Category Archives: Chicago Event

Bildungsroman

Kumi Muttu

Dear friends – I have been swimming in the old moon phase as of late, in my work with Lecture 4 & 5 of Steiner’s ‘Inner Realities of Evolution’ – exploring how suffering & pain as manifestations of the soul came into our human nature with our astral body, & how this is bound up with cosmic evolution, after having first been experienced by Spiritual beings in the hierarchy of the Thrones – the Spirits of Will.

C. V. Bodenhausen

Living into what Goethe styles: “Only one who knows longing knows what I suffer” – I have been listening to this song given voice by many composers:  Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt from a poem that appears in Book 4 of Goethe’s novel Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship – A kind of every-man’s hero’s journey of self-realization. The story, which can be referred to as ‘a Bildungsroman’ or initiation story; centers on Wilhelm’s attempt to escape the empty life of a bourgeois businessman. After a failed romance with the theater, Wilhelm commits himself to the mysterious ‘Tower Society’.

Steiner brings in the light: The citizens of earth who feel this mood of longing — the very very best for us to feel – are those who enter our own movement of Spiritual Science…That which rises from sub-consciousness must in the sense of today be brought into touch with the study of the universal existence living in the world… In this sense anthroposophy is a response to those longings which dwell in the depths of the soul. As everything that happens in the world has had a prelude, we need not wonder at a person who today longs through spiritual science for satisfaction in the powers of their soul, above all, when the unconscious soul-forces akin to longings, would consume themselves as longing.”

Georgiana Houghton 

As was laid out in my earlier essay Homesick, thru the activity of the Dynamis – the Spirits of Movement, with their gift of picture consciousness, the otherwise empty inner self that suffers from longing, can be filled with a healing balm.  

The Spirits of Movement also bring those beings whose sacrifice was rejected into a circuit moving around the higher beings – We see this outpictured in the image of the planets revolving around the Sun.

In lecture 5 Steiner gives this picture: “If the whole substance of a planet could flow into the Sun and it not be rejected, the Beings of that planet would find different conditions of existence within the Sun from those they meet with in the planet outside, since the Sun throws them back: an estrangement takes place, it is an alienated from its origin.

If you can picture the feelings of such Beings, you will have an idea of what may be called: “The exclusion of a certain portion of Cosmic Beings from their essential meaning, their great cosmic purpose. The consequence of this is that the “displacement” — if we may once more speak symbolically — of the rejected incense, of the rejected sacrificial substance, excludes it from the course of the rest of cosmic processes.

If you grasp these thoughts with your feeling — not with your reason, you will perceive that this represents something like a rending away from the universal cosmic order. To the Cherubim who renounced the sacrifice it is only something they put away from them; to the Spirits of Will that were rejected, it is something that bears the imprint of alienation from one’s own origins.

If we can present these things to our soul through inner feelings, in this idea of alienation from source dwells in what we call – death!

Death is none other than that which necessarily enters the universe with the rejection of the sacrificial substance of those Beings who then had to retain it within themselves. Thus we advance from the resignation, the renunciation of what has been rejected by the higher Beings — which we encounter at the third stage of evolution — as Death.

And the true meaning of death is nothing other than the state of not being in ones’ true place – of exclusion from one’s true place”

Hugo Simberg

To reveal the qualities of the ‘true spiritual reality’ behind the Earth embodiment, we see that thru death we meet the element we call earth. Steiner identifies the earlier stages as the willingness to sacrifice, on old Saturn, expressing itself as warmth; the virtue of bestowing, on old Sun, bringing us the outward appearance of air; & resignation or renunciation, on old moon, which is the nature of water – And we must remember dear seekers, that we can only find these spiritual qualities if we look into our own souls.

If death is the Spirit behind earth & Christ has conquered death thru his human incarnation & deed on Golgotha, we are now free thru our love filled willing to reclaim our true place – by becoming the 10th hierarchy – as we co-create the planet of Redemption.  

Ever thinking with you & the angels

~hag

30 November 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Mars is closest to Earth tonight, at 8 pm CST.

First-quarter Moon (exact at 8:37 am CST). The Moon is in the dim water bucket that stick-figure Aquarius spills as he runs. Upper left of the Moon shines bright Jupiter. They tilt at an increasing angle as the evening progresses and the sky turns.

Arnold Bocklin

 Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

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

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

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

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

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

Presented by Adriana Koulias*

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

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

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

Online & in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago

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

Please type ‘Adriana’ on the line of your payment that says: Purpose

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sticks & Stones

As we continue to live & move & have our being during this St. John’s-Tide, here in the Heartland we have been experiencing great thunder storms to rival & wash away the spent fire-crackers in the streets, & another mass shooting, this time in Highland Park IL. a wealthy N.W. suburb of Chicago.

The storms sweep across my soul as well, highlighting my personal weather systems – The lightning flashing in to reveal the crack in the godhead made by human hands – Calling for a metanoia that often comes into my life thru karmic relationships. I am reminded of what Christ said to those gathered in judgement, “Let them who are without sin amongst you cast the first stone.”

How many stones have we all witnessed flying around, especially these last few years? If we don’t seek the source of these flying missiles, the force behind the antipathy, the fear that becomes scorn, the hate that becomes revenge – Then the cry of John the Be-headed goes unheard: “Change your mind, change your ways.”

Our thinking needs to be ripened anew, so that we might find a true understanding of one another & of the events happening thru us in the world. We are all stone throwers, except when the Christ is in us. Spiritual Science arouses the need to cultivate this impulse of compassion & courage for the truth, in an honest endeavor to get to the heart of things.

And yet many folks find it difficult to look into the shadows to uncover what is driving the situation. Even when the darkness bursts out into plain sight, it is often mislabeled, mis-directed, re-shrouded – becoming grist for the ever active stone pile.   

Anthroposophy asks us to seek out what is lurking in the shadows of our dead thinking. Steiner speaks about the mission of evil & the forces at work against human evolution. How can we start that work within ourselves, softening the stone within our own heart, so that it can be transformed from a weapon – into a force for love…

The good news is the stones don’t let us fall asleep; they help keep us ever striving…

~hag

6 July 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: First Quarter Moon occurs at 9:14 pm CDT

Sunrise: 5:38 A.M.
Sunset: 8:32 P.M.
Moonrise: 12:49 P.M.
Moonset: 12:29 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (46%)

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

International Kissing Day - US

International Kissing Day

Feast Day of the 1st Prophet – Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord shall give you by itself a sign; Behold, a virgin shall be with child and will bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel”

Feast Day of Saint Romulus of Fiesole. Like the Romulus of ancient Roman legend, the story goes he was also abandoned, suckled by a wolf, & captured, raised & baptized by Saint Peter

1369 – 1415 – Birthday & Deathday of Jan Hus, considered the first Church reformer, since he lived before Luther, Calvin & Zwingli. Hus was a key predecessor to Protestantism. He was burned at the stake for heresy on this day.

1535 – Sir Thomas More is executed for treason against King Henry VIII of England

1887 – Birthday of Marc Chagall, Belarusian-French painter & poet

1892 – 3,800 striking steelworkers engage in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving ten dead & dozens wounded

1907 – Birthday of Frida Kahlo

1917 – Arabian troops led by Lawrence of Arabia capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt

1935 – Birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama

1944 – Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court-martial

1947 – The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union.

1957 – John Lennon & Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles

1962 – Deathday of William Faulkner, Nobel Prize laureate

1962 – As a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test takes place

1971 – Deathday of Louis Armstrong

1988 – The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions & fires. 167 oil workers are killed

The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
           The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
July 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)

“We may describe the astral body as an egotist. This means that every path of development that aims to liberate the astral body must recognize the interests of humanity by expanding and becoming progressively wider in scope. Indeed…it must become interested in the whole earth and all humanity.”~ from Chapter 17

Focus of the July 6 meeting: Rudolf Steiner,The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 16 “The Word in Chains,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Dornach on 11 March 1923 (GA 222, lecture I)
AND
Chapter 17 “Balancing the Soul,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at The Hague on 26 March 1913 (GA 145, lecture VII).A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 16 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link.A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 17 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

If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com 

Agenda for this meeting (Central Time)
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Stefano – chapter 16
          Camille – chapter 17
7:50  Conversation
8:25  ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
Regelio de Egusquiza

Deepening the Grail: Our Parzival Quest and Question

Workshop & Annual Meeting with The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Saturday 16 July 2022
In-person at the Rudolf Steiner House in
Ann Arbor & on Zoom

Join anytime between 2 pm ET – 5 pm

& then for the AGm from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

NO COST for attendees 

The Parzival Quest, is calling to humanity at this time of the Consciousness Soul. Explore aspects of this Quest through art, and movement, via embodiment processes and sensing gestures in the tangible and intangible sheaths of being human. Inspired by devout anthroposophist, artist Michael Chekhov, and guided by CRC member, Chekhov master teacher Lisa Dalton.

Then stay for supper and for the Central Region’s ‘Annual Meeting’—we haven’t had one since 2019, so it’s about time to fill you in on what’s happening!

Alberto Loya is stepping down from the CRC. He’s been with the Council since 2009—thank you for your many contributions, Alberto! We look forward to sharing memories and tributes during the meeting.

And Mary Mertz who has been working with the CRC for the last year will be offically inducted onto the Council.

2:00 pm ET– Welcome, singing, Chekhov movement, biography work
3:30 – 3:45 pm ET– Break
3:45 – 5:00 pm ET – Our Parzival Quest and Question
5:00 pm ET – Be our guest for dinner
6:30 – 7:30 pm ET – AGM – We will be bidding farewell to Alberto Loya & welcoming Mary Mertz, as well as giving reports on 2020 and 2021.
 
The CRC: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton, Alberto Loya,
working with Mary Mertz 

 Please RSVP  to Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com

If you can’t attend the workshop, we hope you can join in the
Annual Meeting.

Let us know whether you’ll be attending in person or via Zoom.
  
To inquire about accommodations at the Rudolf Steiner House,
contact Cynthia Chelius cynthia@anthroposophy.org

Zoom meeting info (please note — passcode required)
Jul 16, 2022

The zoom can be accessed from 2 pm. You are welcome to attend all or part of the workshop. The main event will be the Parzival Quest from 3:45 pm – 5 pm Eastern Time & the AGM 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86449905249
Meeting ID: 864 4990 5249
Passcode: 923117

Renewing the Mysteries:The Founding of The Christian Community
& the Burning of the First Goetheanum

Spring Valley, NY – August 8-13, 2022
REGISTER NOW!* lectures * artistic workshops * conversation * evening performances
I will be offering a program on Tuesday 9 August for the Free Initiative 2:30 -3:30 pm ET
Many anthroposophists have understood the 1923/24 Christmas Foundation Conference as constituting a renewal of the Mysteries. Nine months after the Christmas Conference, speaking to the priests of the Christian Community, Rudolf Steiner pointed to a sequence from the founding of the Christian Community in September 1922 to the burning of the Goetheanum at the end of that year to the Christmas Conference.In this 100th anniversary year of both the founding of the Christian Community and the burning of the Goetheanum, can an exploration of these events help us to understand the nature of the New Mysteries?

The keynote speaker is Daniel Hafner, priest of the Christian Community. He will address this theme with a particular focus on the colored windows of the First Goetheanum.

The Act of Consecration of Man will be celebrated during the week and there will also be a Class Lesson for members of the School of Spiritual Science.

Venue: SPRING VALLEY, NY, Threefold Community, and The Christian Community

*REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND THIS EVENT: A conference on the scale currently planned requires that a minimum number of participants register by July 20th.

INFO OR QUERIES: Rev. Paul Newton paulknewton@msn.com
(845) 517-4101

Sponsored by The Christian Community Spring Valley Area and the Threefold Branch of the Anthroposophical Society

Let Freedom Ring!

Today in Chicago we have our primary elections. Thruout the last few weeks our mail has been littered with pamphlets with various vacuous slogans. Many a day we have had candidates or their workers come to our door. My husband & I are always happy to engage. We like to do the talking – ask questions like where do you stand in regards to: Gun control – We ask about environmental issues – & Religious Freedom. When we bring up the idea of Medical Freedom we often get a blank stare, or a look of horror – we tried to put it into context with reproductive rights – Body autonomy – which includes a woman’s right to the care she desires out of her own choice.

It was to be expected that most had an opinion about reproductive rights & everyone says they want to stop gun violence, but I was surprised how many had no clue what I was talking about around the Medical Freedom & body autonomy issue that is facing us all. It was a foreign concept. Many were taken aback, appalled, & spoke about the need for a world-wide medical mandate for everyone, even the children.

I have been taking time to research the candidates, which isn’t easy to do. Most of their websites don’t tell you anything about what they stand for. And this year it has been particularly hard to find voting records. Why is that?

I’m not the type of Anthroposopher who likes to dictate about the political realm; these things are a person’s personal choice. I do think it’s important to vote. Even though I know the system is rigged, I  still feel it is my duty as an American to get out there, & to be as informed as possible about who is controlling our political narrative.   

Let Freedom Ring!

~hag

Here are a few resources that I found: https://ballotpedia.org/Sample_Ballot_Lookup Whatever State you live in, you can find a bit of info. here.

Those in Ill. Interested in Medical Freedom can find resources here.

Maria Arango

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

28 June 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: New Moon

The Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Latin: Sollemnitas Sacratissimi Cordis Iesu) is a solemnity in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. In the Catholic Church, the month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This great feast in the Church is always celebrated on the octave day of Corpus Christi, the feast which celebrates the Body & Blood of Christ. Corpus Christi falls on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday (which itself falls on the Sunday after Pentecost), which means the feast of the Sacred Heart falls nineteen days after Pentecost SundayThe following day is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so these two devotions to the hearts of Jesus and Mary are side-by-side on the liturgical calendar.

Feast of Saint Vitus, a Christian saint from Sicily. He died as a martyr during the persecution of Christians by co-ruling Roman Emperors Diocletian & Maximian in 303. Vitus is counted as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers of medieval Roman Catholicism. Saint Vitus’ Day is celebrated on 28 June on the Gregorian Calendar.

In the late Middle Ages, people in Germany & countries such as Latvia celebrated the feast of Vitus by dancing before his statue. This dancing became popular & the name “Saint Vitus Dance” was given to the neurological disorder Sydenham’s chorea. It also led to Vitus being considered the patron saint of dancers & of actors, comedians, dancers, of entertainers in general a& epileptics. He is also said to protect against lightning strikes, animal attacks & oversleeping.

Jean Jacques Rousseau ~Allan Ramsay

1712 – Birthday of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher & polymath

1831 – Birthday of Joseph Joachim, Austrian violinist, composer, & conductor; friend of Herman Grimm.

1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria & his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo; this is the casus belli of World War I.

1919 – The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending the state of war between Germany & the Allies of World War I.

1950 – Korean War: Suspected sympathizers are executed in the Bodo League massacre.

1950 – Korean War: Packed with its own refugees fleeing Seoul & leaving their 5th Division stranded, South Korean forces blow up the Hangang Bridge in an attempt to slow North Korea’s offensive. The city falls later that day.

1950 –North Korean Army conducts the Seoul National University Hospital massacre. Over 900 doctors, nurses, patients & wounded soldiers, were killed. The Korean People’s Army shot or buried the people alive. The civilian victims alone numbered 1900.

1964 – Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

1969 – Stonewall riots begin in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement.

1973 – Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which will lead to power-sharing between unionists & nationalists in Northern Ireland for the first time.

The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
           The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
July 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)

“We may describe the astral body as an egotist. This means that every path of development that aims to liberate the astral body must recognize the interests of humanity by expanding and becoming progressively wider in scope. Indeed…it must become interested in the whole earth and all humanity.”~ from Chapter 17

Focus of the July 6 meeting: Rudolf Steiner,The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 16 “The Word in Chains,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Dornach on 11 March 1923 (GA 222, lecture I)
AND
Chapter 17 “Balancing the Soul,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at The Hague on 26 March 1913 (GA 145, lecture VII).A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 16 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link.A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 17 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

If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com 

Agenda for this meeting (Central Time)
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Stefano – chapter 16
          Camille – chapter 17
7:50  Conversation
8:25  ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
Regelio de Egusquiza

Deepening the Grail: Our Parzival Quest and Question

Workshop & Annual Meeting with The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Saturday 16 July 2022
In-person at the Rudolf Steiner House in
Ann Arbor & on Zoom

Join anytime between 2 pm ET – 5 pm

& then for the AGm from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

NO COST for attendees 

The Parzival Quest, is calling to humanity at this time of the Consciousness Soul. Explore aspects of this Quest through art, and movement, via embodiment processes and sensing gestures in the tangible and intangible sheaths of being human. Inspired by devout anthroposophist, artist Michael Chekhov, and guided by CRC member, Chekhov master teacher Lisa Dalton.

Then stay for supper and for the Central Region’s ‘Annual Meeting’—we haven’t had one since 2019, so it’s about time to fill you in on what’s happening!

Alberto Loya is stepping down from the CRC. He’s been with the Council since 2009—thank you for your many contributions, Alberto! We look forward to sharing memories and tributes during the meeting.

And Mary Mertz who has been working with the CRC for the last year will be offically inducted onto the Council.

2:00 pm ET– Welcome, singing, Chekhov movement, biography work
3:30 – 3:45 pm ET– Break
3:45 – 5:00 pm ET – Our Parzival Quest and Question
5:00 pm ET – Be our guest for dinner
6:30 – 7:30 pm ET – AGM – We will be bidding farewell to Alberto Loya & welcoming Mary Mertz, as well as giving reports on 2020 and 2021.
 
The CRC: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton, Alberto Loya,
working with Mary Mertz 

 Please RSVP  to Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com

If you can’t attend the workshop, we hope you can join in the
Annual Meeting.

Let us know whether you’ll be attending in person or via Zoom.
  
To inquire about accommodations at the Rudolf Steiner House,
contact Cynthia Chelius cynthia@anthroposophy.org

Zoom meeting info (please note — passcode required)
Jul 16, 2022

The zoom can be accessed from 2 pm. You are welcome to attend all or part of the workshop. The main event will be the Parzival Quest from 3:45 pm – 5 pm Eastern Time & the AGM 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86449905249
Meeting ID: 864 4990 5249
Passcode: 923117

Renewing the Mysteries:The Founding of The Christian Community
& the Burning of the First Goetheanum

Spring Valley, NY – August 8-13, 2022
REGISTER NOW!* lectures * artistic workshops * conversation * evening performances
I will be offering a program on Tuesday 9 August for the Free Initiative 2:30 -3:30 pm ET
Many anthroposophists have understood the 1923/24 Christmas Foundation Conference as constituting a renewal of the Mysteries. Nine months after the Christmas Conference, speaking to the priests of the Christian Community, Rudolf Steiner pointed to a sequence from the founding of the Christian Community in September 1922 to the burning of the Goetheanum at the end of that year to the Christmas Conference.In this 100th anniversary year of both the founding of the Christian Community and the burning of the Goetheanum, can an exploration of these events help us to understand the nature of the New Mysteries?

The keynote speaker is Daniel Hafner, priest of the Christian Community. He will address this theme with a particular focus on the colored windows of the First Goetheanum.

The Act of Consecration of Man will be celebrated during the week and there will also be a Class Lesson for members of the School of Spiritual Science.

Venue: SPRING VALLEY, NY, Threefold Community, and The Christian Community

*REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND THIS EVENT: A conference on the scale currently planned requires that a minimum number of participants register by July 20th.

INFO OR QUERIES: Rev. Paul Newton paulknewton@msn.com
(845) 517-4101

Sponsored by The Christian Community Spring Valley Area and the Threefold Branch of the Anthroposophical Society

‘His Name is John’

Nativity of Saint John the Baptist,
Zechariah writing, “His name is John”.
Pontormo, on a desco da parto, c. 1526.

The Festival of St. John’s Tide starts on the fixed date of June 24, the birthday of John the Baptizer

The name John is really a title, it represents a certain level of initiatation – the best of humanity, devoted to what is beyond the little self, alive to the revelation of the spirit. At the center of history, the summons of JB was to turn inward, & confront the lower self. St. John’s Day is a perfect time to re-assess & re-balance ourselves in this metanoia.

~hag

In the prologue of the Gospel of St. John the Evangelist right after we hear the ‘Word’ in the beginning, John, the 1st Adam is proclaimed. This Gospel emphasizes the divine spark in humanity, & connects us to its supreme form as the Logos Himself. The ‘disciple whom Jesus Loved’ received the forces of the beheaded John the Baptist, at the rising of Lazarus, earning him the title John as well.

The Last Old Covenant Prophet: John the Baptist and Forerunner of Our Lord  and Saviour Jesus Christ | Baptism of christ, John the baptist, Orthodox  icons

Just as the Son of God who was buried in matter is born again in Jesus of Nazareth – So it is for every individual human being – there is a mighty experience, which may be called the birth of the higher self – The divine Ego is born of the striving human being. Awakening to Initiation is possible, & when it is taken up, life as we know it, opens to new dimensions.

When the human principle in Jesus of Nazareth had reached its highest development, & his body had become an expression of the spirit within him, he was ripe to receive the Christ in the Baptism by John. His body had unfolded its full power, like the radiant Sun at Midsummer.

ABSTRACT SUNSHINE OF HAPPINESS textural impasto palette knife oil painting  detail Ana Maria Edulescu Painting by Ana Maria Edulescu
Ana Maria Edulescu

This had been prophesied. The spirit was to be born out of the darkness, like the Sun which increases in power towards solstice, waxing strong until St. John’s day, & then begins to move inward.

JB was able to behold the approach of Jesus of Nazareth, as the increase of the Sun, & say ‘I must decrease, as the Sun decreases after midsummer day.’ But The Christ as the spiritual Sun will increase, & ‘his Light will shine forth from out of the darkness.’

Duccio — Google Arts & Culture
Duccio

It was the Baptist’s mission to proclaim this: ‘He who was announced by the prophets of old, the Son of the spiritual realms, born of the spirit, behold, He hath appeared.’

John the Baptist is ever active since this turning point of time. He has lived many a life of renunciation, then, he came to prepare the way, thru baptism. And when we ‘make straight the path’, the inner spirit-light can shine forth ever more brightly, reflecting the Christ light.

This is how the universal Ego of humanity is reborn in freedom, & the condition fulfilled for the rebirth of the individual higher self in every human being.

This is the most vital event in the evolution of each individual human: the rebirth of the immortal being which can issue forth from the ordinary Ego. This is inseparable from the greatest of all events, the deed of Christ on Golgotha ‘As the meaning of the Earth‘.

Gustave Moreau

Dear friends, Be awakened! There are forces trying to distract us from this truth – working to prevent us from becoming divinely human. May we be alert to the signs, & vigilant in our striving to practice Spiritual Science.

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Orthodox icon of St John the Baptist GOLD LEAVES 22k | Etsy

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

24 June 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: A power packed Planetary line-up for this Feast Day of John the Baptizer

Sunrise: 5:32 A.M. – Moonrise: 2:35 A.M. – Moon Phase: Waning crescent (19%)

collage by ~hag

Feast Day of John the Baptist. Rudolf Steiner revealed his other lives as Elijah, Raphael, Novalis in GA 120 & in the Mystery Dramas. Steiner also gave indications that he was the 1st Adam, & that he is an inspirer of John the Evangelist/Christian Rosenkrantz.

Battle of Bannockburn - Wikipedia

1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn

The Mysterious Phenomenon of Dancing Plague ~ Psy Minds

1374 – A sudden outbreak of ‘St. John’s Dance’ causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations & begin to jump & twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion

The History Press | Freemasonry: The first Masonic Grand Lodge

1717 – The first Freemasonic Grand Lodge is founded in London. Benjamin Franklin was a member.

6 Reasons Why Napoleon Invaded Russia

1812 –Napoleon invades Russia

Mary Pickford at the Op? | MuskokaRegion.com

1916 – Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million-dollar contract

Walther Rathenau assassination... - RareNewspapers.com

1922 – Assassination of Walther Rathenau, a German statesman who served as Foreign Minister during the Weimar Republic.

1938 – A 450 metric ton meteor hits Chicora, Pennsylvania

1976 – Deathday of Rudolf Kreutzer entrepreneur, anthropsopher

2004 – In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional

Lonesome George Was the Last Pinta Island Tortoise

2012 – Lonesome George, the last subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise, dies

20 Brief Facts about the Life and Death of St. John the Baptist [+TEST] -  The Catalog of Good Deeds
Sergey Metelitsa

St. John’s Poem:
Hot horns of light
Frame the dreaded Forerunner…
Wild Pan the Baptist
With wort & rue in his pouch
Carob & raw honey on his breath,
Anoints the mistletoe
In the oak-grove.
The God has gone into the grain
The Sun is on the water
The edge of the rioting rose
Begins to melt
Its scent is heavy on the heat
Stealing the breath
From the hot mouth of God
Her infer-red ruby steams
The magnetic stains of light
To guide the Summer-Tide Soul
Into the labyrinth
Where the Oak King crests
And gives way
To the Dark Holly Twin

~hag

Friday 24 June 2021 – St. Johns-Tide Bon-Fire & Prep-Stir Social Gathering
7 pm CT Pot-Luck Dinner at the Home of Hazel Archer & Chuck Ginsberg

Join Rev. Jeana Lee in a St. John’s contemplation by the fire

Please Bring Food & Drink to Share in Community

This is an offical ‘Merry Prepstir‘ synchronized application,
linking us to Biodynamic workers around the world,
so that ‘The Earth May Be Healed’.
We will be working with BD 500 Horn Manure & 501 silica 

RSVP for address & directions

The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
           The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
July 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)

“We may describe the astral body as an egotist. This means that every path of development that aims to liberate the astral body must recognize the interests of humanity by expanding and becoming progressively wider in scope. Indeed…it must become interested in the whole earth and all humanity.”~ from Chapter 17

Focus of the July 6 meeting: Rudolf Steiner,The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 16 “The Word in Chains,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Dornach on 11 March 1923 (GA 222, lecture I)
AND
Chapter 17 “Balancing the Soul,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at The Hague on 26 March 1913 (GA 145, lecture VII).A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 16 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link.A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 17 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

If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com 

Agenda for this meeting (Central Time)
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Stefano – chapter 16
          Camille – chapter 17
7:50  Conversation
8:25  ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
Regelio de Egusquiza

Deepening the Grail: Our Parzival Quest and Question

Workshop & Annual Meeting with The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Saturday 16 July 2022
In-person at the Rudolf Steiner House in
Ann Arbor & on Zoom

Join anytime between 2 pm ET – 5 pm

& then for the AGm from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

NO COST for attendees 

The Parzival Quest, is calling to humanity at this time of the Consciousness Soul. Explore aspects of this Quest through art, and movement, via embodiment processes and sensing gestures in the tangible and intangible sheaths of being human. Inspired by devout anthroposophist, artist Michael Chekhov, and guided by CRC member, Chekhov master teacher Lisa Dalton.

Then stay for supper and for the Central Region’s ‘Annual Meeting’—we haven’t had one since 2019, so it’s about time to fill you in on what’s happening!

Alberto Loya is stepping down from the CRC. He’s been with the Council since 2009—thank you for your many contributions, Alberto! We look forward to sharing memories and tributes during the meeting.

And Mary Mertz who has been working with the CRC for the last year will be offically inducted onto the Council.

2:00 pm ET– Welcome, singing, Chekhov movement, biography work
3:30 – 3:45 pm ET– Break
3:45 – 5:00 pm ET – Our Parzival Quest and Question
5:00 pm ET – Be our guest for dinner
6:30 – 7:30 pm ET – AGM – We will be bidding farewell to Alberto Loya & welcoming Mary Mertz, as well as giving reports on 2020 and 2021.
 
The CRC: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton, Alberto Loya,
working with Mary Mertz 

 Please RSVP  to Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com

If you can’t attend the workshop, we hope you can join in the
Annual Meeting.

Let us know whether you’ll be attending in person or via Zoom.
  
To inquire about accommodations at the Rudolf Steiner House,
contact Cynthia Chelius cynthia@anthroposophy.org

Zoom meeting info (please note — passcode required)
Jul 16, 2022

The zoom can be accessed from 2 pm. You are welcome to attend all or part of the workshop. The main event will be the Parzival Quest from 3:45 pm – 5 pm Eastern Time & the AGM 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86449905249
Meeting ID: 864 4990 5249
Passcode: 923117


Renewing the Mysteries:The Founding of The Christian Community & the Burning of the First Goetheanum
Spring Valley, NY
August 8-13, 2022

REGISTER NOW!* lectures * artistic workshops * conversation * evening performances
I will be offering a program on Tuesday 9 August for the Free Initiative 2:30 -3:30 pm ET
Many anthroposophists have understood the 1923/24 Christmas Foundation Conference as constituting a renewal of the Mysteries. Nine months after the Christmas Conference, speaking to the priests of the Christian Community, Rudolf Steiner pointed to a sequence from the founding of the Christian Community in September 1922 to the burning of the Goetheanum at the end of that year to the Christmas Conference.In this 100th anniversary year of both the founding of the Christian Community and the burning of the Goetheanum, can an exploration of these events help us to understand the nature of the New Mysteries?

The keynote speaker is Daniel Hafner, priest of the Christian Community. He will address this theme with a particular focus on the colored windows of the First Goetheanum.

The Act of Consecration of Man will be celebrated during the week and there will also be a Class Lesson for members of the School of Spiritual Science.

Venue: SPRING VALLEY, NY, Threefold Community
and The Christian Community
*REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND THIS EVENT: A conference on the scale currently planned requires that a minimum number of participants register by July 20th.

INFO OR QUERIES: Rev. Paul Newton paulknewton@msn.com
(845) 517-4101

Sponsored by The Christian Community Spring Valley Area and the Threefold Branch of the Anthroposophical Society

Upward Streaming

Bethel Nortel

~In my mind
I scoop up the blue virtue of sky & set it in my heart
Then my fingers fly out & circle above like a hawk
Serpents writhing in purposeful talons
Tempered by a 1000 doves
Feathering the clouds into a white fire
& I weep, for without love or loss or pain
I would never learn peace…
~hag

collage by ~hag

“The teachers in the Mysteries said: “Every year at Midsummer, a solemn offering must be made to the Upper Gods in gratitude for the thoughts they vouchsafe to humanity; for if this is not done, it is all too easy for the Luciferic powers to invade man’s thinking and he is then permeated by these powers.

He can avoid this if every Summer he is mindful of how the Upper Gods have given him these thoughts, and at the Midsummer season lets his thoughts flow back again, as it were, to the Gods.” In this way the men of olden times tried to safeguard themselves from Luciferic influences.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is summer-solstice-circle-pp.png
collage by ~hag

The leaders of the Mysteries called together their pupils and enacted that solemn rite at the culmination of which the thoughts that had been revealed by the Upper Gods were now offered up to them in upward-streaming feelings.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is smoke-music-pp.png
collage by ~hag

The external rite consisted in solemn words being spoken into rising smoke which was thus set into waves. This act was merely meant to signify that the offering made by man’s inmost soul to the Upper Gods was being inscribed into an outer medium — the rising smoke — through form-creating words.

collage by ~hag

The words of the prayer inscribed into the rising smoke the feelings which the soul desired to send upwards to the Gods as an offering for the thoughts they had revealed.” 

~Rudolf Steiner, The Spiritual Communion of Mankind 

collage by ~hag

“…Now, man must learn to know the etheric and astral elements outside himself. This he can do only through the reverent deepening of spiritual science

This is what Anthroposophy intends when it speaks of a renewal of the festivals

We must come once more to an inner understanding of what the cycle of the year can mean to humanity in this connection; it can then be something even loftier than it was for man long ago”…~Rudolf Steiner, The Cycle of the Year as Breathing-Process of the Earth

~hag

Leon Fitzgerld

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Near the Solstice, the twilight lingers well past 9 o’clock.

Tyler Hamzeler

18 June 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The Big Dipper hangs down by its handle high in the northwest. Spot the star at the end of its handle, the highest one. That’s Alkaid, the tail of Ursa Major.

Now spot the Sickle of Leo much lower and in the west. The brightest star about two fists upper left of the Sickle is Denebola, the tail of a different carnivore: Leo.

About one third of the way from Alkaid to Denebola is a fainter star: Cor Caroli (Alpha Canum Venaticorum).

And what is two thirds of the way down that line? Nothing? Look again, maybe in a darker sky. You’re looking into the big, dim Coma Berenices star cluster. The cluster’s brightest members form a sort of upside-down Y.

Ayse Domeniconi

Feast Day of Archangel Uriel

Crater creator

1178 – Five Canterbury monks see the  Giordano Bruno crater  being formed. It is believed that the current oscillations of the Moon’s distance from the Earth are a result of this collision

1812 – War of 1812 began when the U.S. declares war on Great Britain, Canada, & Ireland

1815 –The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte

Museum « Musée Wiertz Museum » – Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

1865 – Deathday of Antonie Wierz – Belgian romantic painter & sculptor

Ingrid Foster Author on Twitter: "Women, vote today and make an old woman  proud - Thank you, Susan B Anthony , Elizabeth Cady Stanton and all the  Suffragettes for marching, protesting, and

1873 – Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote

The Surprising Empress | ChinaFile

1900 – Empress Dowager Cixi of China orders all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats & their families

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia - Wikipedia

1901 – Birthday of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov of Russia

1916 – Death day of Helmuth von Moltke, said by Steiner to have been Pope Nicholas I.

RS art 9, 21, 24

1924 – Rudolf Steiner travels to Koberwitz & Lauenstein to give the curative pedagogy lectures

18 | June | 2018 | Reverse Ritual

1929 – Deathday of Michael Bauer – German teacher, author , lecturer, president after Carl Unger of the Anthroposophical Society

Appeal of June 18, 1940 - Consulat Général de France à Boston

1940 – Appeal of 18 June by Charles de Gaulle

Enemy of Marijuana – Richard Nixon | Loopy Lettuce

1971 – President Richard Nixon declares that illegal drugs are “public enemy number one”, which becomes popularized as the “War on Drugs“.

OurPresidents on Twitter: "President Jimmy Carter and General Secretary Leonid  Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty between the  U.S. and the U.S.S.R. #OTD, June 18, 1979. @CarterLibrary:  https://t.co/g7435qZr7c ?:

1979 – In Vienna, President Jimmy Carter & Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT)

1983 –Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space

Friday 24 June 2021 – St. Johns-Tide Bon-Fire & Prep-Stir Social Gathering
7 pm CT Pot-Luck Dinner at the Home of Hazel Archer & Chuck Ginsberg

Join Rev. Jeana Lee in a St. John’s contemplation by the fire

Please Bring Food & Drink to Share in Community

This is an offical ‘Merry Prepstir‘ synchronized application,
linking us to Biodynamic workers around the world,
so that ‘The Earth May Be Healed’.
We will be working with BD 500 Horn Manure & 501 silica 

RSVP for address & directions

The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
           The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
July 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)

“We may describe the astral body as an egotist. This means that every path of development that aims to liberate the astral body must recognize the interests of humanity by expanding and becoming progressively wider in scope. Indeed…it must become interested in the whole earth and all humanity.”~ from Chapter 17

Focus of the July 6 meeting: Rudolf Steiner,The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 16 “The Word in Chains,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Dornach on 11 March 1923 (GA 222, lecture I)
AND
Chapter 17 “Balancing the Soul,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at The Hague on 26 March 1913 (GA 145, lecture VII).A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 16 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link.A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 17 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

If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com 

Agenda for this meeting (Central Time)
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Stefano – chapter 16
          Camille – chapter 17
7:50  Conversation
8:25  ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
Regelio de Egusquiza

Deepening the Grail: Our Parzival Quest and Question

A day long Workshop & AGM with The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Saturday 16 July 2022 – In-person at the Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor & on Zoom

2 pm – Welcome, Singing, Chekhov movement, Biography work

3:30 – 3:45 pm – Break

3:45 – 5 pm – Our Parzival Quest and Question

5 pm – Be our guest for Dinner

6:30 – 7:30 pm – AGM – We will be bidding farewell to longtime member Alberto Loya & welcoming Mary Mertz onto the Council

The CRC: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton, Alberto Loya, working with Mary Metz

Please RSVP to Mary Metz mary.mcginnis@juno.com

To Inquire about Accommodations at the Rudolf Steiner House Contact Cynthia Chelius cynthia@anthroposophy.org