Category Archives: Festival

“You shall know the truth – & the Truth shall make you free.”

Festival, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Spring

2 June 2017 – Astro-Weather: Brilliant Venus rises in the east around 2:30 am CDT. Although stunning in Her own right, Venus serves as a guide to distant Uranus. The outer planet is very close to  the Goddess of Love for the next 3 mornings.

Also this evening The Moon, Jupiter, & Spica form a gently curving arc in the southwest

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“The Master said, “A true teacher is one who, keeping the past alive, is also able to understand the present.” (Analects 2.11)” ~Confucius

455 – Sack of Rome

1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city; the second siege began five days later

1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged

1882 – Deathday of Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general & politician. Spoken of as a high initiate in the Hibernian Mysteries in ‘Karmic Relationships’ Vol 1, lec. 11 by Rudolf Steiner ( June 2nd is also Festa della Repubblica -The Italian National Republic Day)

1922 – Start of the Whitsun Conference  or West-East Congress in Vienna, opened by Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz. At this conference Rudolf Steiner gave his last lecture on Threefolding (1917 – 1922)

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POD (Poem Of the Day)
~With simple sandals
I walk before my Beloved
But in the house of heaven my feet are still…
My breast is a lyre that hums,
My lungs fill with living fire,
A cool breeze encircles me,
There is no need for haste…
~Hag

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Liane Collot d’Herbois

Thoughts for Whitsun 2017

Many are called, but few are chosen…Will you elect of their own free will, to gather in the upper room…?

I have boiled down the fruits of my spiritual research on this potent festival into an introductory essay which I hope will set the tone of the day & perhaps engender a fruitful discussion & inspire further mediation on the essence of the subject.

As we move deeper into the glories of Spring, the elementals awaken & we experience in nature signs & images of the Earth-soul in ascension. The sense of arising spreads all around us. And in the play of the elements, fire seems to have the last word in the essential dialogue between the heights & depths. From above resounds the fiery word & the other elements follow the creative call with joy & the beauty of ascent.

Whitsun has been called a festival of flowers. We see this, out among the buds opening under the increasing power of the sun, under the etheric & astral influences.

The heart of the human being as it opens to warmth & light is like the flower, aligning itself to the sun which permeates the earth. And what pours down from the sun, giving the flower, our image in reverse, the potency it needs, is like the tongues of fire descending upon the heads of the disciples, for us humans.

Rudolf Steiner calls this Holy Day ‘The festival of United Soul Endeavor’. He lectured a great deal about Whitsun. He spoke about Spiritual Science as a Whitsun gift.

Today we can see Whitsun as a festival of the 1st fruits of the Spirit. The festival of today is not bestowed on us by nature. It must be called forth…

Some say it is a festival of the future, for we must grow ripe to withstand the surging of the Spirit. Whitsun is the festival of our true higher self, which as yet only hovers above us like a dove.

At the same time it is the festival of community, arising from the harmonizing of our higher selves which are ONE in the spirit –
The Cosmic Spirit of all pervading Love,
Healing Spirit, Spirit of Wisdom,
The Comforter,
Councilor,
Paraclete,
Sophia,
The Spirit of Truth..

“You shall know the truth – & the Truth shall make you free.”

Christ fulfilled His Deed for all mankind. And, to each human individual, in order that we may be able to understand this Deed, Christ sends the Healing Spirit, Fulfilling his promise that each person may have access to the effects of the Deed, which was accomplished for all.

Tomorrow we will delve deeper

Until soon ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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Current Festival & Program Events

Shavuot

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Spring

30 May 2017 – Astro-Weather: Jupiter appears halfway to the zenith in the southern sky during twilight this week & doesn’t set until around 2 am CDT. The brilliant planet shines among the background stars of Virgo, northwest of the Maiden’s brightest star, Spica.

Johfra Bosschart 

Look for Cassiopeia as twilight fades out, down near the north horizon: a wide, upright W.

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Eugene Thirion

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

I turn to history not for lessons but to confront my experience with the experience of others and to win for myself a sense of responsibility for the state of the human conscience. ~ Zbigniew Herbert  (Poet) 1924 – 1998

François Chifflart

1431 – Deathday of Joan of Arc, French martyr & saint, burnt at the stake by the British under Duke of Bedford

1593 – Deathday of Christopher Marlowe, English poet & playwright

Paul Delaroche

1672 – Birthday of Peter the Great Czar of Russia.  He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist & medieval political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, based on The Enlightenment.

1778 – Deathday of Voltaire, French philosopher & author. Rudolf Steiner speaks of him as being a former pupil of the mysteries in Karmic Relationships Vol. 2.

1806 – Future U.S. President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel

1935 – Deathday of Daniel Nicol Dunlop , a Scottish entrepreneur, founder of the World Power Conference & other associations, a theosophist-turned-anthroposophist. Thought to have been a Templar in a former life. Dunlop saw Rudolf Steiner for the first time when he was still General Secretary of the German Section of the Theosophical Society, both of them expressed their intimate spiritual connection &respect for one another.  Dunlop started the anthroposophical “Human Freedom Group & anthroposophical Summer Schools. In 1928 he organized the first & only World Conference on Anthroposophy & in 1929 he was elected General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain. He had a deep friendship with Eleanor Merry, who supported his work, especially after the death of his own wife, Eleanor in 1932. As a result of conflicts & power struggles within the General Anthroposophical Society, leading to its splintering in April 1935, Dunlop was expelled together with a number of other leading members. He died shortly afterwards of an appendicitis. Dunlop enlisted the help of fellow anthroposophist Walter Johannes Stein in the hope of founding a World Economic Organization, but his death prevented this.

1936 – Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz resigns from the General Anthroposophical Society on the 1 year anniversary of his friend D.N. Dunlop’s death, in protest after many of his contemporizes were expelled from the Society.

1937 – Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot & kill 10 labor demonstrators

1989 –The 33-foot high “Goddess of Democracy” statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators

1998 – The 6.5 Mw Afghanistan earthquake killed over 5,000

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

~In the wind I hear what I see –
A low hum of vitality
The bell of flowers singing…
With the bright blade of spirit I turned new ground,
Planted seed & watched,
Beneath my hand things happened –
Grapes & wheat
In time I will serve
Wine & bread...
~hag

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Shavuot is a spring holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah, the first harvest, &the ripening of the first fruits. In the bible, Shavuot is called by various other names: Feast of Weeks, Feast of The First Fruits & Feast of the Giving of the Law. The festival begins this year at sunset May 30th thru June1, 2017.

The farmers of Israel begin their spring harvests with the barley crop at Passover. The harvest continues for seven weeks as the other crops & fruits began to ripen. As each fruit ripened, the first of each type would not be eaten but instead the farmer would tie a ribbon around the branch. This ribbon signified that these fruits were Bikkurim, or the first fruits.

At Shavuot the farmers would gather the Bikkurim into baskets & bring them to the city of Jerusalem where they would be eaten in the holy city. The farmers living close to Jerusalem would bring fresh fruits, while those who had to travel a long distance carried dried raisins & figs. This joyful occasion was celebrated with the music of fifes, timbres, & drums. As the pilgrims approached the city walls they were greeted by the inhabitants of the city.

Along with being a Harvest holiday & celebrating the spiritual journey of Ruth, Shavuot celebrates the Revelation of Torah.

On Shavuot, folks light candles, decorate with greenery, eat dairy food, study Torah, attend prayer services, & read the Book of Ruth.

The Legends and Customs of Shavuot:

Many of the traditions & customs of Shavuot have evolved from the legends & stories describing the experiences of the Israelites at Mount Sinai. According to tradition the Israelites actually overslept on the morning of G-d’s visit. To compensate for this negligence, Jews hold a vigil on the eve of Shavuot. They stay awake from dusk to dawn, keeping themselves busy with the readings of the Torah & the Talmud. A digest of readings has evolved called Tikkun Leil Shavuot, the “Restoration of Shavuot Eve,” which includes selections from the Torah, the Prophets, the Talmud, & the Zohar.

Another Shavuot custom is the eating of dairy foods. One explanation states that this comes from a passage in the Torah which reads: “And He gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey”.

Another explanation comes from a legend stating that before the visit from G-d the Jews did not keep kosher or follow the Kashrut (dietary) laws. It was on this first Shavuot that they found out that their utensils were nonkosher. So finding themselves without kosher meats or utensils the Israelites were forced to eat only dairy foods. Today Jews celebrate Shavuot by eating blintzes, cheesecake, & other dairy dishes.

Another legend tells the story of the Israelites finding Mount Sinai blooming and lush with greenery & flowers. From this legend grew the custom to decorate the Jewish home & synagogue with tree branches & flowers. Some temples decorate the Torah scrolls with wreaths of roses.

The Greek version of this festival is called Pentecost…meaning 50 days after the resurrection of the Christ…when the new law of, ‘love thy neighbor as thy self ‘, was engraved in the heart, with the fire of the holy spirit, among roaring winds & tongues of fire.(This year this moveable feast is on June 4th, 2017) It is also called Whitsunday after the white robes worn by those baptized with fire during this vigil…in Italy it was customary to scatter rose petals from the ceiling to recall the miracle of the fiery tongues resting on the heads of the prophets…in France they blow trumpets to suggest the sound of the mighty wind which accompanied the descent of the holy spirit…in Russia the congregation carries flowers & sheaves of barley…

We will explore this further as the week goes on…

Until soon ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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PDF Exploring the Mysteries of St John’s-Tide

Friday June 23rd 2017  – Zinniker Family Farm N 7399 Bowers Rd. Elkhorn, WI 53121

Pot Luck 6:30 pm – Bee & Stag Bon-fire & Drum Circle 8 pm

We begin with the setting Sun, in the dark of the New Moon.  Thru the drumming of our collective heart-beat, circle dancing, singing to the stars, & blessing the earth, we will celebrate the bright reflection of the Divine within ourselves & each other.

$10 – All Donations go to the Zinniker farm – Bring a folding-chair & your drum, shaker or music maker (or borrow one of ours)

For more info.  Hazel (at) ReverseRitual.com

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St. John’s Festival: Cosmic Rapture Grounded in Jubilant Hearts –

Understanding the evolving human consciousness, we move ecstatic-ritual into Heart-Thinking

SATURDAY June 24th 2017, 1 pm – 4 pm – at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL. 60618. MAP

To pass the test of Summer we will explore many questions:  

  • How do we stand wakefully within the sublime mysteries of the Summer-Tide, to consciously embody ‘the spiritual wisdom of the gods’?
  • Who is the ‘John’ of St. John’s-Tide?
  • What is the mystery of the Bee & Stag? The Dragon-fly, & other elemental beings?
  • Who is the mysterious Archangel of Summer?

Together with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg & Karen Hartz. We will work to strengthen our true “I” – Enlivening our Will Forces, with Social-Artistic Exercises

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The  Center of Anthroposhopyis holding a PDF foundation year training at Urban Prairie this summer

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The Central Regional Council is hosting a Bridging to the ‘Great American Eclipse’ in St. Louis – August 19-22, 2017 stay tuned for details

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Über die aesthetische Erziehung des Menschen

Celestial Event, Festival, Spring

Dear Friends –

Here is my last installment for this year’s thoughts on Ascension, which I like to call the Festival of the Elements.

Josephine Wall

When we attune ourselves to beings such as Raphael, Archangel of spring, we can awaken to the way spiritual entities constantly interact with earth thru the elements.

Jose Hanmel

The messengers of cosmic warmth in the rays of the sun activate the ascension of the element of water. Through its union with air, clouds originate. In the cloud, between depths of earth & heavenly heights, in the sphere of the etheric realm, a mobile balance manifests.

Blossoms & fruits are in reality not just products of earth but heavenly forms filled with earthly substance, like us.

The phantom body of Christ is a reconstituted New Adam, & the Resurrection Body points us in the direction of our future evolution, not back to the garden, but going forward toward the New Jerusalem. Materializing & dematerializing at will.

The ‘ Resurrection Body’ encompasses the whole of humanity – Rudolf Steiner calls it a redeeming of the  group-soul of mankind. It is like a cell that is multiplying; growing ever more evident in the etheric realm.

The expression “Put on the resurrection body” used by the apostle Paul is a true picture of what can happen for us. An imaginative picture of this is secreted in the allegory of the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz .

Goethe’s Fairy Tale is another powerful imagination that captures the essence of the Ascension.

It’s been said that The Green Snake & the Beautiful Lily which is full of esoteric symbolism, was born out of Goethe’s reading of The Chymical Wedding .

Goethe’s Tale was written as a response to a work by Friedrich Schiller called ‘Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man’.  Über die aesthetische Erziehung des Menschen

One of the central ideas discussed so often by by Goethe & Schiller centered on the question of human freedom. Schiller was trying to build an inner bridge between reality & the ‘ideal human being’.

Schiller wrote his ‘Letters’ during the time of the French Revolution, which was driven by a desire for outer social changes, to enable human beings to become free.

But both Schiller and Goethe recognized that freedom cannot be ‘imposed’ from the outside, it must arise from within. So Goethe took this inspiration & set about writing a Fairy Tale that would show, in imaginative pictures, the way in which a human soul could become whole & free by bridging the abyss between the human & the divine within.

For 40 days Christ lived in the concentrated form of the Phantom & resurrection body, which was perceptible, to the apostles. The Concentration then changed into expansion, conveying to the universe the mystery of death, & the secret of death into life.  So Now, at the Ascension, the wisdom of the resurrection that had been brought forth in the depths, was made known in the heights, & the expansion fulfills the cycles of time.

Matter is spirit burst into visibility. The crucifixion was an undoing of this process.

The phantom or resurrection body of Christ is no longer purely human comprised as we are of the Imagination of the Spirits of Form, the Inspiration of the Spirits of Wisdom, with an aura by the Spirits of Will. It is the body of a reconstituted new Adam pointing us in a new direction of our future evolution, not back to the garden, but going forward toward the New Jerusalem. Materializing & dematerializing at will.

This ‘body’ encompasses the whole of humanity – Rudolf Steiner calls it the group-soul of mankind. It is like a cell that is multiplying. The expression “put on the resurrection body” used by the apostle Paul is a true picture of what can happen for us. This is really what is meant by the Chymical Wedding.

May we all called to the marriage feast as we prepare to receive the baptism by fire from the Holy Spirit

xox ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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PDF Exploring the Mysteries of St John’s-Tide

Friday June 23rd 2017  – Zinniker Family Farm N 7399 Bowers Rd. Elkhorn, WI 53121

Pot Luck 6:30 pm – Bee & Stag Bon-fire & Drum Circle 8 pm

We begin with the setting Sun, in the dark of the New Moon.  Thru the drumming of our collective heart-beat, circle dancing, singing to the stars, & blessing the earth, we will celebrate the bright reflection of the Divine within ourselves & each other.

$10 – All Donations go to the Zinniker farm – Bring a folding-chair & your drum, shaker or music maker (or borrow one of ours)

For more info.  Hazel (at) ReverseRitual.com

***

St. John’s Festival: Cosmic Rapture Grounded in Jubilant Hearts –

Understanding the evolving human consciousness, we move ecstatic-ritual into Heart-Thinking

SATURDAY June 24th 2017, 1 pm – 4 pm – at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL. 60618. MAP

To pass the test of Summer we will explore many questions:  

  • How do we stand wakefully within the sublime mysteries of the Summer-Tide, to consciously embody ‘the spiritual wisdom of the gods’?
  • Who is the ‘John’ of St. John’s-Tide?
  • What is the mystery of the Bee & Stag? The Dragon-fly, & other elemental beings?
  • Who is the mysterious Archangel of Summer?

Together with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg & Karen Hartz. We will work to strengthen our true “I” – Enlivening our Will Forces, with Social-Artistic Exercises

***

The  Center of Anthroposhopyis holding a PDF foundation year training at Urban Prairie this summer

***

The Central Regional Council is hosting a Bridging to the ‘Great American Eclipse’ in St. Louis – August 19-22, 2017 stay tuned for details

***

The Christ-will encircling us holds sway…

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Speaking with the Stars, Spring

25 May 2017 – Astro-Weather: New Moon exact  at 2:44 p.m. CDT. At its New phase, Bella Luna crosses the sky with the Sun,  & so remains hidden by our day star. Because the Moon reaches perigee, the closest point in its orbit around Earth, only six hours later (at 8:21 p.m. CDT), residents in coastal areas can expect higher than normal tides for the next few days. At perigee, the center of the Moon lies 221,958 miles from Earth’s center.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?” Cicero, Orator (46 BCE)

*Ascension – 40 days after Easter

Komet Halley 1910: Das Betreten der Milchstraße ist bei Strafe verboten!

240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.

1085 – Death-day of Pope Gregory VII – One of the great reforming popes, best known for the ‘Investiture Controversy’, attacking the practice of simony (trafficking for money in “spiritual things”- named after Simon Magus, who is described in Acts 8:9–24 as offering Peter & John, payment in exchange for their empowering him to impart the Holy Spirit to anyone he laid hands on) & his dispute with Henry IV. In Rudolf Steiner’s Karma Lectures Vol. I/12 he was revealed as Haeckel in a previous life.

“…We will take another very well-known personality, Ernst Haeckel. Ernst Haeckel is famous as an enthusiastic adherent of a certain materialistic Monism — enthusiastic, one may say, to the point of fanaticism. He is well enough known to you; I need not give you any description of Haeckel. Now when we are led back from this personality to a former incarnation, we come to Pope Gregory VII, the monk Hildebrand, who afterwards became Pope Gregory VII.

I have chosen this instance so that you may see how differently the same individuality may express himself externally, in accordance with the cultural “climate” of the period. One would certainly not expect to look for the reincarnation of Pope Gregory VII in the 19th century representative of materialistic Monism.

The things that a man brings to manifestation on the physical plane, with the means afforded by external civilisation, are far less important to the spiritual world than one is inclined to suppose. Behind the personalities of the monk Hildebrand and Haeckel lies something wherein they are alike and this is of much greater account than the differences between them. One of them fights to the utmost to enhance the power of Roman Catholicism, and the other fights to the utmost against Roman Catholicism, but for the spiritual world it makes little difference. These things, fundamentally speaking, are important for the physical world only; they are quite different from the underlying elements in human nature which count in the spiritual world…”

Ralph_Waldo_Emerson_Quote

1803 – Birthday of Ralph Waldo Emerson an American essayist, lecturer, & poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism.

1803- Birthday of  Edward Bulwer Lytton an English novelist, poet, playwright, & politician. Theosophists Annie Besant & especially Helena Blavatsky incorporated his thoughts & ideas, from: ‘The Last Days of Pompeii’, ‘Vril’, ‘The Power of the Coming Race’ & my fav. ‘Zanoni’, in her own books. He coined the phrases “the great unwashed”,”pursuit of the almighty dollar”, “the pen is mightier than the sword”, “dweller on the threshold”, as well as the well-known opening line “It was a dark and stormy night”.

1904 – Birthday of Wilhelm Jordan a German writer & politician, seen as “a precursor of Nietzsche and pioneer of Darwin in Germany”; Known for his books ‘Mysterium Demiurgos’ & his translation of the Edda.

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

Under the clouds
The Robins nod & bow & walk & fly…
All birds
Of the ethers spin
In countless exhaled breaths…
We are growing, remembering, forgetting, Becoming…
We are the many…
One face changing expression..

~hag

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*Ascension

William Blake

“…The Christ-will encircling us holds sway, In world rhythms, bestowing Grace upon souls…”

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

At the time of the Ascension of Christ, nature celebrates the ascension of the soul of the earth. It is not by chance that the 40 days between Easter & Ascension coincide with the spring season when the earth soul begins its out-breath. Every year, when the earth breathes out in springtime, the mystery of the Ascension of Christ, Who is the Spirit of the Earth, is renewed.

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

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

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

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

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

The Christ-Revelation ‘coming in the clouds’ is here- Showing us the bridge that brings a harmonizing spring-dialogue between the worlds. At the Ascension Christ becomes “Lord of the heavenly forces upon earth”. 

The fulfillment of the secret promise of the Ascension is the Second Coming. It was said to the apostles, “He will come again, in like manner, as you have seen Him go up into the clouds of heaven.”  The Ascension is the seed of this Second Coming, & the Second Coming is the fulfillment of the Ascension.

There is more to think & share –  Tomorrow

~Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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Current Festival & Program Events

Clarion Call

Celestial Event, Chicago Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Remembering, Speaking with the Stars

This is the Eve of the Full BUDDHA Moon – Sun in Taurus, Moon in Scorpio

The Buddha (whose name means: *The Awakened One* or *One who Knows*) is regarded as the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was born in 563 BC.

Traditionally, Buddha’s Birthday is known as Wesak or Visakah Puja (Buddhas Day).

Wesak, the major Buddhist festival of the year, celebrates the birth, enlightenment & death of the Buddha on one and the same day, when the Sun is in Taurus, & the Moon is in Scorpio.

This ‘Buddha Moon’ is a mystically auspicious time – it is considered to be the greatest moment of spiritual contact for the entire year. Great polarities are said to be synthesized & consequently united at this festival. Hope is revived in the world, & great seeds of beauty, truth, & goodness are planted within us — qualities needed for the unity of humankind.

Ancient Wisdom asserts that there will be a new coming of the World Avatar & those beings who assist them. But the reality set forth & embedded within this festival, is that WE, as a living unit called humanity, are to be that World Avatar, when we can live as “Christ in me”…

The Wesak Festival provides us each year with a reception of the tools of love & wisdom, to fulfill this ancient prophecy. What all the higher beings have done, we can do also, taking up our responsibility as the 10th hierarchy to radiate the Christ Impulse out to all the kingdoms of Earth -becoming like little suns – emanating rays from the very core of our “I”, through the vehicle of our bodies, from our purified hearts, & specifically from our forehead, where our third eye is located. This is the Bulls Eye of Taurus – the Sun of May – & the mystery of the transformative Scorpio Moon.

The Full Buddha Moon will be exact at 4:42 pm Wednesday May 10th 2017. We will see it rise over the Great Inland Sea of Chicago at 6: 50 pm tonight. & it will rise tomorrow at 7:41 pm

Haiku’s, ants & worms
Buddha-like the Moon sitting
All have the same face

On Buddha’s birthday
Spring rain beneath a full moon,
On Buddha’s deathday
Enlightenment in the Lake
Another sunset
~hag

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The Elderberries Three-Fold Café has been on Sunset Blvd. in the heart of Hollywood for over 9 years. They provide not only good healthy food, but nutrition for the soul – Rudolf Steiner’s Weekday Exercises are even on the back of the menu! The café is a hub for youth, hosting anthroposophical study groups, music, alternative film screenings etc – providing support for inner practices, meaningful work to those in need, & platforms for individual creative expression -imbuing all they do with a love for the future of our world.

Their motto: KINDNESS, CARE & CONSIDERATION

Our 3-fold friends, Dottie Zold, Daniel Evaeus & Frank Agrama, came in from Los Angeles to speak with the Branch Council & have an open conversation with members & friends, about the possibility of opening a second Elderberries 3-fold Café in the unrented space at the branch. It has long been the vision of Elderberries to create a “Michael Grail-Road” establishing 3-fold Café’s around the world where youth could come to find themselves thru anthroposophy.

Here are a few words about the Initiative from Dottie,  Hazel   Daniel & Frank

“We would like to be meeting the needs of the Chicago community, we ask for any council members, branch members, parents, students, etc. to write up their thoughts or wants for Elderberries Chicago, so we can incorporate the needs of Chicago in our request to John Bloom & RSF Social Finance ”. ~Dottie Zold

Here are a few ‘testimonies’ so far. We hope if the spirit moves you, that you will add your voice to this Clarion call, no matter where you live in the world.

If this initiative resonates, &/or if you’d like to help make it happen – Please  let us know  

Join your good will with ours that these fruits will ripen – casting ever more seeds – to flourish & feed the 3-fold social organism of humanity & the Being of Anthroposophia.

We will keep you posted as things unfold.

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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St. John’s Festival: Cosmic Rapture Grounded in Jubilant Hearts

Saturday June 24th 2017, 1 pm – 4 pm at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute  

Sunday June 25th 2017, 2 pm – 4 pm – at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL. 60618. MAP

Come join our Initiatory Workshop/Ritual, to discover the New Mysteries of St. Johns-Tide. To pass the test of Summer we will explore many questions:

  • How do we stand wakefully within the sublime mysteries of the Summer-Tide, to consciously embody ‘the spiritual wisdom of the gods’?
  • Who is the mysterious Archangel of Summer?
  • Who is John the Baptist? What do his sayings “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” And “He must increase, but I must decrease.” really mean?
  • What is the secret to healing the ‘soul-fever’ so prevalent in society today?
  • What is the mystery of the Dragon-fly, & other elemental beings?
  • How can we understand the ‘Cycle of the Year as Breathing Process of the Earth’?

 Together we will work to strengthen our true “I”, enlivening our will forces with various social-artistic exercises, Including: ‘Seeing into the Etheric World’ thru the ‘After-Image’, Eurythmy, & an exploration of Karmic investigations.

$30– (or pay what you can, no one will be turned away for lack of funds, contact Hazel if you’d like to do work exchange) All materials included

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – is a Spiritual Midwife, and Trans-denominational Minister, working in an eclectic style that inspires connections – initiating us into the magic, waiting to be revealed, in the cycle of the seasons.   Festivals Coordinator & Council Member of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, and the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society. Founder of Reverse Ritual – Understanding Anthroposophy Through the Rhythms of the Year

Current Festival & Program Events