Category Archives: Chicago Event

Rise Up I Shout

Chicago Event, Insight, Poetry, Rudolf Steiner Quote

4 May 2018 – Astro-Weather: A grand dance: METEORS FROM HALLEY’S COMET Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley’s Comet, source of the annual Eta Aquariid meteor shower.  This year’s shower is expected to produce the greatest number of meteors in the small hours before dawn on May 5 & 6th. The meteors tend to enter the atmosphere at speeds of around 148,000mph — so don’t blink. The best time to watch these fast & often bright meteors is in the early morning hours, before twilight. Meteors tend to come in spurts that are interspersed by lulls.

ALSO:

Keep a watch on the changing patterns Venus makes with Her background stars from week to week. As Aldebaran & the Pleiades sink away, Beta Tauri (El Nath) above Venus closes in.

Summer is seven weeks off, but the Summer Triangle is making its appearance in the east, one star after another. The first in view is Vega. It’s already shining low in the northeast as twilight fades out.

Next up is Deneb, lower left of Vega by two or three fists at arm’s length. Deneb takes about an hour to appear after Vega does.

The third is Altair, which shows up far to their lower right by midnight.

As dawn begins on Saturday morning May 5th, the waning gibbous Moon shines between Saturn & Mars.

Salvador Dali

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Past/Present/Future:

250 AD – Feast day of St. Florian the patron of Upper Austria, chimney sweeps; soapmakers, & firefighters. The “Florian Principle” (known in German language areas as “Sankt-Florians-Prinzip”) is named after a somewhat ironic prayer to Saint Florian: “O heiliger Sankt Florian, verschon’ mein Haus, zünd’ and’re an”, equivalent to “O Holy St. Florian, please spare my house, set fire to another one”. This saying is used in German much like the English “not in my back yard. The name Florian is considered synonymous with fireman in the German speaking world. In some cases call for a fireman will actually be spoken as calls for Florian.

1493 – The Division of the world: The Spanish-born Pope Alexander VI decreed in a Papal Bull that all lands west & south of a pole-to-pole line one hundred leagues west & south should belong to Spain. Portugal objected because its status & rights had been omitted & overlooked. King John II of Portugal began negotiations directly with King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella of Spain to push the line west & allow him to lay claim to lands discovered east of it. The result was the Treaty of Tordesillas.

1875 – Birthday of Hermann Beckh a pioneering German Tibetologist & prominent promoter of anthroposophy.

Due to his unusual memory skills, & his many interests & talents, his peers encouraged him towards law. It became clear to him that he was not made out to be a judge when he had to impose a fine on a poor married couple for stealing wood. He paid the couple’s fine out of his own pocket & left his position.

He later took up the study of oriental languages, Indology, & Tibetology. In 1907, he received his doctorate with a thesis on Kalidasa’s poem Meghaduta.

In 1911, he met Rudolf Steiner & Friedrich Rittelmeyer, which led to his intensive study of Steiner’s work. On Christmas Day, 1912, he became a member of the Anthroposophical Society.

In 1916, Beckh was drafted into military service, shortly after he published two volumes about the Buddha & his teachings. Stationed in the Balkans, he was called to work in the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Due to his task, he learned the Scandinavian languages in addition to: English, French, Italian, Classical Greek & Latin, Hebrew, Egyptian, Sanskrit, Tibetan & Old Persian.

From 1920 onwards, he worked as a lecturer of anthroposophy. In March 1922, he joined the Circle of Priests of The Christian Community & worked until his death as a priest, seminary teacher, lecturer, independent researcher & writer. In 1928, “Mark’s Gospel: The Cosmic Rhythm” was published, in which he related the narration of the gospel of Mark to the path of the sun through the twelve zodiac signs. In Beckh’s exposition, Mark’s gospel could be understood more in connection with the “earthly” signs seen in the planets, & John’s gospel more in connection with the “stellar” zodiac  of the fixed stars. At the time of The Mystery of Golgotha the planets & the constellations were together, not separate as they are now, due to the progression of the equinoxes.  In the Introduction to the sequel, “The Cosmic Rhythm, the Secrets of the Stars & Earth in the Gospel of John” (1930), Beck favorably mentioned Wilhelm Kaiser’s “Die geometrischen Vorstellungen in der Astronomie” (1928), & referred to The Novices of Sais, of Novalis.  Beckh died in Stuttgart, in 1937.

~   ~   ~

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Light stands behind
The clouds gifting rain
A question in reflection
Hovers
Moving about in my bones
Rise up I shout
There is work to do

~hag

 

~   ~   ~

Yoram Raanan

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder – A Festival of Ascension, part 2 of a Lecture by ~Hazel ArcherGinsberg

Ascension is a festival of the hierarchies. Remember, that when Christ descended thru the heavens, & came into human form, the hierarchies lost His presence. They could only find Him by looking into the depths  – bearing witness to  the God Who entered physical existence to remind earthly humanity of its cosmic citizenship.

At the Ascension, the mystery of the resurrection was brought for the 1st time to the company of heaven – Signaling the return of the lost world of earth into the community of the stars. Since that time, the life of this planet is renewed with the cosmic forces that stream earthward. 

The sacrifice of Christ initiated on earth, was the antidote to the consequences of death brought on by the Fall – the redemptive deed that turns death into life.

The Concentrated seed of Christ’s deed, continues to grow in the earth thru the connection to the stars. When the Risen Christ returned ‘to sit at the right hand of the Father’, at the Ascension, He became the bridge between the above & below.

As the Christ has ascended, so too, in the fullness of time will humanity be transfigured. The company of the hierarchies wait, for us, their younger siblings to ascend in our thinking to meet them in fellowship, as they work all the while at our sides.

To read the entire lecture:  Ascension 2014 Climbing Jacobs Ladder

Blessings & Peace –

~hag = Hazel ArcherGinsberg

***

Saturday 5 May 2018 – SPECIAL EVENT – Our Branch is hosting The General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

6 pm – Community PotLuck – Let’s show these 12 guests from around the country some good hospitality from the Heart-Land – Please bring a dish to share.

7:30 pm – Open Community Conversation with John Bloom & the GC of the ASA

***

Dali

Thursday 10 May 2018 – 7 pm – 9 pm

A Special Study for Ascension Thursday– “Easter, Ascension, Whitsun and the Essntial Nature of the Foundation Stone of the Christmas Conference” by Sergi O. Prokofieff from his book “The cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation”

***

Stephen B Whatley

Friday 18 May 2018, 7 pm – 9 pm, –

Whitsun: A Festival of United Soul-Endeavor,

Art Projections & Lecture with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.

Experiential Social Art with special guest TBA

***

Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

 

Walpurgis Night

Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Festival, Rudolf Steiner Quote

30 April 2017 – Astro-Weather: Now Jupiter shines to the right of bright Bella Luna after nightfall. Jupiter stands out among the background stars of central Libra from the time it rises around 8:30 pm CST until morning twilight is well underway. The giant planet is near its best for the year right now, reaching opposition & peak visibility next week (on May 8). Jupiter is brightest point of light in the evening sky once Venus sets around 10 pm.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Walpurgis Night, In Germanic folklore Walpurgisnacht, also called Hexennacht, literally “Witches’ Night” – the eve of the feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Francia.  In Goethe’s Faust we see 2 scenes: ‘Romantic Walpurgis Night’ the night of a witches’ meeting on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains, a range of wooded hills in central Germany; and later in Part 2 a ‘Classical Walpurgis Night’ is featured.

Death Of Seneca by Manuel Dominguez

65 – Seneca, teacher of Nero, murdered

1789 – On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States

1812 – Birthday of the enigmatic Kaspar Hauser: From Rudolf Steiner: An author, in order to indicate the mystery of his life, wrote that as he was carried out to burial the sun was setting on the one horizon and the moon was rising on the other. I speak, as you know, of Caspar Hauser. If you disregard all the pros and cons that have been asserted, if you look only at what has been fully verified, you will know that this foundling — who was one day simply there in the street, and who since he did not know whence he came, was called the Child of Europe — could neither read nor write when he was found. At an age of twenty years he possessed nothing of what is gained through the intellect but he had a remarkable memory. As they began to instruct him, as logic entered his soul, his memory disappeared. This transition in consciousness was accompanied by something else. He possessed at first an incredible, an entirely inborn truthfulness and it was precisely in this truthfulness that he went more and more astray. The more he nibbled, so to say, at intellectuality, the more it vanished. There would be many things to study were we to enter deeply into this human soul which had been artificially held back. It is not difficult for the student of Spiritual Science to credit the popular tradition, so unacceptable to the learned people of to-day, which relates that while Caspar Hauser still knew nothing, while he still had no idea that there were beings besides himself of different form, he exercised a remarkable effect upon quite savage creatures. Savage animals humbled themselves and became mild, something streamed from him that made such beasts gentle, although they savagely attacked anyone else. We could in fact penetrate deeply into the soul of this remarkable personality, so enigmatic to many, and you would see how things that cannot be explained from ordinary life are led back through Spiritual Science to spiritual facts. Such facts cannot be learnt by speculation but only by spiritual observation, though they are comprehensible to an unbiased and logical thinking.

1877 – Birthday of Alice B. Toklas, an American-born member of the Parisian avant-garde of the early 20th century. Life partner of American writer Gertrude Stein

1885 – The Niagara Reservation becomes New York’s first state park, ensuring that Niagara Falls will not be devoted solely to industrial & commercial use

1939 – The 1939-40 New York World’s Fair opens

1945 – Adolf Hitler commits suicide

1963 – The Bristol Bus Boycott is held to protest the Company’s refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom

***

Kirsty Mitchell

POD for Flora on Beltane:
May Day Maya
Pleiadian Goddess
Bright light of the 7 Sisters
Mountain Nymph transformed,
We ascend your beacon mound
& kindle there
The oakwood of the Bel-Fire
To rival the Sun
& call the Summer heat.
Zeus’s lover
Hermes Mother
Inspire processions
Of chimney sweeps & milkmaids
To leap the healing flames
& sky-clad singing:
“Ride a cock horse to Banburry Cross
To see a fine lady on a white horse”
Walk the circuit
& beat the bounds
With the young Summer King
& the Queen of the May
For the feast of flowers
Is calling forth the consort
Come, come, come unto me
& celebrate with the orders of Elementals.
Bold maidens bathing in the dew of May morn
Sword dancing & singing
In deep forest frivolity
Striking open ancient ley lines in bulls-eye archery
Marking the unrestrained tryst,
A Maypole in Holy-Rood-Mass
Wrapped & weaved in ribbons & ivy
For the May-Eve rites.
Robin Hood makes ready the hunt,
Maid Marian has gone-a-Maying.
~Lady Hazel

***

Laila Breker

This is the Eve of Beltane or May Day. Beltane, the old Celtic name for May Day, means bright fire or fire of Bel, the name of the Solar force, whose feast marks the beginning of the 2nd half of the year.

Wood from 9 sacred trees is gathered, & the great Bel-fire is built & ritualistically ignited by the High priestess or Arch-Druid. People would jump these ‘need-fires’ for fertility, healing & protection.

Torches lit from it were carried home to re-light the hearth fires. The folk would walk their animals in-between them to ensure a productive season – this is the mating season after all for man & beast.

There were other May Day customs, like walking the circuit of one’s property, repairing fences & boundary markers, processions of all kinds, archery tournaments, Morris dances, sword play, & of course making merry with music & drinking.

May morning is a time when the veil between the worlds can easily be pushed aside; but instead of the spirits coming into our realm from the other side, which is the case with Halloween, the polar opposite of Mayday on the wheel of the year -the fairies can enchant us over into their mystical realms.

This is a magical time, perfect for gathering ‘wild’ water, especially the May morning dew, or water from hidden wells & springs. These wild waters were collected & used to bath in for beauty, or to drink for health.

May Day is considered the start of summer – the time of milk & honey. This sensuous fertile energy is totally universal, & can be applied on many different levels. When we acknowledge these creative forces in the dance of our lives, it takes us to our own personal, modern-day version of dancing around the maypole, where we weave & combine the opposing energies within ourselves, blending them into one balanced source.

So yes, whether you know it or not, there will be at least one song that plays in your sub-conscious head on this eve of the 1st day of May, when you become perhaps, the Queen of the May, or Jack-in the Green. Our body like the body of the earth instinctively knows its Beltane, the time of vitality & passion & new growth. And the wisdom of our spirit seeks the natural union of polarities that occur at this time, giving us the opportunity for integration, in the alchemical dance of our souls…

Because under all the sexual innuendo & frivolity, it’s really all about the inner mystic marriage, the union of fire & water -opposites complimenting each other, to become one, bringing all the elements into balance.

You’ll just have to go dancing naked in the forest preserve on your own time…

For now, let’s work to unify the polarities of our being, by sparking the new fire of creative fertility & passion, & marrying it with the beautiful, healing waters of compassion & pure love. So we can truly celebrate the marriage feast of our lives, with a grounded, mindful joy.

So if it is your will – light your Bel-fire, marry it to the water, by floating it in the chalice of your choice. Take the time you need there…To do or not, what you will…Whisper your marriage vows into the water…or dance the 1st dance…or smash the glass…whatever your ceremony calls for…short simple or silent…it doesn’t matter…a 3 day bacchanal, with dancing puppets…it’s all good…cause it’s all about what’s inside…

Peace & Love

~Lady Hazel 

***

May 2nd 2018, 7 pm – 9 pm – John Bloom,  Vice President, Organizational Culture, RSF Social Finance, and General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Organic Money –  An evening exploring the work with money in new social forms.

How do we find a way to perceive money as a reflection of not only who we are but also how we work through relationships? With the idea of Rudolf Steiner’s threefold commonwealth as a back drop we will explore the connection between money and spirit. There will be ample time for dialogue, so come with your questions.

$10 suggested donation

Ayse Domeniconi

The Karma Project – A Western Approach to Reincarnation & Karma May 2, 2018 – 7:15 pm CST (8:15 pm EST)
https://mailchi.mp/…/central-region-may-3-audio-conference-…The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to our conversation with special guest Linda Bergh.

Linda Bergh is Psychologist Emeritus, a former Waldorf teacher, is currently a Biography Facilitator in Minneapolis (Novalis Institute), nationally and internationally. She is passionate about bringing Biography and Social Art to individuals, teacher trainings, and communities. She also works with Conscious Dying both locally (Minnesota Threshold Network) and nationally to bring awareness to the sacred threshold of death.

ON THE MAY 2 PHONE CONFERENCE CALL WE WILL HAVE A BIOGRAPHY FOCUS RELATING TO OUR THEME OF KARMA AND REINCARNATION.

Here is the suggestion for preparation from Linda Bergh who will be leading the call :

One of the ways we can be aware of the movement of karma/destiny is to do an exercise where we begin to notice with our attention and intention the surprises and changes that come in our day.

Plan to do this for a minimum of three evenings and days before our call on May 2. Write down the plan for the next day or think it through in as much detail as you can. People, places, time alone. work/home. Then the next day, notice what things were not on your plan. Notice the smallest details.

Examples:
* Who did you meet at a coffee shop that you were surprised by?
* Was there a phone call you didn’t expect, something to shift your thinking?
* Did you see something in nature you have never noticed and that awakened you?
* What event or meeting was cancelled or changed; or one you decided not to go to?
* Was there someone you began to think about decided to call or contact?
* Was there a book that you noticed on your shelf that has always been there but drew you today?

As you are able, jot these down during the day or at the end of the day, or think through the unexpected changes in as much detail as possible. And then that second night, write down or think through your plan for the next day again. Before you go to sleep, as you do a daily review, notice the surprises again, and take them into your sleep.

Do this process for three days. You could start this when you get this email, or you can wait to try it the three days before our call on May 2. Whatever is right for you.

There are no expectations, just noticing. This is a practice, like noticing the changes in a flower as it grows. During our call we will do another kind of destiny exercise that can help us get in touch with the way that Karma moves as Steiner describes.

From Theosophy:
“As the keeper of the past, the soul is continually collecting treasures for the spirit. We can be sure that not a single experience goes to waste, since the soul preserves each one as a memory, and the spirit extracts from each one whatever it can use to enhance its abilities and enrich its life. The human spirit grows as these experiences are worked over and assimilated.”

Audioconference Details

Option 1. Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended): https://zoom.us/j/535966270

Option 2. Call in using your telephone.
United States: (646) 558-8656 or: (669) 900-6833
Access Code: 535-966-270

Please join us!

Saturday 5 May 2018 – SPECIAL EVENT – Our Branch is hosting The General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

6 pm – Community PotLuck – Let’s show these 12 guests from around the country some good hospitality from the Heart-Land – Please bring a dish to share.

7:30 pm – Open Community Conversation with John Bloom & the GC of the ASA

***

Dali

Thursday 10 May 2018 – 7 pm – 9 pm

A Special Study for Ascension Thursday– “Easter, Ascension, Whitsun and the Essntial Nature of the Foundation Stone of the Christmas Conference” by Sergi O. Prokofieff from his book “The cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation”

***

Stephen B Whatley

Friday 18 May 2018, 7 pm – 9 pm, –

Whitsun: A Festival of United Soul-Endeavor,

Art Projections & Lecture with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.

Experiential Social Art with special guest TBA

***

Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

 

Waxing Mystery

Celestial Event, Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Festival, Lecture, Poetry, Rudolf Steiner Quote

27 April 2018 – Astro-Weather: Keep an eye on the changing pattern of Venus, Aldebaran, & the Pleiades in late twilight. Every day the stars slide a little farther to the lower right, while Venus stays at nearly the same altitude.

On the opposite side of the sky, look below waxing Bella Luna for Spica. Jupiter rises far to their lower left.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Feast day of Our Lady of Montserrat – One of the Black Madonnas of Europe, (“the little dark-skinned one” or “the little dark one”)- Believed by some to have been carved in Jerusalem in the early days of the Church. The Patron Saint of Catalonia, an honor she shares with Saint George. The famed image once bore the inscription ”Negra Sum Sed Formosa” (Latin: I am Black, but Beautiful).

The hymn to the Virgin of Montserrat, known as “el Virolai” is sung at noon on her feast day & begins with the words: “Rosa d’abril, Morena de la serra…” (April rose, dark-skinned lady of the mountain…). Therefore, this virgin is sometimes also known as the “Rosa d’abril”

Feast Day of St. Zita, the Italian patron saint of maids, often appealed to in order to help find lost keys. Born in Tuscany in the village of Monsagrati, not far from Lucca. At the age of 12, she became a servant in the Fatinelli household. For a long time, she was unjustly despised, overburdened, reviled, & often beaten by her employers & fellow servants for her hard work & obvious goodness. The abuse did not deprive her of her inward peace, & her love of those who wronged her. Her faith gradually moved the family to a religious awakening.

Zita often said to others that devotion is false if slothful. She considered her work assigned to her by God. She always rose several hours before the rest of the family to pray.

One anecdote relates a story of Zita giving her own food to the poor. One morning, Zita left her chore of baking bread to tend to someone in need. Some of the other servants told on her & when they went to investigate, they claimed to have found angels in the kitchen, baking the bread for her.

St. Zita died peacefully in her sleep & a star appeared above the attic where she lay. After 150 miracles were proven, she was canonized in 1696.

Her body was exhumed in 1580, discovered to be incorrupt, but has since become mummified. St. Zita’s body is currently on display for public veneration in the Basilica di San Frediano in Lucca.

On her feast day families bake a loaf of bread in her honor.

470 – Birthday of Socrates – teacher of Plato. “Socrates gathers his pupils around himself, but how does he feel in relation to them? His manner of treating these pupils has been called the art of a spiritual midwife because he wished to draw out from the souls of his pupils what they themselves knew, and what they were to learn. He put his questions in such a manner that the fundamental inner mood of the souls of his pupils was stirred to movement. He transmitted nothing from himself to his pupils, but elicited everything from them. The somewhat dry and prosaic aspect of Socrates’ view of the world and the way he presented it comes from the fact that Socrates actually appealed to the independence and to the innate reasoning power of every pupil.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Gospel of Mark: Lecture 4

399 BC – Deathday of Socrates 

711 – Tarik ibn Ziyad, (who according to the spiritual scientific research of Rudolf Steiner in Karmic relationships Vol. 1 Chapter 10, reincarnated as Darwin) leads his army into Gibraltar

1667 – John Milton, blind & impoverished, sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for 10 pounds

1882 – Deathday of R.W.Emerson essayist, lecturer, & poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism & a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, & he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays & more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.

Emerson gradually moved away from the religious & social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating & expressing the philosophy of transcendentalism in his 1836 essay “Nature”. Following this work, he gave a speech entitled “The American Scholar” in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. considered to be America’s “intellectual Declaration of Independence”.

Emerson wrote most of his important essays as lectures first & then revised them for print. His first two collections of essays, Essays: First Series (1841) & Essays: Second Series (1844), represent the core of his thinking. They include the well-known essays “Self-Reliance”, “The Over-Soul”, “Circles”, “The Poet” &”Experience”. Together with “Nature”, these essays made the decade from the mid-1830s to the mid-1840s Emerson’s most fertile period.

Emerson wrote on a number of subjects, never espousing fixed philosophical tenets, but developing certain ideas such as individuality, freedom, the ability for humankind to realize almost anything, & the relationship between the soul & the surrounding world. Emerson’s “nature” was more philosophical than naturalistic: “Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul”. Emerson is one of several figures who “took a more pantheist approach by rejecting views of God as separate from the world.”

He remains among the linchpins of the American romantic movement, & his work has greatly influenced the thinkers, writers & poets that followed him. When asked to sum up his work, he said his central doctrine was “the infinitude of the private man.” Emerson is also well known as a mentor & friend of Henry David Thoreau, a fellow transcendentalist.

(Spoken of by Rudolf Steiner as Tacitus in Vol 2 lecture 5, of Karmic Relationships. Tacitus was considered to be one of the greatest Roman historians. He lived in what has been called the Silver Age of Latin literature, & is known for the brevity & compactness of his Latin prose, as well as for his penetrating insights into the psychology of power politics )

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~The Moon gate is freshly oiled
A waxing mystery
Reverberating in my swelling heart
With high notes of intention
& the will toward freedoms mind…
~hag

***

William Blake

My Leading Thought in Preparing for Ascension:

Ascension comes when the season of blossoming is reaching fullness. Trees & plants, stirring upwards in growth, have been touched by the warmth & light from above & show forth the blessing of the heavens in color & scent. The whole of nature reaches upwards towards the heights.

The longing of the human soul strives also, upward, in unison with nature, seeking the touch of world-warmth from the sun. This mood of ascension attunes all of life to the cosmic expanses.

However closely heaven & earth are aligned, their relationship is not always the same. In this we see the miracle of the seasons –the breathing-in, & the breathing-out, of the earth soul.

At the time of the Ascension of Christ, nature celebrates the ascension of the soul of the earth. – It is not by chance that the 40 days between Easter & Ascension coincide with this season.

Every year, when the earth breathes out in the springtime, the mystery of the Ascension of Christ, Who is the Spirit of the Earth, is renewed.

~hag

To be continued…

***

May 2nd 2018, 7 pm – 9 pm – John Bloom, the General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America: The Financial sphere in Threefold Social Organism.

Ayse Domeniconi

ON THE MAY 2 PHONE CONFERENCE CALL WE WILL HAVE A BIOGRAPHY FOCUS RELATING TO OUR THEME OF KARMA AND REINCARNATION. Here is the suggestion for preparation from Linda Bergh who will be leading the call : One of the ways we can be aware of the movement of karma/destiny is to do an exercise where we begin to notice with our attention and intention the surprises and changes that come in our day.

Plan to do this for a minimum of three evenings and days before our call on May 2. Write down the plan for the next day or think it through in as much detail as you can.  People, places, time alone. work/home. Then the next day, notice what things were not on your plan.  Notice the smallest details. 

Examples: 

* Who did you meet at a coffee shop that you were surprised by?
* Was there a phone call you didn’t expect, something to shift your thinking?
* Did you see something in nature you have never noticed and that awakened you?
* What event or meeting was cancelled or changed; or one you decided not to go to?
* Was there someone you began to think about decided to call or contact?
* Was there a book that you noticed on your shelf that has always been there but drew you today?

As you are able, jot these down during the day or at the end of the day, or think through the unexpected changes in as much detail as possible. And then that second night, write down or think through your plan for the next day again. Before you go to sleep, as you do a daily review, notice the surprises again, and take them into your sleep.  

Do this process for three days. You could start this when you get this email, or you can wait to try it the three days before our call on May 2.  Whatever is right for you.   

There are no expectations, just noticing.  This is a practice, like noticing the changes in a flower as it grows.  During our call we will do another kind of destiny exercise that can help us get in touch with the way that Karma moves as Steiner describes.

From Theosophy: “As the keeper of the past, the soul is continually collecting treasures for the spirit.  We can be sure that not a single experience goes to waste, since the soul preserves each one as a memory, and the spirit extracts from each one whatever it can use to enhance its abilities and enrich its life.  The human spirit grows as these experiences are worked over and assimilated.”

Larry Young

Audioconference Details: May 2, 2018 at 7:15 CST

Option 1.  Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended): https://zoom.us/j/535966270

Option 2.  Call in using your telephone.
United States: (646) 558-8656 or: (669) 900-6833
Access Code: 535-966-270

Saturday 5 May 2018 – SPECIAL EVENT – Our Branch is hosting The General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

6 pm – Community PotLuck – Let’s show these 12 guests from around the country some good hospitality from the Heart-Land – Please bring a dish to share.

7:30 pm – Open Community Conversation with John Bloom & the GC of the ASA

Liane Collot d’Herbois

Friday 18 May 2018, 7 pm – 9 pm, –

Whitsun: A Festival of United Soul-Endeavor,

Art Projections & Lecture with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.

Experiential Social Art with special guest TBA

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Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

 

 

Standing in the obvious

Celestial Event, Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Festival

26 April 2018– Astro-Weather: Face north just after nightfall, look very high, & you’ll find the Pointers, the end stars of the Big Dipper’s bowl, on the meridian pointing toward Polaris straight down below. From the Pointers to Polaris is about three fists at arm’s length.

Saturn rises before 1 am CST & climbs some  high in the south as morning twilight starts to paint the sky. The ringed planet shines against the backdrop of northern Sagittarius the Archer, west of Mars.

Look below waxing Bella Luna this evening for Spica. Jupiter rises far to their lower left around the end of twilight.

For an enlightening view into Astrosophy see Johnathan Hilton’s latest post from the Astrology center

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Aries head silica David Taulbee Anderson

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1721 – A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz. Many prominent mosques & schools in the city were destroyed, resulting in the deaths of over 250,000 people.  At the time that it occurred, the earthquake was popularly interpreted as an omen of misfortune, or a demonstration of godly wrath. The destruction that the earthquake caused was a significant factor in the successful Ottoman takeover of Tabriz in 1722, as well as contributing to Tabriz’s economic difficulties during that period.  It also caused the destruction of some of the city’s significant historical monuments

1803 – Thousands of meteors fall from the skies in L’Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist. In the early afternoon a meteorite shower of more than 3000 fragments fell. Upon hearing of this event the French Academy of Sciences sent the young scientist Jean-Baptiste Biot to investigate that spectacular fall of stones. After painstaking work in the field he reported how these stones must undoubtedly be of extraterrestrial origin effectively gave birth to the science of meteoritics. The L’Aigle event was a real milestone in the understanding of meteorites & their origins because at that time the mere existence of meteorites was harshly debated, if they were recognized their origin was controversial.

1933 – The Gestapo, the secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established

1966 – The magnitude 5.1 earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia. Tashkent is destroyed & over 300 people are killed.

1986 – Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Ukraine

1989 – The deadliest tornado in world history strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 2,300, injuring 22,000, & leaving as many as 180,000 homeless

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Karen Sleigh

POD (Poem Of the Day)

 

‎~Standing in the obvious
Plunging my hands
Into the oblique angles
Of the obscure…
I return,
With a hot springs
For a Heart…

~hag

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May 2nd 2018, at the RSB 7 pm – 9 pm – John Bloom, the General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America: The Financial sphere in Threefold Social Organism.

Ayse Domeniconi

ON THE MAY 2 PHONE CONFERENCE CALL WE WILL HAVE A BIOGRAPHY FOCUS RELATING TO OUR THEME OF KARMA AND REINCARNATION. Here is the suggestion for preparation from Linda Bergh who will be leading the call : One of the ways we can be aware of the movement of karma/destiny is to do an exercise where we begin to notice with our attention and intention the surprises and changes that come in our day.

Plan to do this for a minimum of three evenings and days before our call on May 2. Write down the plan for the next day or think it through in as much detail as you can.  People, places, time alone. work/home. Then the next day, notice what things were not on your plan.  Notice the smallest details. 

Examples: 

* Who did you meet at a coffee shop that you were surprised by?
* Was there a phone call you didn’t expect, something to shift your thinking?
* Did you see something in nature you have never noticed and that awakened you?
* What event or meeting was cancelled or changed; or one you decided not to go to?
* Was there someone you began to think about decided to call or contact?
* Was there a book that you noticed on your shelf that has always been there but drew you today?

As you are able, jot these down during the day or at the end of the day, or think through the unexpected changes in as much detail as possible. And then that second night, write down or think through your plan for the next day again. Before you go to sleep, as you do a daily review, notice the surprises again, and take them into your sleep.  

Do this process for three days. You could start this when you get this email, or you can wait to try it the three days before our call on May 2.  Whatever is right for you.   

There are no expectations, just noticing.  This is a practice, like noticing the changes in a flower as it grows.  During our call we will do another kind of destiny exercise that can help us get in touch with the way that Karma moves as Steiner describes.

From Theosophy: “As the keeper of the past, the soul is continually collecting treasures for the spirit.  We can be sure that not a single experience goes to waste, since the soul preserves each one as a memory, and the spirit extracts from each one whatever it can use to enhance its abilities and enrich its life.  The human spirit grows as these experiences are worked over and assimilated.”
 
Audioconference Details: May 2, 2018 at 7:15 CST

Option 1.  Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended): https://zoom.us/j/535966270

Option 2.  Call in using your telephone.
United States: (646) 558-8656 or: (669) 900-6833
Access Code: 535-966-270

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Saturday 5 May 2018 – SPECIAL EVENT – Our Branch is hosting The General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

6 pm – Community Pot-Luck – Let’s show these 12 guests from around the country some good hospitality from the Heart-Land – Please bring a dish to share.

7:30 pm – Open Community Conversation with the GC of the ASA

For those interested in following in the current study with the General Council: 2018 April-May ASA Council Study – Transforming the Soul.Vol1.docx

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Stephen B Whatley

Friday 18 May 2018, 7 pm – 9 pm, –

Whitsun: A Festival of United Soul-Endeavor,

Art Projections & Lecture with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.

Experiential Social Art with special guest TBA

***

Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

Cracked Open

Chicago Event, Festival

8 April 2018 – Astro-Weather: Last Quarter Moon occurs at 2:18 am CDT. You can find the half-lit orb rising in the east with the background stars of Sagittarius, She hangs relatively low in the southeast as twilight begins. Bella Luna also reaches apogee today, when Her orbit carries Her farthest from Earth for the month- 251,123 miles from us.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Those who work with the original indications in the Calendar of the Soul know that Rudolf Steiner lists the birth & death days, as well as other significant occurrences of various individualities, along with the Full & New Moons in the calendar.  He said of this: “What is presented here can be useful to those who wish to follow the path of humanity’s spiritual development” ~Rudolf Steiner

1820 – The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos. Created sometime between 130 & 100 BCE, it depicts Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love & beauty (Venus to the Romans). From an inscription that was on its plinth, it is thought to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch

1835 – Death Day of Wilhelm von Humbolt  Prussian philosopher, diplomat, founded University of Belin.

According to T.H. Meyer, on this day in 1928, Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz had an experience that brought to the surface one of his past incarnations as Hadrian, 76 AD – 10 July, 138 AD, who was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He is known for building Hadrian’s Wall, which marked the northern limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. He is considered to have been a humanist, & he is regarded as one of the ‘Five Good Emperors’.

Hadrian was born into a Hispano-Roman family. During his reign, he traveled to nearly every province of the Empire. An ardent admirer of Greece, he sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the Empire and ordered the construction of many opulent temples in the city. He used his relationship with his Greek lover Antinous to underline his love of Greek culture leading to the creation of one of the most popular cults of ancient times. He spent extensive amounts of time with the military; he usually wore military attire and even dined and slept amongst the soldiers. Late in his reign he suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judaea, renaming the province Syria Palaestina.

Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz, who we know as being one of Rudolf Steiner’s most valued & independent-minded colleagues. He was born in Prague to an aristocratic family with royal connections. Leaving behind his background traditions, he became a key player in Steiner’s regenerative threefold social impulses, working tirelessly for a genuinely unified, free Europe.

1952 – U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike

1973 – Deathday of Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter & sculptor

~   ~   ~

Tomasz Alen Kopera

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Cracked open
Will the seed
Laid into the void
Progress & grow?
The gods circle round
Hunting for ideas that lie dormant
Thoughts unexpressed
Seeds that remain uncultivated
These they plant in the clay of another life
Better able to fill the void
With fertile fruit
~hag

~   ~   ~

Put on your Wedding garment:

Greetings friends on this 1st Sunday after Easter –

Today we gather to tap into this potent esoteric time before Ascension, to ask:

Who is this mysterious individuality who founded Rosicrucianism?

What is his mission? How does it relate to Rudolf Steiner & Anthroposophy…?

You dear friend are invited to the Chymical Wedding.

Are you prepared to walk this modern path of initiation?

Sunday April 8th 2 pm – 4 pm

At our Easter-Tide Festival we will begin downstairs doing group Eurythmy from the 1st Mystery Drama: The Portal of Initiation, by Rudolf Steiner with Mary Ruud:

“The light of the sun is flooding

The realms of space;

The song of birds resounds

Through fields of air;

The tender plants spring forth

From Mother Earth,

And human souls rise up

With grateful hearts

To all the spirits of the world”

Then in the upper room: The Chymical Wedding: Christian Rosenkreutz: ‘Granum Pectori Jesu Insitum’ Interactive Art Projections & Lecture with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Social Art – Exploring the relationship between Christian Rosenkreutz & Rudolf Steiner + Alchemy & the “I”

We end downstairs with a recapitulation of the verse from the Portal of Initiation in Eurythmy with Mary Ruud

$10 Donation to support Eurythmy & Art Supplies

Potluck to Share Encouraged – Hazel will bring the Pascal Lamb & Curry Veggies

For more info. contact festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, e