia
1859 – Joshua A. Norton declares himself “Norton I, Emperor of the United States.” Born in England, Norton spent most of his early life in South Africa, he emigrated to San Francisco with an inheritance, but he lost his fortune investing in Peruvian rice & Norton’s public prominence faded. He reemerged to lay claim to the position of Emperor of the United States, & ‘Protector of Mexico’. He was treated deferentially in San Francisco, ¤cy issued in his name was honored in the establishments he frequented.
Though some considered him insane or eccentric, citizens of San Francisco celebrated his regal presence & his proclamations, such as his order that the United States Congress be dissolved by force & his numerous decrees calling for a bridge crossing connecting San Francisco to Oakland, &a corresponding tunnel to be built under San Francisco Bay.
At his funeral two days later, nearly 30,000 people packed the streets of San Francisco to pay homage. Norton has been immortalized as the basis of characters in the literature of writers Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christopher Moore, Maurice De Bevere, Selma Lagerlöf, & Neil Gaiman
1908 – The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes, killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality
1916 –Manfred von Richthofen (“The Red Baron“), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France, in World War I
1928 – The Okeechobee hurricane strikes southeastern Florida, killing more than 2,500 people. It is the third deadliest natural disaster in United States history, behind the Galveston hurricane of 1900 & the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
1939 –The Soviet Union joins Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland in World War II
1939 –German submarine U-29 sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous in World War II
1961 – Deathday of Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish diplomat, economist, author & the second secretary-general of the United Nations. Soon after his appointment Hammarskjöld was interviewed on radio by Edward R. Murrow. In this talk he declared: “But the explanation of how man should live a life of active social service in full harmony with himself as a member of the community of spirit, I found in the writings of those great medieval mystics [Meister Eckhart and Jan van Ruysbroek] for whom ‘self-surrender’ had been the way to self-realization, and who in ‘singleness of mind’ and ‘inwardness’ had found strength to say yes to every demand which the needs of their neighbours made them face, and to say yes also to every fate life had in store for them when they followed the call of duty as they understood it.”
He was en route to negotiate a cease-fire on 18 September when his plane crashed near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia. Hammarskjöld & fifteen others died in the crash. The circumstances of the incident are still not clear. There is some evidence that suggests the plane was shot down. Göran Björkdahl (a Swedish aid worker) wrote in 2011 that he believed Dag Hammarskjöld’s 1961 death was a murder committed in part to benefit mining companies like Union Minière, after Hammarskjöld had made the UN intervene in the Katanga crisis. Björkdahl based his assertion on interviews with witnesses of the plane crash & on archival documents. Former U.S. President Harry Truman commented that Hammarskjöld “was on the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said ‘when they killed him’.”
1978 – The Camp David Accords brokered by President Jimmy Carter, is signed by Egyptian PresidentAnwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime MinisterMenachem Begin
2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression
2006 – Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts, marking the first eruption for the long-dormant volcano in at least 10,000 years
2011 – Occupy Wall Street movement begins in Zuccotti Park, New York City
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:
THURSDAY, October 7 – CENTRAL TIME (*For those in the pageant: Tech rehearsal – 3 pm) *5 pm Dinner in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’ (Meal plan menu coming soon – Sign up now so we know how much food we need!)
6:30- 8:00 PM Annual General Meeting (AGM) – Members Meeting (Note: This portion is free and open to all members)
FRIDAY, October 8 – CENTRAL TIME *9:30 AM In the Upper Room our Class Reader Clark Remington will give Lesson XI for the School of Spiritual Science (Note: There will be no online gathering for the Class Lesson 11:30 AM What is the School of Spiritual Science? A conversation led by Helen-Ann Ireland, open to all (30 min) *12 Noon LUNCH in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’ 1:00 PM Conference Opening 2:00 PM The Stairway of Surprise: Rudolf Steiner’s 6 Basic Exercises with Michael Lipson 3:00 PM 30-minute Snack Break in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’ 3:30 PM Thinking / Clear Thinking with the New Orleans Hub Doing / Right Action with the Austin Hub Musical Interludes by Morgan Vallat 4:30 PM Biography with Janey Newton 5:00 PM 60-minute Break *DINNER in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’ 6:00 PM Singing, Speech & Eurythmy with Dennis Dietzel, Katherine Thivierge & Mary Ruud 6:15 – 7:15 PM Building the Temple through Spiritual Research: Sections of the School of Spiritual Science as Columns of the Temple
SATURDAY, October 9 – CENTRAL TIME (*For those in the pageant: Tech rehearsal – 9 am)
11:00 AM Singing, Speech & Eurythmy with Dennis Dietzel, Katherine Thivierge & Mary Ruud 11:15 AM The Life of the Heart in Space, Time and Eternity with Michaela Glöckler 12:30 PM Biography with Janey Newton 1:00 PM 60-minute Break *LUNCH in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’ 2:00 PM Singing, Speech & Eurythmy with Dennis Dietzel, Katherine Thivierge & Mary Ruud 2:15 PM Feeling / Equanimity with the Twin Cities Hub Loving / Positivity with the Northern Michigan Hub Opening / Open-mindedness with the Ann Arbor Hub Musical Interludes by Morgan Vallat 3:30 PM 60-minute Snack Break in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’ 4:30 PM Exploring the Heart Connections between Chartres Cathedral and Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival with Brian Gray 5:45 PM Biography with Janey Newton 6:15 PM 60-minute Break *DINNER in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’ 7:15-8:30 PM Thanking / Inner Harmony / Wholeness with the Chicago / Youth Section Hub
SUNDAY, October 10 – CENTRAL TIME (*For those in the Pageant- Please wear all Black, or all white – Run Through – 9 am) 11:00 AM Singing, Speech & Eurythmy with Dennis Dietzel, Katherine Thivierge & Mary Ruud 11:15 AM Experiential Pageant: ‘Building the Temple of the Heart- The Royal Art: A Social Pilgrimage of the Soul’ by Hazel Archer featuring the 6 HUBS, Friends and Hosts, Dennis Dietzel, Mary Ruud, Katherine Thivierge & YOU 12:15 PM (Timing Subject to change) LUNCH in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’ 1:00-2:00 PM Conversation and Conference Closing
I watch the shadows lengthen. The angle of the sun, like the lance of Michael, a sunlit spear piercing awake my sleepy summer eyes, banishing the Sulphur, activating the iron in my blood. Am I ready to do battle with the dragon within?
If spiritual science is allowed to live in us & extend its transforming influence to our heart-space, what enters us as thoughts, is then changed, into the substance of light, into the purest light of thought. And in the living enthusiasm of the heart, this light of thought then rays out from our hearts into the macrocosm, as light of the redeemed intelligence of Michael; as enlivened human thought, which can be re-united with the world-thoughts of the gods.
Heart-Thinking is the essence of Michaelmas, as the festival of Enlightenment; where we can learn to experience an unfolding of our inner initiative & a free, strong, courageous will, that helps us fend off our lazy tendencies .
It is our job to strive to complete the never ending story, with the new Michaelic mysteries put forth by Rudolf Steiner, a true emissary of of this Sun Being, teaching us to count the human being as the 10th hierarchy. And so, work we must, as we stand once more on the edge of autumn.
See you there…
~hag
Squeak Carnwath
9 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Moving eastward across the sky, Bella Luna – 3 days past new, passes north of Venus. Both will have set by that time, but shortly after sunset they’re nearly as close, hanging together in eastern Virgo. ~astronomy.com
1901 – Deathday of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter & illustrator
1907 – Rudolf Steiner writes the ‘Barr Documents’ while staying with Edouard Schure – These lectures were given on the fringe of the International Theosophical Congress held in Paris and attended by delegates from many countries. Rudolf Steiner himself attached a distinct importance to this course in Paris where he formulated a basic view of Esoteric Christianity which a few years later was to separate him radically from the Theosophical Society. In the 37th chapter of Rudolf Steiner, The Story of My Life [Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., London and New York, 1928.] (written in 1924–25 shortly before his death) we find the following passage:
In the Paris cycle of lectures I brought forward a perception which had required a long process of “ripening” in my mind. After I had explained how the members of the human being — physical body; etheric body, as mediator of the phenomena of life; and the “bearer of the ego” — are in general related to one another, I imparted the fact that the etheric body of a man is female, and the etheric body of a woman is male. Through this a light was cast within the Anthroposophical Society upon one of the basic questions of existence which just at that time had been much discussed.
But the question was carried into the depths of the being of man. In his physical body man is bound up with the cosmos quite otherwise than in his etheric body. Through his physical body man stands within the forces of the earth; through his etheric body within the forces of the outer cosmos. The male and female elements were carried into connection with the mysteries of the cosmos.
This knowledge was something belonging to the most profoundly moving inner experiences of my soul; for I felt ever anew how one must approach a spiritual perception by patient waiting and how, when one has experienced the “ripeness of consciousness,” one must lay hold by means of ideas in order to place the perception within the sphere of human knowledge.
It is perhaps not without significance that it was in Paris, where Thomas Aquinas had elaborated some seven centuries earlier his Christ-oriented Scholasticism, that Rudolf Steiner gave his first course on an Esoteric Christian Cosmology appropriate to the dawn of the new Age of Light. Schuré’s notes in French of the 18 lectures, published in French in 1928, constitute the only record of this course. They now appear for the first time in English translation in their entirety in book form, readily available to the modern student of the Science of the Spirit. ~R. M. Querido
An Esoteric Cosmology – Schmidt Number: S-1321 – THE BIRTH OF THE INTELLECT AND THE MISSION OF CHRISTIANITY. “It is only of recent times that the truths of occultism have been the subject of public lectures. Formerly, these truths were only revealed in secret societies, to those who had passed through certain degrees of initiation and had sworn to obey the laws of the Order through the whole of their life. Today, man is entering upon a very critical period. Occult truths are beginning to be disclosed to the public. In a matter of twenty years or so, a certain number of them will already be common knowledge. Why is this? The reason is that humanity is entering upon a new phase which it is the object of this lecture to explain..” ~Rudolf Steiner
1945 – Plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki – the 2nd act of genocide ordered for testing purposes by President Harry Truman
1954 – The 6.7 M earthquake shakes northern Algeria. At least 6,243 people were killed
1965 – Hurricane Betsy makes its second landfall near New Orleans, leaving 76 dead 12 billion dollars in damages
1974 – Richard Nixon resigned as President following the Watergate scandal
1976 – Death day of Mao Zadong
We have some limited space for vendors during the ‘Building of the Temple’ conference in Chicago, which in-person attendees will be able to peruse during break- and meal-times. If you have things for sale that would be enjoyed by conference attendees: books, self-care items, beautiful adornments, gifts to bring home to children, beeswax candles, chimes or other musical instruments– the sort of things we would all enjoy with our senses in the space, and which we might want to purchase, please do fill out the attached form.
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
$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 (AGM starts promptly at 6:3opm CT) 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!
Dear Friends, We are excited that our Rudolf Steiner Branch here in Chicago will be serving as a hosting hub for the upcoming Anthroposophical Society in America hybrid General Meeting and Conference ‘Building the Temple of the Heart’ October 7th-10th.
Preparations are underway here on Lincoln Avenue for a lovely group of in-person attendees to arrive, to share fellowship and scholarship and experiences offered both online and in person here together.
We have some limited space for vendors during the conference, which in-person attendees will be able to peruse during break- and meal-times. If you have things for sale that would be enjoyed by conference attendees: books, self-care items, beautiful adornments, gifts to bring home to children, beeswax candles, chimes or other musical instruments– the sort of things we would all enjoy with our senses in the space, and which we might want to purchase, please do fill out the attached form.
The convention hours are as follows: Thursday Oct. 7th Dinner at 5 pm, AGM starts at 6:30pm-8pm, Friday Oct. 8th – Class Lesson in the upper room at 9:30 am, Lunch at noon, conference 1-7:15pm, Saturday Oct. 9th – Pageant Rehearsal at 9am conference 11am-8:30pm, Sunday Oct. 10th – Pageant Rehearsal at 9am Conference 11-2pm.
You would be welcome to open your sales 30 minutes ahead of the start times, and to linger 30-40 minutes after hours for sales if it seems helpful. There will be snack and meal breaks during the sessions when people may like to browse as well.
Very cordially; The RSBranch conference planning committee; Elizabeth Kelly eilisaineariadne@gmail.com vendor coordinator
Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo
According to the original Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner, TODAY is the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Mary’s birth has ‘officially’ been celebrated since the 6th century. A September birth, with the Sun in the constellation Virgo. Also noteworthy-the Eastern Orthodox Church begins its Church year in September, with the feast of the Immaculate Conception nine months earlier on 8 December.
The apocryphal book of James gives us this account: Anna & Joachim are infertile but pray for a child. They receive the promise of a child that will advance God’s evolutionary plan for the world.
St. Augustine connects Mary’s birth with the work of The Christ. He tells the earth to rejoice & shine forth in the light of her birth. “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.”
“Today the barren Anna claps her hands for joy, the earth radiates with light, kings sing their happiness, priests enjoy every blessing, the entire universe rejoices, for she who is queen and the Father’s immaculate bride buds forth from the stem of Jesse”
The Virtue for the month of September: Courtesy becomes Steadiness of Feeling.
This virtue of Equanimity or steadiness of Feeling has never been my strong suit. And today it dawned on me that perhaps it’s partly because I have always looked on ‘courtesy’ as a false societal mask, a convention that my: ‘Say it like it is’ attitude didn’t allow me to fully appreciate; especially since my dear mother, always very courteous, was often martyred. I thought I had to be tough so I wouldn’t be walked on like she was. But recently I was called ‘unkind’ & that hurt. It woke me up to my impatience, & showed me how tolerance is a form of courtesy. It showed me that to be truly kind, truly courteous, I had to practice a real ‘steadfastness of feeling’ – It shouldn’t come from a rule outside me, an unconscious convention, a patent please & thank you – but from a kind, patient, heart – centered in equanimity, bringing a calm sobriety & the resolve to cultivate & harvest right relationship.
Erdal Bölükbaşı
So thank you September; for the time has come when the contemplative Virgin of the heavens approaches, sparking wholeness, to gather us up in her blue mantle, like ears of corn, we are brought home from the fields of Summer.
The constellation of the Virgin has always been regarded in the ancient mysteries as the bearer of the bread of life -Full filled at the ‘Tuning Point of Time’ in the ‘miracle of the loaves & the fishes’, as well as the ‘Last Supper’.
If cosmic provisions are to become nourishment for the “I”, we must make a connection with the powers of the depths, which lie opposite the Virgin along the axis of the Zodiac, in the constellation of Pisces, the sign of the Fishes. With this balance of Above & Below we can truly feed the “I” – & say as St. John did: “I am the Bread of Life”!
This begs the question, which our current culture has to answer: How can the food of life, which is so often taken in unconsciously, in greedy gulps -instead be taken up & internalized with a wakeful & reverent consciousness?
If the Bread of Life is to be fully digested by the “I”, then what is required is the destruction of our selfish desires, making us ‘virgin’ again, that we may give birth to the ‘Christ in me’, to preserve & focus the activity of the will, freeing the “I” from outdated husks, to feed the Christ self.
In the social realm, the royal virtue of courtesy brings the giddiness of summer’s unconscious expansion back into a steadfast feeling of thoughtful care. A soul hygiene that brings the pendulum into right relationship, just as every out-breath is followed by an in-breath –The austerity of the Virgin leading us into the balanced scales of Libra in preparation for Michaelmas.
This must be developed in the practice of our social life. If we practice this high ideal of courtesy, not just a surface, conventional politeness, we can acquire the right heart-felt feeling, which awakens an inner organ that can reveal to us the true being of the other person, as well as opening our connection to the elemental beings, that look to us to release them from the withering blooms.
“If the sheath-bearing Virgin, who draws near with golden rays of autumn sun, in the blue firmament, is to nourish you with what she provides, you must take up this food that is the Bread of Life in your innermost being.
That you can only do, when you develop not only your senses, but with them, open up the spirit of your soul to the world around you, & deepen in your heart the fruits of your life, that you gather, shape & organize. Only the right heartfelt tact gives you the possibility of recognizing the human being in others & of becoming aware of your own human nobility!” ~Rudolf Steiner
Happy B-day BVM. Please work with my karmic angels, & that seed of wise-love that I must continue to cultivate, to awaken the virtuous tasks at hand, living into the potential of human nobility… ~hag
8 September 2021 – “Speaking with the stars”: Early in twilight use the low, thin Moon to guide you down toward Mercury ~skyandtelescope
1504 – Michelangelo’s David is unveiled in Piazza della Signoria in Florence
1565 – The Knights of Malta lift the Ottoman siege of Malta, the climax of an escalating contest between a Christian alliance & the Islamic Ottoman Empire for control of the Mediterranean
1637 – Deathday of Robert Fludd, a prominent English Paracelsian physician & occultist, an astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist & Rosicrucian apologist.
1900 – Galveston hurricane: A powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people
1941 – World War II: Siege of Leningrad begins
1949 – Deathday of Richard Strauss, German composer
1978 – Black Friday, a massacre by soldiers against protesters in Tehran, provoked 700-3000 deaths, it marks the beginning of the end of the monarchy in Iran
1988 – Deathday of Dr Rita Leroi a few days before her 75th birthday. She attended the Stuttgart Waldorf School as a child. She went on to became a Clinical Assistant at the Ita Wegman Clinic in Arlesheim. She developed a deep interest in cancer & the Iscador treatment of this disease. In 1954 she married Dr Alexandre Leroi who was the leader of the Society for Cancer Research & Director of the Hiscia Research Institute in Arlesheim. It is here that Iscador is produced & researches into the many problems to be solved in developing it into an effective remedy are undertaken. In October 1963 the Lukas Klinik, devoted to the care & treatment of cancer patients, opened in Arlesheim & Rita Leroi became its Director & selected to be President of the International Anthroposophical Medical Association
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
$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 (AGM starts promptly at 6:3opm CT) 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!
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