Greetings friends on this last Sunday in March – Today in the Heartland Father Winter is teasing & testing the tender spring things – making hardy & strong what will soon become supple in their greening. The intrepid soul of the Chicagoan knows to keep the big coat & the pair of shorts handy at all times. We know that the seasons make the human being hardy too, strengthening our faith. So even though its 22 degrees outside, with a blustery wind whipping in from the lake – we know – This is the seed time…when the chains of death are broken & life bursts forth from the earth. Each day another minute of light triumphs over the darkness. The elementals arise, & wait for us to work with them in good will. The Sun stretches out its hand to the child within us all, bidding us to return from the land of the dead, to be cloaked in the fresh rain. Enlivened with the sweet scent of aspiration on our breath, we can joyfully step forth. As the wild flowers send their pastel shoots up from the brown compost, our souls dance in delight. Our Lenten despair turns to hope, sorrow to joy, want to abundance…
If we do not spring forward, we will surly slip back. It’s time to venture out of the cave into the cold fresh possibility that exists at the change of season.
Within our own mind many detailed explanations may exist – excuses? -that keep us from moving forward. To put these parts of ourselves into perspective, we can see them in relation to the 4 basic elements…
It’s helpful to be specific about what you want to change – Choose the area of your life you want to focus on, such as relationships, health, career, clarity around direction, spiritual growth…etc…
Then begin in the East: Air – What thoughts bind you? Are you too scattered in your thinking, can’t make up your mind? Too dogmatic? Suffer from monkey mind? Inner critic on overdrive? What do you need so that you can create a positive thought pattern? What does a free mind look like?
South: Fire – What binds your will? Or are you too impulsive? Too willful, or perhaps your will is unfocused? Not able to take action? Feel fearful-unsafe? What do you need to empower your will force so you are free to take action?
West: Water – What emotions bind you? Are you too sensitive? Do you hold on to old feelings? Or are you rigid, frozen, not able to be empathic? Can’t go with the flow? How can you reclaim your creative fertility & be compassionate to yourself?
North: Earth – Does necessity bind you? Are you stuck in the mud? A perfectionist? Is nothing ever good enough? Perhaps you find it hard to complete things? What would it look like to be grounded, productive, prosperous & steadfast in your determination to create & manifest?
Perhaps this Spring season will call you to re-dedicate yourself to the 6 Basic Essential Exercises…
From Rudolf Steiner: A meditant should do these six exercises:
1. Control of Thought: Think about a simple object for at least five minutes. Hold it fast in thoughts without going over to other things. This exercise arouses a feeling of firmness in the pupil as it activates the chakra between the eyebrows. One should send this feeling through the brain and down the backbone.
2. Control of will (acting on your own initiative): Do an unimportant thing every day at a certain time. This exercise also gives firmness.
3. Develop equanimity, that is, one shouldn’t fluctuate between rejoicing to heaven and despairing to death. A joke can be enjoyed just as much if one doesn’t laugh boisterously at; one can bear a pain better if one doesn’t wallow in it too much. This gives one a feeling of quiet calm that one lets stream from the heart to the arms, and out through the hands.
4. Positivity: See the beautiful and true elements in all things. Christ Jesus admired the beautiful teeth in a rotting dog, where his disciples only saw ugliness. One can discover at least a small kernel of truth and something beautiful in everything. If one does this exercise for some time it gives one a feeling of great joy.
5. Open mindedness: Always be open to new things. One should never say: I never heard of that, that can’t be, or I don’t believe that. One should always leave the possibility open that one can learn something from everything that people say. Thereby one can learn from children, animals and everything else. This gives one the feeling that one could also perceive things while one is partly outside one’s body.
6. Inner Harmony: This exercise is a combination of the preceding ones, so that one can combine two and two or any way one wants. By doing this, one gets the feeling that one has grown beyond the limits of one’s skin.
By practicing these basic exercises we develop our soul forces of Thinking, Feeling & Willing, creating new spiritual organs of perception. May we all take up the work of transformation which will lead us into the Resurrection.
Blessings of becoming dear friends
~hag
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated with added titles by Roy Sadler Mothering Sunday in England is the 4th Sunday of Lent, the 2nd of Passiontide (not the 2nd Sunday in May as it is in the US) and in this week’s spring verse Earth’s Mother can be the spirit’s jubilating force. PASSIONTIDE 1I, Mothering Sunday The World’s Fulfilment v50 Earth’s Mother speaks… her joy of growth in every bud’s unfurling, revealing the inherent forces of her being, is speaking to the human I: In bringing into you my life released from its enchantment, I reach my true fulfilment.
The mirror verse EASTERTIDE III Foundation of the Self v3 The human spirit speaks… the growing I, in self-forgetfulness and mindful of its primal state, is speaking to the whole enwoven world: In you, releasing chains of private wants and pains, I root my inborn truth.
27 March 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: At dawn the waning crescent Moon is below Venus, Mars, and Saturn, which now form an isosceles triangle
1915 – Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States is put in quarantine for the second time, where she would remain as a prisoner for the rest of her life.
Just a little check-in today. The tide that will bring us into Convergence in Santa Fe, during Orthodox Easter, is building. Our Temple Experience into the New Mysteries, which will be at the heart, has been contracting & expanding – breathing in me – & picking up inspiration from the periphery. I had let is rest for a while, & now I am sculpting it again, touching it tenderly with fresh eyes.
It is ever clear that The Sophia, is a divine being from a high-ranking Hierarchy who becomes Anthroposophia by joining herself with the development of our human heart-thinking.
Twin of the Christos, Mother of Michael, & a vast Pleroma of wisdom beings, including the ever becoming human being, she is the source & sum total of all higher wisdom which has been predestined for humanity. She seeks to unite us again with the highest spiritual worlds from which we originated, by working within our soul forces – for she is the archetype of the human soul.
From time immemorial she has inspired the Mysteries. In the past she was only seen as thru a veil. Since the Mystery of Golgotha she is seeking to achieve a deeper connection with the human being on Earth keeping step with the descent & sacrifices of Christ.
She has made her own sacrifices. The Apocalypse of John shows the imagination in which she stands above our intensely rift epoch as ‘The Woman clothed with the Sun, the Moon under her feet, & upon her head a crown of 12 stars’. The attacks of the dragon are aimed at her. She is at the center of this cosmic war. Michael intervenes to protect her.
This divine being that has become for us Anthroposophia, seeks to arise in our many burning questions, & live in our thinking & willing. Rudolf Steiner’s very 1st ‘Leading Thought’ points to the reality of this, which can be experienced in many ways – He describes this intimately & dramatically in November 1923 at a lecture in the Hague shortly before the Christmas Conference when he says: “When we more & more through living Anthroposophical contemplation get to experiencing the contents of Anthroposophy with the heart, then it will really be for us as if living beings enter our soul. Then it appears more & more that Anthroposophy herself is a living being. And we become aware that something through Anthroposophy knocks on the door of our hearts & says: Let me in, because I am you yourself; I am your true human being.” (GA 259)
Will you be there for the unveiling?
~hag
The Anthroposophical Society in America presents: Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human in Santa Fe, New Mexico ~ April 21-24, 2022 Hotel Santa Fe Hacienda and Spa
‘ANTHROPOSOPHIA: OUR ALCHEMICAL WEDDING’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends. At the heart of this convergence isa Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know Thyself’’ – A Temple Experience in the New Mysteries, built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions, preparing us to enter a deeply intensive initiatory experience – a ‘Movable Feast’ with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, Steiner verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth. Passing through Trials of the Soul we meet powerful Spiritual Beings on the way to our sacred marriage – a union of Warmth and Light, so that we can unveil the ‘Sophia Rising’ within ourselves, and the world.
26 March 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waning crescent Moon passes the dawn planet triangle.
1812 – Caracas earthquake took place in Venezuela on what was Maundy Thursday killing over 20,000 people. The seismic movement was so drastic that in a zone named Valecillo a new lake was formed & the river Yurubí was dammed up. Numerous rivulets changed their course in the valley of Caracas, which was flooded with dirty water. The earthquake consisted of two seismic shocks occurring within the span of 30 minutes. The first destroyed Caracas & the second Mérida, where it was raining when the shock occurred. Since the earthquake occurred on Maundy Thursday, while the Venezuelan War of Independence was raging, it was explained by royalist authorities as divine punishment for the rebellion against the Spanish Crown.
1812 – A political cartoon in the Boston Gazette coins the term “gerrymander” to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection.
1827 – Death-Day of Ludwig van Beethoven, German pianist & composer
1830 – The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, New York.
1856 – Birthday of Fritz Lemmermayer, an Austrian writer, journalist & closest childhood friend of Rudolf Steiner in Vienna. Fritz was a passionate anti-materialist, he wanted to devote his life to the creation & maintenance of spiritual values. In 1883 he completed his novel “The Alchemist”. Rudolf Steiner met Lemmermayer again in 1886 in the circle of the poet Marie Eugenie delle Grazie. An extensive correspondence attests to the close friendship between the two (see GA 38).
Steiner says: Fritz Lemmermayer, with whom I was later on terms of intimate friendship, I came to know at one of delle Grazie’s afternoons. A highly noteworthy man. Whatever interested him he expressed with inwardly measured dignity. In his outward appearance he resembled equally the musician Rubinstein and the actor Lewinsky. With Hebbel he developed almost a cult. He had definite views on art and life born out of the sagacious understanding of the heart, and these were unusually fixed. He had written the interesting and profound romance, Der Alchemist(3), and much besides that was characterized by beauty and depth. He knew how to consider the least things in life from the view-point of the most vital. I recall how I once saw him in his charming little room in a side-street in Vienna together with other friends. He had planned his meal: two soft-boiled eggs, to be cooked in an instantaneous boiler, together with bread. He remarked with much emphasis while the water was heating to boil the eggs for us: “This will be delicious!” In a later phase of my life I shall again have occasion to speak of him ~Rudolf Steiner, The Story of My Life, Chapter VII Lemmermayer & Steiner joined the ranks of the Viennese artist circle in the house of the protestant priest Alfred Formey. In 1891 Lemmermayer was vice president of Schrifstellerbundes Iduna , named after Iduna , the Norse goddess of youth & immortality a counterweight against the currents of naturalism. Lemmermayer became a member of the Anthroposophical Society in 1920. He Steiner on many trips through Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland & England. This led to his 1929 published memories, where he spoke about Rudolf Steiner, Robert Hamerling & other personalities of the Austrian intellectual life of the 80s. In addition, Lemmermayer published in the weekly ” Das Goetheanum “.
1874 – Birthday of Robert Frost, American poet & playwright
1892 – Deathday of Walt Whitman
1902 – Deathday of Cecil Rhodes – British imperialist & mining magnate
1979 – Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin & Jimmy Carter (I love you JC) sign the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~from my own body I give birth to all time. look now with new eyes & stir the season within… ~hag
Tune in to our Zoom broadcasts, brief presentations of aspects of this course, with lots of time for Q&A. Intended to total 20 minutes in length. These are given on different days so you might find one that would work best for you. Each of these brief sessions will be different!
March 28, Monday, 9 AM Mtn. (morning)
Star Wisdom comes alive through active embodiment within each participant, made possible by working together in the instrument of the StarHouse—or within your sacred imagination in your own home. This immersion facilitates each participant forming conscious relationships with zodiacal and planetary beings.
Join us for an exploration, based on spiritual science and star wisdom, into the following themes:
This course, to train practitioners in Star Wisdom will take place in the StarHouse June 2022. It is designed to train beginners who are willing to ride a steep learning-curve, and long-time astrologers.
Our teaching weaves experiential activities (embodiment) and conceptual learning so you learn it more thoroughly.
On-line too: The course will also be on-line (live-streamed, interactive). A manager on our end will coordinate actively with those attending via Zoom, including relaying questions to the presenters for comment. (We plan that the event will be filmed and edited, and parts of it made available as a course through our website.)
Our approach to astrology is informed and inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s indications found sprinkled throughout his six thousand lectures, as it has been developed by a small group of astrosophers over several decades. This deeper understanding of, and interaction with, the heavens is based on:
A sidereal (star-based) view of the heavens, emphasizing the active and dynamic role of the beings working from stars and constellations
Equal length zodiacal signs (relating to the lineage of Zarathustra), equal houses, and recognizing the Earth’s role and significance to the birth chart
Anthroposophy (thus called astrosophy, with its particular guidance for understanding the beings indwelling the zodiacal and planets)
Identifying and working with spiritual themes in our lives in a way made practical by the research of Robert Powell, and the indications of cosmic Christianity, as understood through Anthroposophy.
And other features that we will teach.
Some topics that we will cover:
New and traditional methods for interpreting a birth chart
Zodiacal constellations in the birth chart
Understanding the meaning in the patterns of the moving planets
Planetary aspects in the birth chart
The important role of the twelve equal houses, in the birth chart
How transiting planets interplay in the time-stream of life, presenting challenges and opportunities
Determining the time of conception and its own chart
The care necessary to regard the information of a person’s sacred birth moment with reverence and understanding
The importance of understanding reincarnation and karma for human development
The journey between death and rebirth, and why that is important for human destiny
Human Life phases: the 7-year periods of our life biography and the relation of those periods to the planetary spheres
The role of self-development for a practitioner of New Astrology
Commitment: This intensive requires participation in five-plus full days.
Dates: Begin Thursday evening, June 23, 2022, 7 PM, through midday Tuesday June 28. On June 24-27, we will go from 9 AM to 5 PM. Evenings are for homework, integration, and optional study groups. Lunches will be provided, including the last day, Tuesday.
Limits: Enrollment will be limited to 24 in-person participants and others will participate on-line. In-person will go through an application process. More important than years practicing astrology is your motivation to learn. Our present on-line courses (New Astrology, series 1 and series 2) will be made available to all registered participants and can provide a strong foundation to a motivated person with little experience. After application for In-person participants, one of our team will arrange a phone call to interview you.
Scholarship program: We plan to have a scholarship program to which those of means can contribute. Please consider contributing to this fund to support others taking this course.
Costs: Cost of on-site/in-person for the whole course $1100. On-line (live-streaming) $800. A deposit will hold your place.
Meals and Snacks: Lunches provided every day including Tuesday (just after the end of the course). Dietary restrictions are queried on the application. Snacks and tea are provided mid-morning and mid-afternoon every day.
Lodging: You will need to find your own lodging and transport. Some lodging is available in nearby residences, and the Retreat Cabin near the StarHouse. These can fill up quickly, so please make your request soon. Other lodgings nearby are the Boulder Adventure Lodge (a-lodge.com), which fills up in summertime quickly. More information will be sent after registration.
The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC Mysteries of the Holy Grail – from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation April 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
“The pupils of the Grail were told of a state which humans would attain in future. Possessed of clear, alert consciousness, their being would be purified, the substance of the human body would become as pure and chaste as that of the plant, and their organs of reproduction transformed.”~ from Chapter 12 Rudolf Steiner, The Mysteries of the Holy Grail, Chapter 12“The Higher Calyx” and Chapter 13“The Resonant Chalice,” excerpts from Steiner’s lectures given at Nuremberg on 2 December 1907 (GA 92) and Stuttgart 16 September 1907 (GA 101) … will be the focus of the April 6 meeting.
Chapters 12 and 13 in the book can be found online at the CRC’s website by clicking this link A transcript of the 2 December 1907 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link A transcript of the 16 September, 1907 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link * Please considergiving 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 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:
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106 One tap mobile +13017158592,,81116556762# US (Germantown) +13126266799,,81116556762# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
7:15 Welcome and Introductions 7:18 Verse 7:25 Study led by volunteers Note: CRC team will ID volunteers Michael – Chapter 12 Tom – Chapter 13 7:50 Conversation 8:25 ID volunteers for next meeting 8:28 Close with verse
The Anthroposophical Society in America presents: Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human in Santa Fe, New Mexico ~ April 21-24, 2022 Hotel Santa Fe Hacienda and Spa
Join us in New Mexico, the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia. Join together in community as Sophia emerges and rises in her many facets and expressions- past, present, and future.
Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other.
VENUE & TRAVEL
Our gathering will take place at the lovely Native American-owned Hotel Santa Fe. We recommend you book your stay with the hotel to create a connected communal atmosphere for our gathering. The hotel has a full restaurant, pool, hot tub, and spa, as well as kivas and cozy sitting areas. Please call or email to make reservations with our special room rate for suites at $179/night. Each suite includes a refrigerator, microwave and sitting area. So much of what Santa Fe has to offer is within walking distance from the hotel.
**Ask for ASA Gathering to book with our special rate of $179/night for a suite. **
Registrants will receive suggested activities from our local organizers to explore in Santa Fe before or after our gathering. Extending your stay? The special ASA hotel rate is available for 3 days prior to and 3 days after the ASA gathering.
HOTEL and VENUE ADDRESS: 1501 Paseo de Peralta Santa Fe, NM 87501 Phone: (877) 259-3409
TICKETS The ticket price includes access to all conference activities, snacks, coffee/tea and beverages, dessert reception Thursday, dinner Friday, lunch Saturday and brunch on Sunday.
Early Bird Only with Room Booking – After 2/26 more tickets will be released!
SCHEDULE (subject to minor changes)
THURSDAY, April 21
7 pm Gathering Together – with a dessert reception
7:30- 8:30 pm ArtActs: Past – Present – Future Eurythmy, and Singing,
FRIDAY, April 22
Explore Santa Fe on your own and continued arrivals
1:00 – 2:30 pm Welcome: Spirit of Placewith organizers
WEAVING EARTH Opening Ceremony with Angela Foster and friends
2:30pm-3:00pm Break
3:00-4:30 pm Encountering the Celestial Goddess Anthroposophia with Mary Stewart Adams
HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
4:30-4:45 pm Break
4:45- 6:00 pm WEAVING AIR ArtActs Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech
6:00-7:30 pm Dinner Together*
7:30 pm Fireside Chats – Story and Sharing – Breakout circles led by friends and organizers 8:30 pm
Stargazing with Mary Stewart Adams
SATURDAY, April 23
Breakfast – On your own
8:30 – 9:30 am WEAVING ETHER Eurythmy
9:30 – 10:00 am Break
10:00 -11:15 am The Virgin of Guadalupe: Sophia Rising in the Americaswith Stephanie Georgieff – The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the first recorded apparitions in the Americas. Revealing herself to a Nahuatl Native and ultimately to the Bishop of New Spain and his entourage in December of 1531, this image has continued to inspire countless souls for nearly 500 years. The symbolism and timing of her appearance presents deep mysteries for our age, and points to the ultimate Sophianic impulse for the present and future of Humanity.
11:30 – 12:30 pm WEAVING STORIES Biography Work
12:30 – 2:00 pm Lunch Together*
2:00 – 4:00 pm ‘ANTHROPOSOPHIA: OUR ALCHEMICAL WEDDING’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends. At the heart of this convergence isa Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know Thyself’’ – A Temple Experience in the New Mysteries, built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions, preparing us to enter a deeply intensive initiatory experience – a ‘Movable Feast’ with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, Steiner verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth. Passing through Trials of the Soul we meet powerful Spiritual Beings on the way to our sacred marriage – a union of Warmth and Light, so that we can unveil the ‘Sophia Rising’ within ourselves, and the world.
4:00 – 4:30 pm Break
4:30 – 5:30 pm WEAVING COLOR Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic within the Earthly Pastels with Helen-Ann Ireland
8:00-9:30 pm WEAVING COMMUNITYSophia Rising- Past, Present, and FutureMC’d by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer. Sign up to bring something to share! Poetry, Instruments, Story
SUNDAY, April 24
8:00 – 9:00 am WEAVING LIGHT Bathe in the Natural Warmth and Harmony of the Metal Gold with Helena Hurrell – A metal color light therapy experience inspired by the glass windows at the Goetheanum
9:00-10:30 am WEAVING FIRE with Carrie Schuchardt HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
10:30 – 12:00pm Brunch Together*
12:00-1:00 pm WEAVING WATERWater Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends WEAVING WHOLENESSClosing with Angela Foster and Friends
Notes: *Meals marked with an asterisk are included in the price of the ticket – Coffee, tea, and snacks will also be provided through the conference
A quiet ‘Sanctuary Room’ will be provided for contemplation
PRESENTERS AND GUIDES (Not a full list-more to come!)
Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian, and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast “The Storyteller’s Night Sky”. Through her research in spiritual science and her education in literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars. Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas of contemporary astronomy in order to understand the new star wisdom of astrosophy.
Eyahnna DalBo (artist of the Sophia Rising painting) came to anthroposophy 30 years ago when her daughter attended a Waldorf school. Her studies have included an undergraduate degree in fine art and graduate work in psychology using the arts for healing. In her private practice, she developed various energetic modalities. Her experience with subtle energy fields gave her the opportunity to teach and take part in designing a curriculum for a 2-year program focusing on energy healing. As a consultant, she initiated numerous therapeutic programs to assist in pioneering the field of art therapy. Through the gift of an apprenticeship with indigenous people she was able to bring their practices and ceremonies to what she offered deepening her ability to be of service. As an artist, she continues to utilize the spoken word, movement, sound, and visual imagery to honor and create a field that fosters awareness, growth, and transformation.
Angela Foster has been an active student of anthroposophy since 2008. After growing up in Texas, Angela is now embracing life in Atlanta, Georgia as an artist, teacher, and mom of two daughters, shepherd to two mini sheep. As a conscious practitioner of “beginner’s mind”, Angela has completed programs in foundation studies in Anthroposophy numerous times and is currently enrolled in Foundation Studies in Goethean Science through the Nature Institute. She and her husband manage the Anthroposophical Resource Center (ARC) an initiative in Decatur, Georgia that offers space for community events and serves as a little house for Anthroposophia.
Stephanie Georgieff, MS is an author, podcaster and pilgrim. Residing mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, she has written several books on The Divine Feminine as presented through the genre of The Black Madonna, The Virgin of Guadalupe and The Divine Sophia. She has spoken at conferences and venues throughout North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. The Black Madonna Speaks is her latest endeavor, a weekly podcast exploring the mysteries of The Black Madonna from an Anthroposophical and Esoteric Chritian perspective, along with artists, poets, authors and scholars on the subject.
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings.
Helena Hurrell joyfully met Anthroposophy in San Fransisco in 1977 and has been working with individuals and groups as a Waldorf educator since 1981 and then throughout her life trained to become a therapist while living in Australia, the UK and North America. She is currently in private practice in Colorado blending the therapeutic work she offers through her love of color ~ as an Art and Metal Color Light Glass Therapist trained in the UK and Germany. Both of these trainings are certified by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. Metal Color Light Therapy is a relatively new initiative originated by the late Marianne Altmaier who developed this therapy and training out of her deep interest in and knowledge of the Goetheanum windows in Dornach. Helena’s website: www.helioscenter.org
Helen-Ann Ireland has been involved in anthroposophical studies for over 30 years as a Waldorf teacher, member of the School for Spiritual Science, Class holder, and now as chair of the Anthroposophical Society of America. A special interest has been in the area of the Divine Feminine and the Being of Sophia.
Michele Mariscal has 30 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She is a skilled facilitator in soft skills, speaker, coach and author. She is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist as well as a Trainer and Coach with the Institute of HeartMath. She facilitates greater heart-based living for individuals and organizations Michele is also a five-time author with her most recent publication of Growing Through Grief – The Alchemy of Healing from Loss.
Joyce Reilly Joyce studied psychology in college and was fascinated by the idea of a therapeutic community. She has worked in Camphill for many years, and is trained as a Waldorf and Therapeutic teacher. She founded Gheel House, a therapeutic community near Kimberton Pennsylvania, still thriving after 37 years. Joyce’s interests expanded to international conflict work and refugee resettlement. She works with organizations such as the Janusz Korczak Association, Karuna Peacebuilders, Kiwimbi International, Good Grief, the Worldwide Storytelling and Puppetry Association, and especially with the New York Anthroposophical Branch, and also works part-time at the local public library. Joyce is also trained in Psychosynthesis therapy and Anthroposophical psychology – currently practicing as a life coach and counselor.
Carrie Schuchardt co-founded The House of Peace in 1990, a home that is a physical and spiritual refuge for victims of war in a community with adults with special needs. In the last 15 years over 400 refugees from approximately 30 countries have been received in the healing embrace of The House of Peace, giving supportive assistance in establishing themselves in the US. In addition to the daily work of The House Peace, Carrie participates in many activities for the conversion of consciousness and policies from war to peace. Carrie has begun a network of women who witness publicly, Women Weeping, where women dress in mourning carrying symbolic lifeless children in order to help people feel what is rarely expressed in the media: the grief of hundreds of thousands of mothers in war zones around the world who lose their children to the terrible violence of war.
Maria Ver Eecke is presently the therapeutic eurythmist for the School of Eurythmy, Spring Valley, NY. She taught eurythmy for forty years in Waldorf schools, a charter school, and a home-school program. Maria met anthroposophy in Maseru, Lesotho, when she was a class teacher in an English-medium preparatory school. Currently she is the editor of the newsletters for the Eurythmy Association of North America and the Association of Therapeutic Eurythmy in North America.
One of my beloved ‘practice buddies’ & I had a check-in with the need to express the anxiety that is living in the world & in us – which feels like an attack on our soul forces. We placed the Time Spirit Michael in a leminscate between us – activating the sword of discernment – & picturing his shield as a ribcage around our heart.
The eurythmy gesture for the constellation of Cancer, which houses the Bee Hive Cluster & rules the ribcage, came to heart & mind.
Remembering that we are in the Season of Lent, we handed over everything that was too overwhelming to carry, into the arms of Mother Mary, in an imagination that these ongoing astral attacks can & must be transformed, passing from Her hands into the Sacred Heart of Christ, transformed by the Holy Spirit, & held by the “Father Ground of the World” as a healing impulse in “Depths of Worlds Begetting Life”.
Then later, at 2nd breakfast, with my husband – another dear practice buddy, we talked about how the adversarial powers are working really hard. They are highly intelligent, & have a systematic, long term plan.
So what about us? What is our plan?
Of course on a personal level we know we need to work on our own individual inner development thru the basic essential exercises etc…But what about the Anthroposophical Society as a world-wide movement? Can we, will we, as an association of members, create some sort of Michaelic plan of action?
It’s great that many of us are stepping up our Eurythmy & Meditation practice, offering these up to the world. And, yes, we are really good at “Spirit-Recalling”, remembering the past – folks are gearing up for the 100 year anniversary of the laying of the New Foundation Stone of Love into the hearts of the 800 members at the Christmas Conference in 1923-24, right now.
Many of us strive to focus in with “Spirit-Sensing”- aligning with “World rhythms bestowing grace upon souls” – Working to bring awareness of the etheric Christ encircling us.
And I believe the impulse for the ‘Sophia Rising Convergence’ is truly what is needed as a herald to our “Spirit-Beholding” – which is calling to be unveiled & activated NOW. The dimension of Wisdom must be engaged if we are to light the way to the New-Isis & our future incarnation with the Maitreya Buddha, to embody Manichaeism in order to redeem evil.
Of course the elephant in the room in dealing with the Anthroposophical Society still trumpets with the residue of the chaos in the Society, that has always sort of been there, but which was exasperated after Steiner’s death. (which, BTW, had to do, in part, with not taking up the karmic task of bridging the “2 Streams” which led to the compromising of the principles of truth & freedom –under the political pressures of Nazi authorities)
Can each of us honestly say we have rooted out the residue of divisiveness lurking within, expressed thru antipathies & misplaced sympathies – Stamped on us thru our vaccine status? Fear & defensiveness, one-sided othering – blame & shame – Our refusal to see the other – as a karmic mirror – our aversion to those in the ‘other stream’ who think differently than us…
Friends, Let’s open the door. How can we work together to create true unity with all that we have been given thru Rudolf Steiner & Anthroposophy? Will we, as a collective, respond to the necessity coming from all worlds, out-pictured in the global situations? We must put our spiritual world-view into practice, creating a chalice that offers the healing medicine, in the Wisdom of Love & freedom.
Stay tuned dear intrepid souls – the Spiritual World is asking for us to tune in together as we make our way toward the 100 year Jubilee of the Re-Founding – & NOW as we stand in the reflection of the burning of the 1st Goetheanum in 1922 an initiative is wanting to be born at Whitsun 2022 to unite us…
Will the tongues of fire speak your name in the upper room of our true Becoming?
~hag
SpringerLink
22 March 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: In a very dark sky, the realistic stick figure of Canis Major is fairly plain to see — the Big Dog is seen in profile prancing to the right on his hind legs, with Sirius on his chest as his shiny dog tag. But for many of us, only his five brightest stars show well through the light pollution. These form the unmistakable Meat Cleaver.
Sirius and Murzim (to its right) are the wide top end of the Cleaver, with Sirius sparkling on its top back corner. Down to Sirius’s lower left is the Cleaver’s other end including its short handle, formed by the triangle of Adhara, Wezen, and Aludra. The Cleaver is chopping toward the lower right.
The waning gibbous Moon rises in the early hours of Wednesday morning, among the stars of upper Scorpius. Best view: just before the first glimmer of dawn Wednesday, about 1½ hours before sunrise. The Bella Luna is due south then, hanging above the orange-red supergiant Antares.
1828 – Birthday of Fercher von Steinwand,an Austrian poet. From Rudolf Steiner in THE RIDDLE OF MAN, GA 20, Pictures from the Thought-Life of Austria
“I learned to know him at the end of the 1880’s in Vienna and for a short time associated with him personally. He was sixty years old at the time: a true figure of light, even externally; an engaging warmth shone from his noble features, eloquent eyes, and expressive gestures; through tranquil clarity and self-possession, this soul of an older man still gave the effect of youthful freshness. And when one came to know this soul better, its particular nature and creations, one could see how a feeling life instilled by the Carinthian Mountains united in this soul with a contemplative life in the power of the idealism in German world views. This contemplation (Sinnen) was already entirely native to his soul as a poetic world of pictures; this contemplation pointed with this world of pictures into the depths of existence; it confronted world riddles artistically, without the originality of artistic creation paling thereby into thought-poetry; one can observe this kind of contemplation in the following lines from Fercher von Steinwand’s Chorus of Primal Dreams:
Out of all regions Ever ascended, Wanders an ether in far-radiant arches; Travel the billows to Depths ever silent. There with our all-seeing Will as their cargo, Wending their way through the fog go our ferries; Sail between wonderful Banks new arising. There before all-warming Eyes of soft mildness Winding and turning we fashion our patterns Out all around dreaming Regions of star-fields. There to misfortune we N’er are indebted, There we constructed our fortresses hovering, And tribulations we Joyfully shattered. He who would paint you with Most holy features, Highest abode of our contemplative urgings: Wait for the swiftest Servants of love!
The following verses seek to portray how the soul, in thinking-waking daydreams, lives in far-away starry worlds and in immediate reality; then the poet continues:
No matter what careful Powers accomplish, Only on dreaming’s own wide-spreading pinions Can what is mighty be Gained now forever. Every o’erpowering greatness of action, All of the angels who guard what was planted Are given counsel by Dreams that inspire them.
Fercher von Steinwand then sings further about the penetrating of thinking, spiritualized to the point of dreaming, into the depths of the world, and about the penetrating of that kind of dreaming which is an awakening out of our ordinary waking state into those depths where the life of what is spiritual in the world can make itself tangible to the soul:
Life that our pulsating Hearts have perceived, Life that our struggling hearts have ascended To all the welcoming Cries of the spirits:
And then Fercher von Steinwand lets sound forth to the human spirit what the beings of the spirit realm speak to the soul that opens itself to them in inner contemplation:
Healed ones, now be here by Loving encircled! What you were seeking in uplifting hours, Here, you selected ones, Is it disclosed; Here in the grandeur of Halls of the Godhead, Where to the heart other hearts are so pleasing, Where buried voices are Sounding forth newly Where now the care-worn are Royally striving, Radiant souls now in smiles are all wreathed, Round all the wrecks of the Wheels of the ages — Only the blinded ones, Earth-bound and foolish, Were for the gulf of destruction begotten, Lost to the worlds of Spirit perfection! Weal to the sens’tive one Round whom we hover, Whom we enliven to bloss’ming existence, All without weaving in Fugitive shadows!
In the literary works of Fercher von Steinwand there then follows upon this Chorus of Primal Dreams his Chorus of Primal Impulses:
In the distances unbounded Of our ancient mother Night. Hark — to be in inward conflict Seems the deep mysterious might! Do we hear present’ment striding? Is our longing wide awake? Was a spirit-lightning lit? Are our dreams through spaces gliding? How now are powers by powers enraptured, Blessed exchanges! Now sudden hastenings. Then quiet lingerings, Reveling listenings Change into beckonings Marveling fearings! Charm of desiring Mounts, and sinks down, Sinks into hatred. Faced with the pallid Picture of embracing Cannot clasp hatred. Ramifications dim, Inclinings burgeoning, Send forth their tendrils. Ponderous inklings Dawn and go faltering O’er the wide spaces, Seem to give counsel Or to give guidance. What they’re preparing Is it the sowing Of immense actions, Of radiant ages? Who felt the furrows To be creative! Who wandered through them Blissfully savoring, Or disentangling, Grandeurs discovering! Yonder the stir is like spirits embracing We are enwarmed And are receiving, Seeking, and thinking, See ourselves lifted, Woven in joy with Highest beginnings. You wafting ‘round us, In us arising: “You are ideas! —”
May duration grow accustomed To what urge has conjured up; May adorning and appeasement In creation’s stream prevail. Sweetest light! in noble ringing Mounts my heart aloft to you: Linger at your western gate; Help to crown the deed of love! Risen from all earthly bonds is our impulse Soul — resurrected! But what is ripened Ruling, and valid Proves to be spirit! All that is circling, All earth foundations, All heavenly kindlings are Self-made in spirit, Came forth from spirit, Work through the spirit Powerful freedom from chaos did fashion Space for good fortune! Cloaked, with the dew of its deep-breathing mildness, Forest and field! Cared that the dew and the light be companions, Forming the hem of deep transfiguration — Cared that each droplet should float at the threshold of Spiritual radiance!
In Ferchervon Steinwand’s Complete Works (published by Theodor Daberkow in Vienna), there are also several indications about his life given by the poet himself when pressed by friends on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, He wrote, “I began life on March 22, 1828 upon the heights of the Steinwand above the banks of the Möll in Carinthia (Kärten); that means, in the midst of a defiant congregation of mountains with their heads held high, beneath whose domineering grandeur burdened human beings seem continuously to grow poorer,” Since, in his Chorus of Primal Impulses, we find the world view of German idealism cast in the form of a poetic creation, it is interesting to see how the poet, on his paths through Austrian spiritual life, receives impulses from this world view already in his youth. He describes how he enters the university in Graz: “With my credentials — which of course consisted only of my report cards — held tight against my chest, I presented myself to the dean. That was Professor Edlauer, a criminologist of high repute. He hoped to see me (he said) industriously present in his lecture course on natural law. Behind the curtain of this innocent title he presented us for the whole semester, in rousing lectures, with those German philosophers who, under the fatherly care of our well-meaning spiritual guardians were banned and kept from us: Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and so on — heroes, therefore; that means men who founded and fructified all areas of pure thinking, who gave the language and created the concepts for all the other sciences, and who, consequently, are illustrious names shining from our street comers today and seeming almost strange there in their particular diamond clarity. This semester was my vita nuova!”
Whoever learns to know Fercher von Steinwand’s tragedy Dankmar, his Countess Seelenbrand, his German Tones from Austria, and other works of his will be able through this to feel many of the forces that were working in the Austrian spiritual life of the second half of the nineteenth century. And everything about Fercher von Steinwand testifies to the fact that one receives out of his soul a picture from this spiritual life in clarity, truth, and genuineness. The amiable Austrian poet in dialect Leopold Hormann felt rightly when he wrote the words:
Far from all baseness All avarice and meanness; Foe of publicity, That loathesome false lady; German in soul, Strong yet with kindness Great in his thinking, No faltering and wavering, Proof against all objections: — Fercher von Steinwand!
1832 – The DeathDay of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – who Steiner names as a ‘sculptor & follower of Plato’ in Karmic Relations Vol 4 Lecture 10
Tune in to our Zoom broadcasts, brief presentations of aspects of this course, with lots of time for Q&A. Intended to total 20 minutes in length. These are given on different days so you might find one that would work best for you. Each of these brief sessions will be different!
March 28, Monday, 9 AM Mtn. (morning)
Star Wisdom comes alive through active embodiment within each participant, made possible by working together in the instrument of the StarHouse—or within your sacred imagination in your own home. This immersion facilitates each participant forming conscious relationships with zodiacal and planetary beings.
Join us for an exploration, based on spiritual science and star wisdom, into the following themes:
This course, to train practitioners in Star Wisdom will take place in the StarHouse June 2022. It is designed to train beginners who are willing to ride a steep learning-curve, and long-time astrologers.
Our teaching weaves experiential activities (embodiment) and conceptual learning so you learn it more thoroughly.
On-line too: The course will also be on-line (live-streamed, interactive). A manager on our end will coordinate actively with those attending via Zoom, including relaying questions to the presenters for comment. (We plan that the event will be filmed and edited, and parts of it made available as a course through our website.)
Our approach to astrology is informed and inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s indications found sprinkled throughout his six thousand lectures, as it has been developed by a small group of astrosophers over several decades. This deeper understanding of, and interaction with, the heavens is based on:
A sidereal (star-based) view of the heavens, emphasizing the active and dynamic role of the beings working from stars and constellations
Equal length zodiacal signs (relating to the lineage of Zarathustra), equal houses, and recognizing the Earth’s role and significance to the birth chart
Anthroposophy (thus called astrosophy, with its particular guidance for understanding the beings indwelling the zodiacal and planets)
Identifying and working with spiritual themes in our lives in a way made practical by the research of Robert Powell, and the indications of cosmic Christianity, as understood through Anthroposophy.
And other features that we will teach.
Some topics that we will cover:
New and traditional methods for interpreting a birth chart
Zodiacal constellations in the birth chart
Understanding the meaning in the patterns of the moving planets
Planetary aspects in the birth chart
The important role of the twelve equal houses, in the birth chart
How transiting planets interplay in the time-stream of life, presenting challenges and opportunities
Determining the time of conception and its own chart
The care necessary to regard the information of a person’s sacred birth moment with reverence and understanding
The importance of understanding reincarnation and karma for human development
The journey between death and rebirth, and why that is important for human destiny
Human Life phases: the 7-year periods of our life biography and the relation of those periods to the planetary spheres
The role of self-development for a practitioner of New Astrology
Commitment: This intensive requires participation in five-plus full days.
Dates: Begin Thursday evening, June 23, 2022, 7 PM, through midday Tuesday June 28. On June 24-27, we will go from 9 AM to 5 PM. Evenings are for homework, integration, and optional study groups. Lunches will be provided, including the last day, Tuesday.
Limits: Enrollment will be limited to 24 in-person participants and others will participate on-line. In-person will go through an application process. More important than years practicing astrology is your motivation to learn. Our present on-line courses (New Astrology, series 1 and series 2) will be made available to all registered participants and can provide a strong foundation to a motivated person with little experience. After application for In-person participants, one of our team will arrange a phone call to interview you.
Scholarship program: We plan to have a scholarship program to which those of means can contribute. Please consider contributing to this fund to support others taking this course.
Costs: Cost of on-site/in-person for the whole course $1100. On-line (live-streaming) $800. A deposit will hold your place.
Meals and Snacks: Lunches provided every day including Tuesday (just after the end of the course). Dietary restrictions are queried on the application. Snacks and tea are provided mid-morning and mid-afternoon every day.
Lodging: You will need to find your own lodging and transport. Some lodging is available in nearby residences, and the Retreat Cabin near the StarHouse. These can fill up quickly, so please make your request soon. Other lodgings nearby are the Boulder Adventure Lodge (a-lodge.com), which fills up in summertime quickly. More information will be sent after registration.
The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC Mysteries of the Holy Grail – from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation April 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
“The pupils of the Grail were told of a state which humans would attain in future. Possessed of clear, alert consciousness, their being would be purified, the substance of the human body would become as pure and chaste as that of the plant, and their organs of reproduction transformed.”~ from Chapter 12 Rudolf Steiner, The Mysteries of the Holy Grail, Chapter 12“The Higher Calyx” and Chapter 13“The Resonant Chalice,” excerpts from Steiner’s lectures given at Nuremberg on 2 December 1907 (GA 92) and Stuttgart 16 September 1907 (GA 101) … will be the focus of the April 6 meeting.
Chapters 12 and 13 in the book can be found online at the CRC’s website by clicking this link A transcript of the 2 December 1907 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link A transcript of the 16 September, 1907 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link * Please considergiving 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 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:
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106 One tap mobile +13017158592,,81116556762# US (Germantown) +13126266799,,81116556762# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
7:15 Welcome and Introductions 7:18 Verse 7:25 Study led by volunteers Note: CRC team will ID volunteers Michael – Chapter 12 Tom – Chapter 13 7:50 Conversation 8:25 ID volunteers for next meeting 8:28 Close with verse
“…Of course all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work the big sudden blows that come, or seem to come, from outside the ones you remember and blame things on and, in moments of weakness, tell your friends about, don’t show their effect all at once…
…the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise…~F. Scott Fitzgerald “The Crack-Up” (inspired by Sophie Senard!:)
Wendy Sharpe
Those that read this page know that I often grapple with the idea of a question as a quest…If you are looking for a solid answer, well then you better have a sense of humor & a taste for bitter-sweet truth wrought words…Living with chronic pain, exasperated by 2 years in an anxious hazy-crazy corona enshrouded earth reality, ‘answers’ become a longed for life-preserver; but often end up being a defective pool noodle. In life’s choppy sea it might keep floating for a day, but ultimately I have to sink, or swim – And the shoreline keeps receding – moving toward a future horizon I can’t see. And so I try as F. Scott Fitzgerald tells to embrace the break-down – to look for the silver lining which grows like a rainbow in my heart gestating miracles I could never have planned.
Last night in the rumbling thunder the wind whipped the woodpeckers nest out of the white maple. I looked for them this morning. I must trust that the elements will conspire to make strong what it does not kill. We are living in a time of increasing unpredictability – the weather-vane spinning off its hinges. Yep, we are being shaken awake.
Perhaps the ‘answers’ will not come from human beings, but from bacteria & insects & clouds.
Questions must be relational. They involve the other. They weave roots to plants & branches to trees – nourishing bugs & bacteria – feeding the human being. Ever asking us to co-create a resilient connection between spirit & matter.
~hag
Viktoria Tormassy
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated with added titles by Roy Sadler LENT II Joy Will Arise v47 From worldwide womb will rise the joy of growth, enlivening the senses’ glory; and may it find my strength of thought defended by the strength of God, the living bedrock of my being.
This is a quote from Eleanor Merry in her Calendar of the Soul Commentary, “When our thinking can unite with the light of the Sun, it becomes creative for the future. And when we can be quickened within by the same powers that quicken the outer world into life, then will joy infill our deeds, and they will be in harmony with the deeds of Cosmic Beings.”
This is this week’s mirror verse. ASCENSION The Risen Self v6 Arisen from my own persona my real self appears as revelation of the spheres that in the powers of time and space the world is showing me as paradigm, God’s archetype that everywhere portrays the image in whose mirror I come true.
12 BC – The Roman Emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the Emperor.
632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada’) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
845 – Execution of the 42 Martyrs of Amorium at Samarra
1251 – Deathday of Rose of Viterbo, Italian saint, known for her mystical gifts of foretelling the future & having miraculous powers. Born of poor & pious parents, even as a child Rose had a great desire to pray & to aid the poor. When she was 3 years old, she allegedly raised to life her maternal aunt. At the age of 7, she had already lived the life of a recluse, devoting herself to penances. She prayed much for the conversion of sinners. Rose was not yet 10 years old when the Blessed Virgin Mary is said to have instructed her to enter the Third Order of St. Francis & to preach penance in Viterbo.
In January 1250, her native city was in revolt against the pope. When Rose took the pope’s side against the emperor, she & her family were exiled from the city & took refuge in Soriano nel Cimino. When the pope’s side won in Viterbo, Rose was allowed to return.
Rose foretold the speedy death of the emperor, a prophecy fulfilled on December 13, 1250. Soon afterwards she went to Vitorchiano, whose inhabitants, were affected by a bad sorceress. Rose secured the conversion of all, even of the sorceress, reportedly by standing unscathed for three hours in the flames of a burning pyre
1475 – Birthday of Michelangelo, Italian painter & sculptor
1619 – Birthday of Cyrano de Bergerac, French author & playwright
1665 – The first joint Secretary of the Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, publishes the first issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
1806 – Birthday of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. – poet. She campaigned for the abolition of slavery & her work helped influence reform in the child labor legislation. Her prolific output made her a rival to Tennyson as a candidate for poet laureate on the death of Wordsworth.
1820 – The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, & makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free
1857 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case -a landmark decision, it held that “a negro, whose ancestors were imported into the U.S., and sold as slaves”, whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court”, & that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. Dred Scott, an enslaved man of “the negro African race” who had been taken by his owners to free states attempted to sue for his freedom. In a 7–2 decision written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the court denied Scott’s request. The decision was only the 2nd time that the Supreme Court had ruled an Act of Congress to be unconstitutional.
Although Taney hoped that his ruling would finally settle the slavery question, the decision immediately spurred vehement dissent from anti-slavery elements in the North, especially Republicans. Many contemporary lawyers, & most modern legal scholars, consider the ruling regarding slavery in the territories to be dictum, not binding precedent. The decision proved to be an indirect catalyst for the American Civil War. It was functionally superseded by the Civil Rights Act of 1866 & by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1868, which gave African Americans full citizenship.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford is unanimously denounced by scholars, it “stands first in any list of the worst Supreme Court decisions.” “The Court’s greatest self-inflicted wound”. “Universally condemned as the U.S. Supreme Court’s worst decision “Unquestionably, our court’s worst decision ever”
1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society
1888 – Deathday of Louisa May Alcott, American novelist & poet
1943 – Norman Rockwell published Freedom from Want in The Saturday Evening Post with a matching essay by Carlos Bulosan as part of the Four Freedoms series
1964 – Boxing champion Cassius Clay takes the name Muhammad Ali
1975 – For the first time the Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is shown
1986 – Deathday of Georgia O’Keeffe, American painter
Star Wisdom comes alive through active embodiment within each participant, made possible by working together in the instrument of the StarHouse—or within your sacred imagination in your own home. This immersion facilitates each participant forming conscious relationships with zodiacal and planetary beings.
Join us for an exploration, based on spiritual science and star wisdom, into the following themes:
This course, to train practitioners in Star Wisdom will take place in the StarHouse June 2022. It is designed to train beginners who are willing to ride a steep learning-curve, and long-time astrologers.
Our teaching weaves experiential activities (embodiment) and conceptual learning so you learn it more thoroughly.
On-line too: The course will also be on-line (live-streamed, interactive). A manager on our end will coordinate actively with those attending via Zoom, including relaying questions to the presenters for comment. (We plan that the event will be filmed and edited, and parts of it made available as a course through our website.)
Our approach to astrology is informed and inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s indications found sprinkled throughout his six thousand lectures, as it has been developed by a small group of astrosophers over several decades. This deeper understanding of, and interaction with, the heavens is based on:
A sidereal (star-based) view of the heavens, emphasizing the active and dynamic role of the beings working from stars and constellations
Equal length zodiacal signs (relating to the lineage of Zarathustra), equal houses, and recognizing the Earth’s role and significance to the birth chart
Anthroposophy (thus called astrosophy, with its particular guidance for understanding the beings indwelling the zodiacal and planets)
Identifying and working with spiritual themes in our lives in a way made practical by the research of Robert Powell, and the indications of cosmic Christianity, as understood through Anthroposophy.
And other features that we will teach.
Some topics that we will cover:
New and traditional methods for interpreting a birth chart
Zodiacal constellations in the birth chart
Understanding the meaning in the patterns of the moving planets
Planetary aspects in the birth chart
The important role of the twelve equal houses, in the birth chart
How transiting planets interplay in the time-stream of life, presenting challenges and opportunities
Determining the time of conception and its own chart
The care necessary to regard the information of a person’s sacred birth moment with reverence and understanding
The importance of understanding reincarnation and karma for human development
The journey between death and rebirth, and why that is important for human destiny
Human Life phases: the 7-year periods of our life biography and the relation of those periods to the planetary spheres
The role of self-development for a practitioner of New Astrology
Commitment: This intensive requires participation in five-plus full days.
Dates: Begin Thursday evening, June 23, 2022, 7 PM, through midday Tuesday June 28. On June 24-27, we will go from 9 AM to 5 PM. Evenings are for homework, integration, and optional study groups. Lunches will be provided, including the last day, Tuesday.
Limits: Enrollment will be limited to 24 in-person participants and others will participate on-line. In-person will go through an application process. More important than years practicing astrology is your motivation to learn. Our present on-line courses (New Astrology, series 1 and series 2) will be made available to all registered participants and can provide a strong foundation to a motivated person with little experience. After application for In-person participants, one of our team will arrange a phone call to interview you.
Scholarship program: We plan to have a scholarship program to which those of means can contribute. Please consider contributing to this fund to support others taking this course.
Costs: Cost of on-site/in-person for the whole course $1100. On-line (live-streaming) $800. A deposit will hold your place.
Meals and Snacks: Lunches provided every day including Tuesday (just after the end of the course). Dietary restrictions are queried on the application. Snacks and tea are provided mid-morning and mid-afternoon every day.
Lodging: You will need to find your own lodging and transport. Some lodging is available in nearby residences, and the Retreat Cabin near the StarHouse. These can fill up quickly, so please make your request soon. Other lodgings nearby are the Boulder Adventure Lodge (a-lodge.com), which fills up in summertime quickly. More information will be sent after registration.
Questions about the course
Tune in to our Zoom broadcasts, brief presentations of aspects of this course, with lots of time for Q&A. Intended to total 20 minutes in length. These are given on different days so you might find one that would work best for you. Each of these brief sessions will be different!
The Anthroposophical Society in America presents: Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human in Santa Fe, New Mexico ~ April 21-24, 2022 Hotel Santa Fe Hacienda and Spa
Join us in New Mexico, the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia. Join together in community as Sophia emerges and rises in her many facets and expressions- past, present, and future.
Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other.
VENUE & TRAVEL
Our gathering will take place at the lovely Native American-owned Hotel Santa Fe. We recommend you book your stay with the hotel to create a connected communal atmosphere for our gathering. The hotel has a full restaurant, pool, hot tub, and spa, as well as kivas and cozy sitting areas. Please call or email to make reservations with our special room rate for suites at $179/night. Each suite includes a refrigerator, microwave and sitting area. So much of what Santa Fe has to offer is within walking distance from the hotel.
**Ask for ASA Gathering to book with our special rate of $179/night for a suite. **
Registrants will receive suggested activities from our local organizers to explore in Santa Fe before or after our gathering. Extending your stay? The special ASA hotel rate is available for 3 days prior to and 3 days after the ASA gathering.
HOTEL and VENUE ADDRESS: 1501 Paseo de Peralta Santa Fe, NM 87501 Phone: (877) 259-3409
TICKETS The ticket price includes access to all conference activities, snacks, coffee/tea and beverages, dessert reception Thursday, dinner Friday, lunch Saturday and brunch on Sunday.
Early Bird Only with Room Booking – After 2/26 more tickets will be released!
SCHEDULE (subject to minor changes)
THURSDAY, April 21
7 pm Gathering Together – with a dessert reception
7:30- 8:30 pm ArtActs: Past – Present – Future Eurythmy, and Singing,
FRIDAY, April 22
Explore Santa Fe on your own and continued arrivals
1:00 – 2:30 pm Welcome: Spirit of Placewith organizers
WEAVING EARTH Opening Ceremony with Angela Foster and friends
2:30pm-3:00pm Break
3:00-4:30 pm Encountering the Celestial Goddess Anthroposophia with Mary Stewart Adams
HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
4:30-4:45 pm Break
4:45- 6:00 pm WEAVING AIR ArtActs Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech
6:00-7:30 pm Dinner Together*
7:30 pm Fireside Chats – Story and Sharing – Breakout circles led by friends and organizers 8:30 pm
Stargazing with Mary Stewart Adams
SATURDAY, April 23
Breakfast – On your own
8:30 – 9:30 am WEAVING ETHER Eurythmy
9:30 – 10:00 am Break
10:00 -11:15 am The Virgin of Guadalupe: Sophia Rising in the Americaswith Stephanie Georgieff – The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the first recorded apparitions in the Americas. Revealing herself to a Nahuatl Native and ultimately to the Bishop of New Spain and his entourage in December of 1531, this image has continued to inspire countless souls for nearly 500 years. The symbolism and timing of her appearance presents deep mysteries for our age, and points to the ultimate Sophianic impulse for the present and future of Humanity.
11:30 – 12:30 pm WEAVING STORIES Biography Work
12:30 – 2:00 pm Lunch Together*
2:00 – 4:00 pm ‘ANTHROPOSOPHIA: OUR ALCHEMICAL WEDDING’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends. At the heart of this convergence isa Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know Thyself’’ – A Temple Experience in the New Mysteries, built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions, preparing us to enter a deeply intensive initiatory experience – a ‘Movable Feast’ with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, Steiner verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth. Passing through Trials of the Soul we meet powerful Spiritual Beings on the way to our sacred marriage – a union of Warmth and Light, so that we can unveil the ‘Sophia Rising’ within ourselves, and the world.
4:00 – 4:30 pm Break
4:30 – 5:30 pm WEAVING COLOR Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic within the Earthly Pastels with Helen-Ann Ireland
8:00-9:30 pm WEAVING COMMUNITYSophia Rising- Past, Present, and FutureMC’d by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer. Sign up to bring something to share! Poetry, Instruments, Story
SUNDAY, April 24
8:00 – 9:00 am WEAVING LIGHT Bathe in the Natural Warmth and Harmony of the Metal Gold with Helena Hurrell – A metal color light therapy experience inspired by the glass windows at the Goetheanum
9:00-10:30 am WEAVING FIRE with Carrie Schuchardt HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
10:30 – 12:00pm Brunch Together*
12:00-1:00 pm WEAVING WATERWater Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends WEAVING WHOLENESSClosing with Angela Foster and Friends
Notes: *Meals marked with an asterisk are included in the price of the ticket – Coffee, tea, and snacks will also be provided through the conference
A quiet ‘Sanctuary Room’ will be provided for contemplation
PRESENTERS AND GUIDES (Not a full list-more to come!)
Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian, and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast “The Storyteller’s Night Sky”. Through her research in spiritual science and her education in literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars. Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas of contemporary astronomy in order to understand the new star wisdom of astrosophy.
Eyahnna DalBo (artist of the Sophia Rising painting) came to anthroposophy 30 years ago when her daughter attended a Waldorf school. Her studies have included an undergraduate degree in fine art and graduate work in psychology using the arts for healing. In her private practice, she developed various energetic modalities. Her experience with subtle energy fields gave her the opportunity to teach and take part in designing a curriculum for a 2-year program focusing on energy healing. As a consultant, she initiated numerous therapeutic programs to assist in pioneering the field of art therapy. Through the gift of an apprenticeship with indigenous people she was able to bring their practices and ceremonies to what she offered deepening her ability to be of service. As an artist, she continues to utilize the spoken word, movement, sound, and visual imagery to honor and create a field that fosters awareness, growth, and transformation.
Angela Foster has been an active student of anthroposophy since 2008. After growing up in Texas, Angela is now embracing life in Atlanta, Georgia as an artist, teacher, and mom of two daughters, shepherd to two mini sheep. As a conscious practitioner of “beginner’s mind”, Angela has completed programs in foundation studies in Anthroposophy numerous times and is currently enrolled in Foundation Studies in Goethean Science through the Nature Institute. She and her husband manage the Anthroposophical Resource Center (ARC) an initiative in Decatur, Georgia that offers space for community events and serves as a little house for Anthroposophia.
Stephanie Georgieff, MS is an author, podcaster and pilgrim. Residing mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, she has written several books on The Divine Feminine as presented through the genre of The Black Madonna, The Virgin of Guadalupe and The Divine Sophia. She has spoken at conferences and venues throughout North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. The Black Madonna Speaks is her latest endeavor, a weekly podcast exploring the mysteries of The Black Madonna from an Anthroposophical and Esoteric Chritian perspective, along with artists, poets, authors and scholars on the subject.
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings.
Helena Hurrell joyfully met Anthroposophy in San Fransisco in 1977 and has been working with individuals and groups as a Waldorf educator since 1981 and then throughout her life trained to become a therapist while living in Australia, the UK and North America. She is currently in private practice in Colorado blending the therapeutic work she offers through her love of color ~ as an Art and Metal Color Light Glass Therapist trained in the UK and Germany. Both of these trainings are certified by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. Metal Color Light Therapy is a relatively new initiative originated by the late Marianne Altmaier who developed this therapy and training out of her deep interest in and knowledge of the Goetheanum windows in Dornach. Helena’s website: www.helioscenter.org
Helen-Ann Ireland has been involved in anthroposophical studies for over 30 years as a Waldorf teacher, member of the School for Spiritual Science, Class holder, and now as chair of the Anthroposophical Society of America. A special interest has been in the area of the Divine Feminine and the Being of Sophia.
Michele Mariscal has 30 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She is a skilled facilitator in soft skills, speaker, coach and author. She is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist as well as a Trainer and Coach with the Institute of HeartMath. She facilitates greater heart-based living for individuals and organizations Michele is also a five-time author with her most recent publication of Growing Through Grief – The Alchemy of Healing from Loss.
Joyce Reilly Joyce studied psychology in college and was fascinated by the idea of a therapeutic community. She has worked in Camphill for many years, and is trained as a Waldorf and Therapeutic teacher. She founded Gheel House, a therapeutic community near Kimberton Pennsylvania, still thriving after 37 years. Joyce’s interests expanded to international conflict work and refugee resettlement. She works with organizations such as the Janusz Korczak Association, Karuna Peacebuilders, Kiwimbi International, Good Grief, the Worldwide Storytelling and Puppetry Association, and especially with the New York Anthroposophical Branch, and also works part-time at the local public library. Joyce is also trained in Psychosynthesis therapy and Anthroposophical psychology – currently practicing as a life coach and counselor.
Carrie Schuchardt co-founded The House of Peace in 1990, a home that is a physical and spiritual refuge for victims of war in a community with adults with special needs. In the last 15 years over 400 refugees from approximately 30 countries have been received in the healing embrace of The House of Peace, giving supportive assistance in establishing themselves in the US. In addition to the daily work of The House Peace, Carrie participates in many activities for the conversion of consciousness and policies from war to peace. Carrie has begun a network of women who witness publicly, Women Weeping, where women dress in mourning carrying symbolic lifeless children in order to help people feel what is rarely expressed in the media: the grief of hundreds of thousands of mothers in war zones around the world who lose their children to the terrible violence of war.
Maria Ver Eecke is presently the therapeutic eurythmist for the School of Eurythmy, Spring Valley, NY. She taught eurythmy for forty years in Waldorf schools, a charter school, and a home-school program. Maria met anthroposophy in Maseru, Lesotho, when she was a class teacher in an English-medium preparatory school. Currently she is the editor of the newsletters for the Eurythmy Association of North America and the Association of Therapeutic Eurythmy in North America.
Faithfulness, by Rudolf Steiner Create for yourself a new, indomitable perception of faithfulness. What is usually called faithfulness passes so quickly. Let this be your faithfulness:
You will experience moments – fleeting moments – with the other person when the human being will appear to you filled and irradiated with the archetype of his spirit.
And then there may be . . . indeed will be . . .other moments – long moments of time – when the human being will appear darkened.
But you will learn to say to yourself at such times: “The spirit makes me strong. I remember the archetype. No illusion, no deception shall rob me of it.”
Always struggle for the image you saw. This struggle is faithfulness.
Striving thus for faithfulness, We shall be close to one another, As if endowed with the Protective power of angels. ~Rudolf Steiner
1 March 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: As March 2022 begins, Venus blazes away in the East before sunup. Fainter Mars is near Venus. Mercury and Saturn lie low in the morning sky, too. ~Chart by John Jardine Goss.
Dixey Moore
MARCH in like a lion…Out like a lamb – The sun rise was particularly clear & layered with colors which have since settled into grey.
March is abundant with ‘Holy Days’, finding voice through many cultural expressions.
Today this year on March 1st is Mardi Gras !
Which then sends us into the Lenten Season, with Ash Wednesday on March 2.
The 13th is s our time to ‘Spring Forward’ for the dubious ‘Daylight Savings Time’. It also happens to be the Iranian New Year celebration, Norooz, or ‘New Day’.
In 622 AD, Mohammed led his followers from Mecca to Medina to escape assassination. According to the story, when his pursuers reached the cave where Mohammed & his followers had taken shelter for the night, they found a dove nesting in front of it & the entrance covered by a spider’s web. So the pursuers passed on, leaving them in peace. Mohammed continued on to Medina, where he & his followers were able to worship freely. Muslims consider this flight — or Hijrah — to be the beginning of their calendar year. People worship quietly on this day, which begins with the 1st sighting of the crescent moon, & in keeping with the rebirth of nature is also considered the 1st day of Spring.
14 March is Marie Steiner von Sivers Birthday
The 15th is the famous Ides of March; which we all know is the day Julius Caesar was warned by the soothsayers to beware; the day he was assassinated. But did you know that according to the ancient Roman calendar, the Ides of March was considered New Year’s Day, & marked the 1st day of Spring?
March 17, brings us the ‘wearing of the green’ for St. Patrick’s Day. This former pagan used the shamrock to teach folks about the Trinity.
For those working within the Christian Community Church, the 4 weeks of Passion-Tide begins 20 March.
We celebrate Spring or Vernal Equinox, on 20 March this year as well, also known as: Alban Eilir, Eostar, the Feast of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Lady Day, Festival of Trees, NawRuz, Ostara, & the Rites of Spring – when the Sun, because of the ‘precession of the equinoxes’, enters the sign of Pisces, as opposed to the lunar cycle used by the ancients.
Day & night are equal, poised & balanced, but about to tip over to the side of light. It is sacred to the twilight time of dawn, youth, the morning star & the East. The Saxon goddess, Eostre (from whose name we get the direction East & the name of the Holiday Easter) is a dawn goddess, like Aurora & Eos. Just as the dawn is the time of new light, so the Vernal Equinox is the time of new life.
The Equinox is all about harmony & balance – that brief yet eternal time of equilibrium, when day & night are of equal length.
Julian P. Gufogg
Two other holidays also get mixed up in this ancient symbolism of Spring’s fertility. March 25th is called the ‘Annunciation of Mary.’ – the day that the Angel Gabriel announced that Mary, the Christian version of The Sophia, was pregnant with the son of god ; who is born 9 months later, on Dec. 25th. How’s that for a nice little spring fertility symbol.
~Friedrich Eduard Eichens
March 25th is the Deathday of Novalis – age 28 in 1801
Rudolf Steiner’s Deathday comes on the eve of the New Moon, 30 March this year.
It is also fitting that March is International Women’s month, since this is the time of the rebirth of nature. It’s a gentle reminder that we give birth to the future. The future is in our hands, the hands of the midwife, the lap of the mother, & the hands of the Peacemaker.
So let’s honor ourselves & thank the powers of love & light, knowing, March may come in like a lion, but it goes out like a lamb – As we re-conceive of ourselves in alignment with the powers of Spring…
Star Wisdom comes alive through active embodiment within each participant, made possible by working together in the instrument of the StarHouse—or within your sacred imagination in your own home. This immersion facilitates each participant forming conscious relationships with zodiacal and planetary beings.
Join us for an exploration, based on spiritual science and star wisdom, into the following themes:
This course, to train practitioners in Star Wisdom will take place in the StarHouse June 2022. It is designed to train beginners who are willing to ride a steep learning-curve, and long-time astrologers.
Our teaching weaves experiential activities (embodiment) and conceptual learning so you learn it more thoroughly.
On-line too: The course will also be on-line (live-streamed, interactive). A manager on our end will coordinate actively with those attending via Zoom, including relaying questions to the presenters for comment. (We plan that the event will be filmed and edited, and parts of it made available as a course through our website.)
Our approach to astrology is informed and inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s indications found sprinkled throughout his six thousand lectures, as it has been developed by a small group of astrosophers over several decades. This deeper understanding of, and interaction with, the heavens is based on:
A sidereal (star-based) view of the heavens, emphasizing the active and dynamic role of the beings working from stars and constellations
Equal length zodiacal signs (relating to the lineage of Zarathustra), equal houses, and recognizing the Earth’s role and significance to the birth chart
Anthroposophy (thus called astrosophy, with its particular guidance for understanding the beings indwelling the zodiacal and planets)
Identifying and working with spiritual themes in our lives in a way made practical by the research of Robert Powell, and the indications of cosmic Christianity, as understood through Anthroposophy.
And other features that we will teach.
Some topics that we will cover:
New and traditional methods for interpreting a birth chart
Zodiacal constellations in the birth chart
Understanding the meaning in the patterns of the moving planets
Planetary aspects in the birth chart
The important role of the twelve equal houses, in the birth chart
How transiting planets interplay in the time-stream of life, presenting challenges and opportunities
Determining the time of conception and its own chart
The care necessary to regard the information of a person’s sacred birth moment with reverence and understanding
The importance of understanding reincarnation and karma for human development
The journey between death and rebirth, and why that is important for human destiny
Human Life phases: the 7-year periods of our life biography and the relation of those periods to the planetary spheres
The role of self-development for a practitioner of New Astrology
Commitment: This intensive requires participation in five-plus full days.
Dates: Begin Thursday evening, June 23, 2022, 7 PM, through midday Tuesday June 28. On June 24-27, we will go from 9 AM to 5 PM. Evenings are for homework, integration, and optional study groups. Lunches will be provided, including the last day, Tuesday.
Limits: Enrollment will be limited to 24 in-person participants and others will participate on-line. In-person will go through an application process. More important than years practicing astrology is your motivation to learn. Our present on-line courses (New Astrology, series 1 and series 2) will be made available to all registered participants and can provide a strong foundation to a motivated person with little experience. After application for In-person participants, one of our team will arrange a phone call to interview you.
Scholarship program: We plan to have a scholarship program to which those of means can contribute. Please consider contributing to this fund to support others taking this course.
Costs: Cost of on-site/in-person for the whole course $1100. On-line (live-streaming) $800. A deposit will hold your place.
Meals and Snacks: Lunches provided every day including Tuesday (just after the end of the course). Dietary restrictions are queried on the application. Snacks and tea are provided mid-morning and mid-afternoon every day.
Lodging: You will need to find your own lodging and transport. Some lodging is available in nearby residences, and the Retreat Cabin near the StarHouse. These can fill up quickly, so please make your request soon. Other lodgings nearby are the Boulder Adventure Lodge (a-lodge.com), which fills up in summertime quickly. More information will be sent after registration.
Questions about the course
Tune in to our Zoom broadcasts, brief presentations of aspects of this course, with lots of time for Q&A. Intended to total 20 minutes in length. These are given on different days so you might find one that would work best for you. Each of these brief sessions will be different!
The Anthroposophical Society in America presents: Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human in Santa Fe, New Mexico ~ April 21-24, 2022 Hotel Santa Fe Hacienda and Spa
Join us in New Mexico, the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia. Join together in community as Sophia emerges and rises in her many facets and expressions- past, present, and future.
Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other.
VENUE & TRAVEL
Our gathering will take place at the lovely Native American-owned Hotel Santa Fe. We recommend you book your stay with the hotel to create a connected communal atmosphere for our gathering. The hotel has a full restaurant, pool, hot tub, and spa, as well as kivas and cozy sitting areas. Please call or email to make reservations with our special room rate for suites at $179/night. Each suite includes a refrigerator, microwave and sitting area. So much of what Santa Fe has to offer is within walking distance from the hotel.
**Ask for ASA Gathering to book with our special rate of $179/night for a suite. **
Registrants will receive suggested activities from our local organizers to explore in Santa Fe before or after our gathering. Extending your stay? The special ASA hotel rate is available for 3 days prior to and 3 days after the ASA gathering.
HOTEL and VENUE ADDRESS: 1501 Paseo de Peralta Santa Fe, NM 87501 Phone: (877) 259-3409
TICKETS The ticket price includes access to all conference activities, snacks, coffee/tea and beverages, dessert reception Thursday, dinner Friday, lunch Saturday and brunch on Sunday.
Early Bird Only with Room Booking – After 2/26 more tickets will be released!
SCHEDULE (subject to minor changes)
THURSDAY, April 21
7 pm Gathering Together – with a dessert reception
7:30- 8:30 pm ArtActs: Past – Present – Future Eurythmy, and Singing,
FRIDAY, April 22
Explore Santa Fe on your own and continued arrivals
1:00 – 2:30 pm Welcome: Spirit of Placewith organizers
WEAVING EARTH Opening Ceremony with Angela Foster and friends
2:30pm-3:00pm Break
3:00-4:30 pm Encountering the Celestial Goddess Anthroposophia with Mary Stewart Adams
HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
4:30-4:45 pm Break
4:45- 6:00 pm WEAVING AIR ArtActs Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech
6:00-7:30 pm Dinner Together*
7:30 pm Fireside Chats – Story and Sharing – Breakout circles led by friends and organizers 8:30 pm
Stargazing with Mary Stewart Adams
SATURDAY, April 23
Breakfast – On your own
8:30 – 9:30 am WEAVING ETHER Eurythmy
9:30 – 10:00 am Break
10:00 -11:15 am The Virgin of Guadalupe: Sophia Rising in the Americaswith Stephanie Georgieff – The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the first recorded apparitions in the Americas. Revealing herself to a Nahuatl Native and ultimately to the Bishop of New Spain and his entourage in December of 1531, this image has continued to inspire countless souls for nearly 500 years. The symbolism and timing of her appearance presents deep mysteries for our age, and points to the ultimate Sophianic impulse for the present and future of Humanity.
11:30 – 12:30 pm WEAVING STORIES Biography Work
12:30 – 2:00 pm Lunch Together*
2:00 – 4:00 pm ‘ANTHROPOSOPHIA: OUR ALCHEMICAL WEDDING’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends. At the heart of this convergence isa Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know Thyself’’ – A Temple Experience in the New Mysteries, built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions, preparing us to enter a deeply intensive initiatory experience – a ‘Movable Feast’ with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, Steiner verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth. Passing through Trials of the Soul we meet powerful Spiritual Beings on the way to our sacred marriage – a union of Warmth and Light, so that we can unveil the ‘Sophia Rising’ within ourselves, and the world.
4:00 – 4:30 pm Break
4:30 – 5:30 pm WEAVING COLOR Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic within the Earthly Pastels with Helen-Ann Ireland
8:00-9:30 pm WEAVING COMMUNITYSophia Rising- Past, Present, and FutureMC’d by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer. Sign up to bring something to share! Poetry, Instruments, Story
SUNDAY, April 24
8:00 – 9:00 am WEAVING LIGHT Bathe in the Natural Warmth and Harmony of the Metal Gold with Helena Hurrell – A metal color light therapy experience inspired by the glass windows at the Goetheanum
9:00-10:30 am WEAVING FIRE with Carrie Schuchardt HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
10:30 – 12:00pm Brunch Together*
12:00-1:00 pm WEAVING WATERWater Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends WEAVING WHOLENESSClosing with Angela Foster and Friends
Notes: *Meals marked with an asterisk are included in the price of the ticket – Coffee, tea, and snacks will also be provided through the conference
A quiet ‘Sanctuary Room’ will be provided for contemplation
PRESENTERS AND GUIDES (Not a full list-more to come!)
Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian, and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast “The Storyteller’s Night Sky”. Through her research in spiritual science and her education in literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars. Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas of contemporary astronomy in order to understand the new star wisdom of astrosophy.
Eyahnna DalBo (artist of the Sophia Rising painting) came to anthroposophy 30 years ago when her daughter attended a Waldorf school. Her studies have included an undergraduate degree in fine art and graduate work in psychology using the arts for healing. In her private practice, she developed various energetic modalities. Her experience with subtle energy fields gave her the opportunity to teach and take part in designing a curriculum for a 2-year program focusing on energy healing. As a consultant, she initiated numerous therapeutic programs to assist in pioneering the field of art therapy. Through the gift of an apprenticeship with indigenous people she was able to bring their practices and ceremonies to what she offered deepening her ability to be of service. As an artist, she continues to utilize the spoken word, movement, sound, and visual imagery to honor and create a field that fosters awareness, growth, and transformation.
Angela Foster has been an active student of anthroposophy since 2008. After growing up in Texas, Angela is now embracing life in Atlanta, Georgia as an artist, teacher, and mom of two daughters, shepherd to two mini sheep. As a conscious practitioner of “beginner’s mind”, Angela has completed programs in foundation studies in Anthroposophy numerous times and is currently enrolled in Foundation Studies in Goethean Science through the Nature Institute. She and her husband manage the Anthroposophical Resource Center (ARC) an initiative in Decatur, Georgia that offers space for community events and serves as a little house for Anthroposophia.
Stephanie Georgieff, MS is an author, podcaster and pilgrim. Residing mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, she has written several books on The Divine Feminine as presented through the genre of The Black Madonna, The Virgin of Guadalupe and The Divine Sophia. She has spoken at conferences and venues throughout North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. The Black Madonna Speaks is her latest endeavor, a weekly podcast exploring the mysteries of The Black Madonna from an Anthroposophical and Esoteric Chritian perspective, along with artists, poets, authors and scholars on the subject.
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings.
Helena Hurrell joyfully met Anthroposophy in San Fransisco in 1977 and has been working with individuals and groups as a Waldorf educator since 1981 and then throughout her life trained to become a therapist while living in Australia, the UK and North America. She is currently in private practice in Colorado blending the therapeutic work she offers through her love of color ~ as an Art and Metal Color Light Glass Therapist trained in the UK and Germany. Both of these trainings are certified by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. Metal Color Light Therapy is a relatively new initiative originated by the late Marianne Altmaier who developed this therapy and training out of her deep interest in and knowledge of the Goetheanum windows in Dornach. Helena’s website: www.helioscenter.org
Helen-Ann Ireland has been involved in anthroposophical studies for over 30 years as a Waldorf teacher, member of the School for Spiritual Science, Class holder, and now as chair of the Anthroposophical Society of America. A special interest has been in the area of the Divine Feminine and the Being of Sophia.
Michele Mariscal has 30 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She is a skilled facilitator in soft skills, speaker, coach and author. She is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist as well as a Trainer and Coach with the Institute of HeartMath. She facilitates greater heart-based living for individuals and organizations Michele is also a five-time author with her most recent publication of Growing Through Grief – The Alchemy of Healing from Loss.
Joyce Reilly Joyce studied psychology in college and was fascinated by the idea of a therapeutic community. She has worked in Camphill for many years, and is trained as a Waldorf and Therapeutic teacher. She founded Gheel House, a therapeutic community near Kimberton Pennsylvania, still thriving after 37 years. Joyce’s interests expanded to international conflict work and refugee resettlement. She works with organizations such as the Janusz Korczak Association, Karuna Peacebuilders, Kiwimbi International, Good Grief, the Worldwide Storytelling and Puppetry Association, and especially with the New York Anthroposophical Branch, and also works part-time at the local public library. Joyce is also trained in Psychosynthesis therapy and Anthroposophical psychology – currently practicing as a life coach and counselor.
Carrie Schuchardt co-founded The House of Peace in 1990, a home that is a physical and spiritual refuge for victims of war in a community with adults with special needs. In the last 15 years over 400 refugees from approximately 30 countries have been received in the healing embrace of The House of Peace, giving supportive assistance in establishing themselves in the US. In addition to the daily work of The House Peace, Carrie participates in many activities for the conversion of consciousness and policies from war to peace. Carrie has begun a network of women who witness publicly, Women Weeping, where women dress in mourning carrying symbolic lifeless children in order to help people feel what is rarely expressed in the media: the grief of hundreds of thousands of mothers in war zones around the world who lose their children to the terrible violence of war.
Maria Ver Eecke is presently the therapeutic eurythmist for the School of Eurythmy, Spring Valley, NY. She taught eurythmy for forty years in Waldorf schools, a charter school, and a home-school program. Maria met anthroposophy in Maseru, Lesotho, when she was a class teacher in an English-medium preparatory school. Currently she is the editor of the newsletters for the Eurythmy Association of North America and the Association of Therapeutic Eurythmy in North America.
