Dear Friends – As we move closer to the Autumnal Equinox & deeper into the  earnestness of the Michaelmas Season, I find that every day I am meeting with inspired happenstance leading me hither & thither on a Social Pilgrimage of the Soul – only to find yet another golden nugget, a well baked brick, for the experiential Pageant: ‘Building the Temple of the Heart – the capstone community offering for the ASA annual conference & members meeting.

Yesterday an inspiration came forth while I was thinking of what to share at the closing around the Sophia Conference in the Spring. Graced by the research muses I rediscovered this amazing Steiner quote which speaks to both conference themes:

“When we are more and more able to experience the content of anthroposophy in our heart, in our feelings, then it is as if living, cosmic beings enter our souls. Then, anthroposophy will appear to us increasingly as a living being. And we will become aware that something is knocking at the threshold of our heart saying, ‘Let me in, because I am you yourself; I am your true nature, your very humanity’ ~ Rudolf Steiner, Supersensible Man, 18 November 1923, Lecture V

Dear Friends – Now more than ever we are called to join our soul forces together. I hope you will consider being part of the Conference 7-10 October. Maybe you will choose to meet with kindred souls in person in your neck of the woods, or simply join us online for a potent & festive event.

For those who are longing for a deep dive: The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) brings transformative online content into the alchemy of individual and group inner work. The mission is to explore the urgent issues of our time through the lens of spiritual philosophy, awakening meaning, inner reflection, and outer action.

I will be facilitating one of the Chrysalis Groups: ‘The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation into the New Mysteries’ –

The Royal Art of community awaits your participation.

See you there

~hag

17 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The gibbous Moon hangs lower right of bright Jupiter at dusk this evening. To their right, Saturn glows dimmer in the background. Later in the night, as the sky turns, Bella Luna will come directly below Jupiter, and Saturn will move lower than both of them. That’s how you’ll find them oriented around midnight.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

I turn to history not for lessons but to confront my experience with the experience of others and to win for myself a sense of responsibility for the state of the human conscience ~ Zbigniew Herbert

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1179 – Deathday of Hildegard of Bingen, “the Sybil of the Rhine” a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, & polymath.

She is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama, the oldest surviving morality play. She wrote theological, botanical, & medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, & poems, while supervising miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias.  She is also noted for the invention of a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota.

Hildegard 1st saw “The Shade of the Living Light” at the age of three. Hildegard was hesitant to share her visions, but at the age of 42, Hildegard received instruction from God, to “write down that which you see and hear.” Still hesitant to record her visions, Hildegard became physically ill. The illustrations recorded in the book of Scivias were visions that Hildegard experienced, causing her great suffering: “But I, though I saw and heard these things, refused to write for a long time through doubt and bad opinion and the diversity of human words, not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility, until, laid low by the scourge of God, I fell upon a bed of sickness; then, compelled at last by many illnesses, and by the witness of a certain noble maiden of good conduct [the nun Richardis von Stade] I set my hand to the writing. While I was doing it, I sensed, the deep profundity of scriptural exposition; and, raising myself from illness by the strength I received, I brought this work to a close – though just barely – in ten years. (…) And I spoke and wrote these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person, but as by the secret mysteries of God I heard and received them in the heavenly places. And again I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, ‘Cry out therefore, and write thus!’

Hildegard’s visions caused her to see humans as “living sparks” of God’s love.

On 17 September 1179, when Hildegard died, her sisters claimed they saw two streams of light appear in the skies & cross over the room where she was dying.

“Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around Him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground, and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God.”

1787 – The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia

1859 – Joshua A. Norton declares himself “Norton I, Emperor of the United States.” Born in England, Norton spent most of his early life in South Africa, he emigrated to San Francisco with an inheritance, but he lost his fortune investing in Peruvian rice & Norton’s public prominence faded. He reemerged to lay claim to the position of Emperor of the United States, & ‘Protector of Mexico’. He was treated deferentially in San Francisco, &currency issued in his name was honored in the establishments he frequented.

Though some considered him insane or eccentric, citizens of San Francisco celebrated his regal presence & his proclamations, such as his order that the United States Congress be dissolved by force & his numerous decrees calling for a bridge crossing connecting San Francisco to Oakland, &a corresponding tunnel to be built under San Francisco Bay.

At his funeral two days later, nearly 30,000 people packed the streets of San Francisco to pay homage. Norton has been immortalized as the basis of characters in the literature of writers Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christopher Moore, Maurice De Bevere, Selma Lagerlöf, & Neil Gaiman

1908 – The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes, killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality

1916 –Manfred von Richthofen (“The Red Baron“), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France, in World War I

1928 – The Okeechobee hurricane strikes southeastern Florida, killing more than 2,500 people. It is the third deadliest natural disaster in United States history, behind the Galveston hurricane of 1900 & the 1906 San Francisco earthquake

1939 –The Soviet Union joins Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland in World War II

1939 –German submarine U-29 sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous in World War II

1961 – Deathday of Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish diplomat, economist, author & the second secretary-general of the United Nations. Soon after his appointment Hammarskjöld was interviewed on radio by Edward R. Murrow. In this talk he declared: “But the explanation of how man should live a life of active social service in full harmony with himself as a member of the community of spirit, I found in the writings of those great medieval mystics [Meister Eckhart and Jan van Ruysbroek] for whom ‘self-surrender’ had been the way to self-realization, and who in ‘singleness of mind’ and ‘inwardness’ had found strength to say yes to every demand which the needs of their neighbours made them face, and to say yes also to every fate life had in store for them when they followed the call of duty as they understood it.”

He was en route to negotiate a cease-fire on 18 September when his plane crashed near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia. Hammarskjöld & fifteen others died in the crash. The circumstances of the incident are still not clear. There is some evidence that suggests the plane was shot down. Göran Björkdahl (a Swedish aid worker) wrote in 2011 that he believed Dag Hammarskjöld’s 1961 death was a murder committed in part to benefit mining companies like Union Minière, after Hammarskjöld had made the UN intervene in the Katanga crisis. Björkdahl based his assertion on interviews with witnesses of the plane crash & on archival documents. Former U.S. President Harry Truman commented that Hammarskjöld “was on the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said ‘when they killed him’.”

1978 – The Camp David Accords brokered by President Jimmy Carter, is signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin

2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression

2006 – Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts, marking the first eruption for the long-dormant volcano in at least 10,000 years

2011 – Occupy Wall Street movement begins in Zuccotti Park, New York City

Greetings kindred souls – This year for the APO fund raiser I plan to hold a Dance-A-Thon & Biodynamic Prep-stir on Friday 24 September 2021 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America – Chicago

Featuring Waldorf Alum DJ ‘Grapefruit Effect’ + Circle’s Edge

It’s a potluck community gathering, so please bring food & drink to share – Along with your donation to this amazing program.

We also plan to read some poetry from some of the inmates who are working with Anthroposophy!

If you live out of town you can dance in your neck of the woods in solidarity with us. Please show your generous support…

Xox ~hag, hazel@reverseritual.com

Donate here https://secure.anthroposophy.org/…/anth…/campaign.jsp

Hazel’s Dance-a-thon page for APO

Here is an easy link to get involved in the APO Walk-a-thon this year!

Festival Gathering: Tuesday 28 September on the eve of Michaelmas with Rev’s Jeana Lee & Victoria Capon

Potluck at 5:30
Talk at 7pm

At the Rudolf Steiner Branch, 4249 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Meeting The Dragon With Our Four Fold Being – A talk and collaborative sculptural creation

Bring Food & drink for the potluck & a found objects to help build the dragon!
Then our inspiration can come to life through our collaboration.

Jeana Lee was recently ordained as a priest of the Christian Community Movement for Religious Renewal and sent to the congregation in Chicago.  Previously she taught chemistry and math at Green Meadow Waldorf high school.  She enjoys swimming in the lake and is interested in questions of sin and redemption.

Victoria Capon hails from the east coast and is new to Chicago. Before attending seminary she taught at the Waldorf School of Cape Cod. Now she is happily settling into serving the chicago CC congregation and exploring the Windy City

Greetings friends – Come Join us in Chicago
*Special in-person activities for ‘Building the Temple of the Heart’ 
ASA Annual Conference and Members Meeting 7-10 October 2021: 

• 1st make sure you are registered at https://www.anthroposophy.org/fallconference and have indicated that you will be attending in person at the RSBranch Chicago.
• Then Register by October 1st with the Chicago Branch using PayPal. For more info. contact jenny.meyer17@gmail.com
• To apply as a vendor, Please complete the form by September 20th: https://forms.gle/AfpDueWSo9dRfYUH7 for more info. contact Elizabeth Kelly eilisaineariadne@gmail.com 

THURSDAY, October 7 – CENTRAL TIME 
(*For those in the pageant: Tech rehearsal – 3 pm)
*5 pm Dinner in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’
(Meal plan menu coming soon – Sign up now so we know how much food we need!)

6:30- 8:00 PM    Annual General Meeting (AGM) – Members Meeting 
                          (Note: This portion is free and open to all members) 

FRIDAY, October 8 – CENTRAL TIME 
*9:30 AM            In the Upper Room our Class Reader Clark Remington    
                           will give Lesson XI for the School of Spiritual Science
  (Note: There will be no online gathering for the Class Lesson
11:30 AM           What is the School of Spiritual Science?  
                           A conversation led by Helen-Ann Ireland, open to all 
                           (30 min) 
*12 Noon            LUNCH in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’
1:00 PM             Conference Opening                                    
2:00 PM             The Stairway of Surprise: Rudolf Steiner’s 6 Basic  
                           Exercises with Michael Lipson     
3:00 PM             30-minute Snack Break in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’
3:30 PM             Thinking / Clear Thinking with the New Orleans Hub
                           Doing / Right Action with the Austin Hub                  
                           Musical Interludes by Morgan Vallat
4:30 PM             Biography with Janey Newton
5:00 PM             60-minute Break *DINNER in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’
6:00 PM             Singing, Speech & Eurythmy
                           with Dennis Dietzel, Katherine Thivierge & Mary Ruud 
6:15 – 7:15 PM  Building the Temple through Spiritual Research:
Sections of the School of Spiritual Science as Columns of the Temple 

SATURDAY, October 9  – CENTRAL TIME 
(*For those in the pageant: Tech rehearsal – 9 am)

11:00 AM         Singing, Speech & Eurythmy 
                         with Dennis Dietzel, Katherine Thivierge & Mary Ruud 
11:15 AM         The Life of the Heart in Space, Time and Eternity with  
                         Michaela Glöckler
12:30 PM         Biography with Janey Newton 
1:00 PM           60-minute Break *LUNCH in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’
2:00  PM          Singing, Speech & Eurythmy 
                        with Dennis Dietzel, Katherine Thivierge & Mary Ruud 
2:15 PM           Feeling / Equanimity with the Twin Cities Hub  
                         Loving / Positivity with the Northern Michigan Hub 
                         Opening / Open-mindedness with the Ann Arbor Hub  
                         Musical Interludes by Morgan Vallat
3:30 PM           60-minute Snack Break in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’
4:30 PM           Exploring the Heart Connections between Chartres  
                        Cathedral and Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival with  
                        Brian Gray
5:45 PM           Biography with Janey Newton 
6:15 PM           60-minute Break *DINNER in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’
7:15-8:30 PM   Thanking / Inner Harmony / Wholeness with the Chicago /
                         Youth Section Hub 

SUNDAY, October 10  – CENTRAL TIME 
(*For those in the Pageant- Please wear all Black, or all white – Run Through – 9 am)
11:00 AM         Singing, Speech & Eurythmy 
                        with Dennis Dietzel, Katherine Thivierge & Mary Ruud 
11:15 AM         Experiential Pageant: ‘Building the Temple of the Heart- 
                        The Royal Art: A Social Pilgrimage of the Soul’
                        by Hazel Archer featuring the 6 HUBS, Friends and Hosts, 
                        Dennis Dietzel, Mary Ruud, Katherine Thivierge & YOU
12:15 PM       (Timing Subject to change) LUNCH in the RS Branch ‘Schreinerei’
1:00-2:00 PM   Conversation and Conference Closing