Category Archives: Insight

Faithfulness

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.

March Comes in Like a Lion and Goes Out Like a Lamb | Flickr
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.

Nowruz Novruz Persian New Year'S - Free photo on Pixabay

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

Assassination of Julius Caesar Drawing by English School

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.

Annunciation embroidery, St Mary's... © Julian P Guffogg :: Geograph  Britain and Ireland
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…

Peace & Blessed Bee…

New Astrology Emerging. (here)

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.

Register here

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

Enrollment and Application Reister here

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!

  • February 19, Saturday 9 AM Mtn. (morning)
  • February 22, Tuesday, 9 AM Mtn. (morning)
  • March 14, Monday, 6 PM Mtn.
  • March 28, Monday, 9 AM Mtn. (morning)

Register here

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 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! 


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. 

You will be an active participant in this gathering that will engage storytelling and biography, art and color, eurythmy and movement, singing and speech, with offerings from speakers Carrie Schuchardt, Mary Stewart AdamsHazel Archer-GinsbergStephanie Georgieff, and more. 

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. 

HOW TO BOOK: Email stay@hotelsantafe.com or call reservations at  877-259-3409 

**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. 

CLICK HERE to post on our room and rideshare board to coordinate with other participants. 

AIR TRAVEL: Fly to Albuquerque or Santa Fe (note that flights are more limited and subject to the weather as Santa Fe is a small airport.)

There is a shuttle from Albuquerque to Santa Fe or car rentals available. Uber or Lyft is available if you fly into Santa Fe.

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.

No refunds after March 21, 2022

STANDARD TICKET (After 2/26): $350

SUPPORTER TICKET: $425 

EXHIBITORS: If you are interested in being an exhibitor please fill out this form. 

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: Limited assistance is available, please fill out this form. 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! 

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 Place with 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 Americas                                 with 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 is a 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

5:30 – 6:00 pm       WEAVING STORIES Biography Conversation

6:00 pm                 Dinner – On your own

8:00-9:30 pm         WEAVING COMMUNITY Sophia Rising- Past, Present, and Future MC’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 WATER Water Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends
                          WEAVING WHOLENESS Closing 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 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER See you Santa Fe! 


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. 


Rose Cross

In honor of Ita Wegman’s Birthday: THE ADMISSION RITUAL FOR LEADERSHIP IN THE MICHAEL SCHOOL ~ Peter Selg

When Ita Wegman wrote to Albert Steffen on August 21, 1925, five months after Rudolf Steiner’s death, about her relationship with the First Class of the School for Spiritual Science, she mentions a Rose Cross given to her by Rudolf Steiner: ‘Before his illness the Doctor gave me a Cross with small rubies set in roses, which he used to wear on a red ribbon around his neck. He put it on me with his own hands after we had performed a ritual act‘. Rudolf Steiner’s Rose Cross can be found as part of Ita Wegman’s estate. A few years later, on April 25, 1930, Ita Wegman spoke about the circumstances of the handing over of the cross, the preceding ‘ritual act’, and their connection with the First Class during the Executive Council meeting with the general secretaries and delegates of the General Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum: ‘I also received his cross directly. He took it from his neck and put it on me with his own hands, saying: ‘From this moment we will be there together for the Michael School’.

This meant that Rudolf Steiner, after performing the ritual act, and through the ritual of handing over the cross, admitted Ita Wegman to the Michael School as co – leader with joint responsibility. There is sufficient reason to believe that Rudolf Steiner performed the ritual act and the passing on of the cross at the beginning of September 1924 (after his return from England) in his studio.

In all the Class Lessons Steiner held from September 6 onward, he emphasized Ita Wegman’s special co-responsibility for the mantras of the ritual lessons and for the esoteric school.

People who were admitted to the First Class in September 1924 were ritually introduced by Steiner and Wegman together: ‘Admissions took place in the studio. I had to stand next to the Doctor; members were shown into the studio by Dr. Wachsmuth. Dr. Steiner would ask applicants a few questions, and if they were to be admitted, Dr. Steiner would speak the following words: ‘If you are willing to remain faithful to the Michael School, take my hand. Take also Frau Dr. Wegman’s hand, who will lead the Michael School together with me‘. (Ita Wegman )

Among the class members who were admitted in September 1924 was Wolfgang Moldenhauer, who described the admission procedure in exactly the same way in a letter to Kurt Franz David: ‘On November 5, 1924, I was admitted to the First Class by R. St. After the handshake and troth, he asked me to take the hand of Frau Dr. Wegman who sat next to him as co – leader of the class’.

In notes she took of an internal lecture, Ita Wegman wrote a brief summary about the changes in the affairs of the First Class in the late Sumner of 1924: ‘To me, he {Rudolf Steiner} said that the people should know now that the class was the Michael School in spiritual world. Of that school he was the leader and I was his assistant. It was my task to guard the mantras. Any member who wanted to pass a mantra on to another member had to consult me or him. This was an esoteric act, the beginning of a newly – to – be – introduced esotericism. At the same time it was arranged that during the admission procedure, applicants would hear the words: ‘This is the Michael School, which is led by me and Frau Wegman’.

Since from that time the first ritual elements (the ‘signs and seal of Michael‘) were introduced into the lessons.

The unpublished minutes of an Executive Council meeting of November 29, 1930, reveal that a document about the performed ritual act was in Ita Wegman’s possession. During the crisis of the Executive Council and the Society, Ita Wegman was forced again to confirm to her colleagues that Rudolf Steiner had indeed conferred joint responsibility for the class (nobody apart from Elizabeth Vreede believed her).

The ‘papers’ recording the ritual act, or aspects of that act, form part of a comprehensive collection of mantras and esoteric exercises in Rudolf Steiner’s handwriting, which she had received from him. The collection was preserved in full by the priest Emanuel Zeylmans van Emmichoven, and was published in 2009. It includes a text in Rudolf Steiner’s and Ita Wegman’s handwriting, covering several sheets. The text focuses on the Rose Cross and its transfer, culminating in the actual handing over: and contains ritual elements of a ritual antiphony between two people. Emmanuel van Emmichoven wrote: “Because Ita Wegman wrote down Rudolf Steiner’s oral instructions, it is possible for us to place the text, right into its individual images and personal statements before our souls‘. The text includes an evening and a morning meditation for Ita Wegman, both culminating in the meeting with a ‘priest figure’ and the handing over of a Rose Cross. The mantric verses are associated with the esoteric training of the First Class, and end with a blessing on the meditating person who receives the Rose Cross from the priest figure — the ‘spirit guide’.

The evening meditation exercise for Ita Wegman begins with the review of the experiences of the day. (‘imagine an experience of the day in reverse order’ ) This is followed by exact instructions given by Rudolf Steiner, taken down in her handwriting: a breathing exercise that is to be repeated seven times; an IAO exercise: and then the Rose Cross imagination. The imagination was linked to a mantra referring to the spiritual human form, and was to be meditated in relation to that form (focusing on heart and limb organization)

Primal Powers hold me
Spirits of fire free me
Spirits of light illumine me
So that I reach toward spirit life
So that I feel beings of soul
So that I traverse uncertainties
So that I stand above the abyss.”

In meditating accordingly, the Rose Cross imagination will convey strength and support to the human being from the third hierarchy (in the region of the heart), so that inner certainly can be gained for meeting the tasks and dangers of humanity with confidence.

The process of strengthening, affirmation, and empowerment (or encouragement) was to be followed by further deepened concentration — full inner immersion into the Christ Mystery with the mantra:

In me let Christ live
And change my breath
And warm the course of my blood
And shine into my soul being.”

Rudolf Steiner’s transcript of the evening meditation ends with the instructions: ‘Maintain inner poise’. In the margin of the page Steiner had added a square bracket: ‘White robe. Red belt and pendant. Red headband. I: Ave frater {Hale thee, brother}. He: rosae et aureae {of the rosy and golden}. I: crucis {cross}. He: Benedictus deus qui dedit nobis signum {Blessed be God who gave us the sign}’.

What Steiner had written down and passed on to Ita Wegman was obviously a summary, which served as a reminder. He would have specified the inner process to her verbally in much more detail. According to Wegman’s notes, the ‘Rose Cross’ had to be retrieved from the heart of the meditating person, where it had previously been ‘placed‘ after the Christ meditation. The Rose Cross had to be created, or reproduced, mantrically and internalized during the exercise. After the Rose Cross had been ‘retrieved” from the heart, it had to be carried imaginatively up a mountain, ‘step by step’. On the mountain peak an encounter should take place in the imagination with a figure {‘person‘} in priestly ritual vestment (with white robe, red stole, red band around the neck, and red belt: the colours of Christian Rosenkreutz, white and red, in the “Chymical Wedding’).

Ita Wegman wrote about that meeting: “One has to hand the Rose Cross over to that person with the words: Ave frater and sense the others response: Rosae and aureae. With devotion one answers: Crucis. The other speaks: Benedictus deus qui dedit nobis signum’. After the imaginative experience of such a meeting; that is, the joint, antiphonal speaking of the words: ‘Hail thee, Brother of the Rosy and Golden Cross’: The blessing of God through the priestly figure; and the handing over to that figure of the Rose Cross that has been carried up, the meditating person turns back. Then the imagination that one leaves the other again. After that, allow a sense of calm to enter into the soul. Empty the mind“. The Rose Cross remains on the mountain.

As a reminder for the morning meditation Rudolf Steiner wrote simply:

Imagination on the mountain. Being received. Holding up the Rose Cross.
‘May my head condense the spirit of worlds
Extracting for me the living light of thoughts
May my throat parch the breath of soul
Infusing it with spirit word meaning
Live in my heart, you, my spirit guide
There to unite me with you
That I move live weave in spirit soul life.

Ita Wegman added more details to her notes: Imagine in the morning: That one has climbed up the mountain again; that one meets the same person in the same robe; that the figure gives back the Rose Cross given to him {her} on the previous evening. Imagination to be meditated, kneeling down:

  1. May my head condense the spirit of worlds
    Extracting for me the living light of thoughts
  2. May my throat parch the breath of soul
    Infusing it with spirit word meaning.
  3. Live in my heart, you, my spirit guide
    There to unite with me with you
    That I move live weave in spirit soul life!
  4. Feel the head — the thinking — like a stone
  5. The throat like a parched plant
  6. Concentration on the heart while meditating the above.
    Now meditate that the person gives back the Rose Cross and places the right hand on top of the left; then both hands on the forehead, speaking the words:
    ‘Benedictus deus qui dedit nobis signum’
    Empty the mind again.

The meditation of the pupil climbing the mountain again, which is carried out while kneeling, culminates in the spiritual union with the priestly figure in the heart, the human organ of destiny. (‘Live in my heart, you, my spirit guide, there to unite me with you‘) After that, as Ita Wegman’s notes suggest, the ‘spirit guide‘ returns the Rose Cross to the pupil, with a blessing and layman of hands on the pupils forehead.

‘And I…received this cross directly. He took it from his neck and put on me with his own hands, saying: ‘From this moment we will be there together for the Michael School’. With those words, Ita Wegman described how Rudolf Steiner handed over the cross to her directly after performing the ritual act.

~hag

The same motif of assistance and union appeared at the end of another mantric verse that Rudolf Steiner had already given to Ita Wegman in September 1923, a year before the ritual of the First Class, asking her to meditate it every evening:

Ever shining supreme light;
To you I entrust my soul.
May the light of my soul weave
With the weaving light of worlds.
As light I feel,
Light in the smallest point;
Light that widens boundlessly.
Pure transparent light am I.
I seize hold of the spirit world
At the end of my soul of light,
I hold the spirit world
With my arms of light;
I sense your presence,
You want to carry me
To worlds of light and spirit.”
~’Rudolf Steiner and Christian Rosenkreutz’

1876 – Birthday of Ita Wegman, founder of Anthroposophical medicine & close collaborator of Rudolf Steiner. She also developed a special form of massage therapy, called rhythmical massage, & other therapeutic treatments.

Ita Wegman, as she was known throughout her life, was born as Maria Ita Wegman in Indonesia, the first child of a Dutch colonial family. Around the turn of the century, she returned to Europe (she had visited before) & studied therapeutic gymnastics & massage. In 1902, when she was 26, she met Rudolf Steiner for the first time. Five years later she began medical school at the University of Zurich, where women were not discriminated to study medicine. She was granted a diploma as a medical doctor in 1911 with a specialization in women’s medicine & joined an existing medical practice.

In 1917, having opened an independent practice, she developed a cancer treatment using an extract of mistletoe following indications from Steiner. This first remedy, which she called Iscar, was later developed into Iscador & has become an approved cancer treatment in Germany & a number of other countries.

By 1919 she had a joint practice together with two other doctors, also women. In 1920 she purchased land in Arlesheim, where she opened her own clinic, the Klinisch-Therapeutisches Institut, the first center for anthroposophical medicine. In 1922 she founded a therapeutic home for mentally handicapped children, Haus Sonnenhof, also in Arlesheim, & co-founded a pharmaceutical laboratory, Weleda, that has since grown into a significant producer of medicines & health-care products.

In the following year, Rudolf Steiner asked Wegman to join the Executive Council of the newly reformed Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. She also directed the Medical Section of the research center at the Goetheanum. Together, Wegman & Steiner wrote what was to be Steiner’s last book, Extending Practical Medicine, which gave a theoretical basis to the new medicine they were developing. The book was partly written while Wegman cared for Steiner, who was already terminally ill. Wegman founded a new medical journal, Natura, the following year.

In 1936, the clinic opened a second home in Ascona, Switzerland. Shortly thereafter, difficulties between Wegman & the rest of the Executive Council flared up, & Wegman was asked to leave the Council; in addition, she & a number of supporters had their membership in the Anthroposophical Society itself withdrawn. The medical work flourished, however, & Wegman travelled extensively in support of the rapidly growing movement to extend medicine’s limits; she was especially active in the Netherlands & England during this time. Wegman died in Arlesheim in 1943, at the age of 67.

Ita Wegman is a close collaborator of Rudolf Steiner thruout many incarnations including: Alexander the Great to Steiner’s Aristotle; Gilgamesh & Ebani… On the Work of the Archangel Michael by Ita Wegman

1732 – Birthday of George Washington, American general & politician, 1st President of the United States

1788 – Birthday of Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher & author

1943 – Deathday of 1943 – Hans & Sophie Scholl, German activists. Sophie a German student along with her brother Hans were anti-Nazi political activists, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. They were convicted of high treason after distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich (LMU).

In the early summer of 1942, Scholl, his sister Sophie, Willi Graf, Kurt Huber, Christoph Probst, & Alexander Schmorell, co-authored 6 anti-Nazi Third Reich political resistance leaflets. Calling themselves the White Rose, they instructed Germans to practice nonviolent resistance against the Nazis. The group had been horrified by the behavior of some German soldiers on the Eastern Front, where they had witnessed cruelty towards Jews in Poland & Russia.

Hans & Sophie Scholl & Christopher Probst were beheaded by Johann Reichhart in Munich’s Stadelheim Prison. The execution was supervised by Dr. Walter Roemer, the enforcement chief of the Munich district court. Scholl’s last words were “Es lebe die Freiheit!” (“Long live freedom!”). Shortly thereafter, most of the other students involved were arrested & executed as well.

Dear friends – How can we feed & sustain the future? This important initiative is organized by young woman, including my daughter Ultra-Violet Archer, who spent a year living together in Sweden learning about global realities and their own inner authentic path. One of the most meaningful parts of the year were the woman’s circles, which they created and hosted. Creating shared sacred space made them realize how much more there is to discover about the wisdom of womanhood. They were lucky enough to meet Disa, who teaches women to unlock the wisdom of their cycles and bodies.

Please help support their journey toward wholeness

Ultra-Violet Archer – Songwriter and Music Producer, exploring music as a tool for healing and storytelling. I am currently studying at Columbia College of Chicago, after spending a year with the International Youth Initiative Program in Sweden; and before that, two years at Oberlin College and Conservatory. Here https://linktr.ee/UltraVioletArcher you can find the links to my original releases and YouTube channel. I also sing and produce for the band Circle’s Edge. When I’m not making music, you can find me foraging for edible plants, reading fantasy novels, or hosting women’s circles! https://ultravioletarcher.bandcamp.com/track/when-my-wings-dry

The Anthroposophical Society in America presents Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human – Santa Fe, New Mexico ~ April 21-24, 2022 Hotel Santa Fe Hacienda and Spa 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! 

***Early Bird Rate Until February 26 ~ Exclusively For Those Who Book With Hotel Santa Fe***


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. 

You will be an active participant in this gathering that will engage storytelling and biography, art and color, eurythmy and movement, singing and speech, with offerings from speakers Carrie Schuchardt, Mary Stewart AdamsHazel Archer-GinsbergStephanie Georgieff, and more. 

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. 

HOW TO BOOK: Email stay@hotelsantafe.com or call reservations at  877-259-3409 

**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. 

AIR TRAVEL: Fly to Albuquerque or Santa Fe (note that flights are more limited and subject to the weather as Santa Fe is a small airport.)

There is a shuttle from Albuquerque to Santa Fe or car rentals available. Uber or Lyft is available if you fly into Santa Fe.

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.

No refunds after March 21, 2022

EARLY BIRD with ROOM BOOKING (until 2/26): $295*

STANDARD TICKET (After 2/26): $350

SUPPORTER TICKET: $425 

*Must book at Hotel Santa Fe to receive this special early bird rate! Email stay@hotelsantafe.com or call 877-259-3409 to book. Please specify your reservation is for the ASA Gathering. 

EXHIBITORS: If you are interested in being an exhibitor please fill out this form. 

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: Limited assistance is available, please fill out this form. 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! 

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, Singing, and Speech
 

FRIDAY, April 22

                        Explore Santa Fe on your own and continued arrivals 

1:00 – 2:30 pm   Welcome: Spirit of Place with 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 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*

8:00 pm             Fireside Chats – Story and Sharing Breakout circles lead 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  

10:00-11:15am   Presentation with Stephanie Georgieff 

11:30 – 12:30pm WEAVING STORIES Biography Work

12:30 – 2pm        Lunch Together*

2:00 – 3:30pm    Anthroposophia: Our Alchemical Wedding  with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends – At the heart of the gathering is a Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know    Thyself’’ – a movable feast, with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, speaking verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth with Hazel Archer- Ginsberg. This experience is built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions. 

3:30 – 4 pm        Break

4:00 – 5:00 pm   WEAVING COLOR Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic  within the Earthly Pastels with Helen-Ann Ireland

5:00 – 5:30 pm   WEAVING STORIES Biography Conversation

5:30pm              Dinner – On your own

7:30-9:30pm      WEAVING COMUNITY Sophia Rising- Past, Present, and Future. 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 

10:30 – 12:00pm  Brunch Together*

12:00-1:00 pm    WEAVING WATER Water Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends
                          WEAVING WHOLENESS Closing 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 room will be provided for contemplation 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

See you Santa Fe! 


PRESENTERS AND GUIDES (Not a full list-more to come!) 

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.

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.

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.

Stephanie Georgieff After nearly thirty years as a practicing Naturopath and Acupuncturist, Stephanie Georgieff has chosen to transform her healing vocation into writing and lecturing on various aspects of Christian Spirituality and its relationship to emotional and physical health. She has lectured throughout Europe and North America on various subjects, but her passion is on the Middle Ages and the Divine Feminine. Georgieff hosts a podcast “The Black Madonna Speaks,” writes for numerous publications, and has her own Blog: The Heart of the Black Madonna. The Black Madonna, Mysterious Soul Companion is the first in a series of books examining how the Black Madonna as an art form offers healing insights to our collective past and present. These volumes also explore the invitation humanity has from the spiritual world to co-create a healthy and peaceful future.

Helena Hurrell is an art and metal color Light therapist trained in the UK/Germany and certified by the Medial Section at the Goetheanum 

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.

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

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.

For questions or inquiries please email programs@anthroposophy.org or call the office at 734-662-9355 

Rinse & Repeat

Rene Dwelzy

Dear Friends – Amidst the daily duties in the striving to serve Anthroposophia, while still holding the energies of Epiphany, looking forward to what Holy Week wants this year, preparing for the new semester of Applied Anthroposophy (which starts tonight!) & the Sophia Rising Convergence (the official announcement & registration will come from the ASA on 5 Feb.) during my sunrise oblations this morning I found myself casting about for a clue as to what to bring for today’s offering.

Georgie Frankel

I am feeling called to leave a lasting impression, a hardy morsel that needs chewing, since I am off to a retreat with the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America in Austin, & I will be completely off line until 1 February 2022 – the New Moon, Imbolc, & The Lunar New Year of the Water Tiger.

Leon Zernitsky

And what came is this lecture from Dr. Steiner, which I may have shared before, & which has a rinse & repeat quality. Chew well my friends, & may this inconvenient truth become a nourishing impulse for Wisdom & Love…

~hag

Anthony Falbo

The Fundamental Social Demand of Our Times, LECTURE 4, Dornach, December 20, 1918, The New Revelation of the Spirit

“Who are the Beings of the Spiritual World who stand behind the revelations that are breaking newly into human history through the veil of outward phenomena?

Evolution does indeed take place among the Hierarchies. The Spirits of Personality are rising to a creative activity.

What then is it that is revealing itself through the veil of phenomena? It is the expression of a new creative principle, brought into the world by the Spirits of Personality. In this connection we must recognize it as the essential characteristic of our age (which began in the fifteenth century A.D.) to develop impulses of personality. The personality, if I may use this trite expression, wants to stand on its own feet, does so more and more as we go forward into the third millennium, when other impulses for the fulfillment of personality will enter in.

Consider carefully, my dear friends, what I have just told you. There, coming towards humanity, is the new revelation from the Spirits of Light, the Spirits of Personality. But over against this, especially since the beginning of the fifth Post-Atlantean age, there stand certain Spirits of Darkness. For as soon as we look behind the veil of the phenomena we see at once how certain ranks of spiritual Beings are confronted by other ones, opposing ones. On the one hand we turn our gaze to the Spirits of Personality revealing themselves as I described them just now; on the other hand we see over against them certain Spirits of Darkness, making themselves manifest, Spirits whose interest it is not to allow that which is to come — the new revelation of the Spirit of Personality — to become effective in mankind. These new Spirits of Darkness find an opportunity to realize their intentions in a certain phenomenon of modern life which is unfortunately far too little heeded by present-day mankind.

You see therefore that human labor on Earth has found, so to speak, a substitute. Something is here that works like human beings and yet does not consist of human beings in flesh and blood. This fact is extremely important for the evolution of mankind, and it is connected with other facts in the evolution of the present time. The five hundred million men who are really not there as men of flesh and blood — all the work that is done by the machines just as though men were doing it — all this machine work gives opportunity for the Spirits of Darkness to realize themselves within our human evolution. And these very Spirits of Darkness are the opponents of the Spirits of Personality who bring with them the new revelations of the heavens breaking in upon us with a new clairvoyance, while on the other hand, arising out of the sub-earthly realms, we have the embodiment provided for the adversaries. For these very adversaries are demonic Spirits, Spirits of Darkness, who can now actualize themselves — albeit not through human beings of flesh and blood; they live and move among us none the less, inasmuch as human forces are being replaced by mechanisms, by machines.

This too lies at the basis of all disharmony in the social life of our time. It lies also at the basis of certain errors, certain aberrations of human thinking in our time, which in their turn provide once more the starting-point for social aberrations. For in the course of the last few centuries, human thinking has in a certain respect adapted itself to the mechanistic order. It is permeated, impregnated by conceptions adapted purely to a mechanistic order. In many spheres of natural science — but not only there, in many spheres of actual life, of the social and socialistic life of today…

And yet, my dear friends, in the world of manifestation everything has a twofold aspect, and you must not therefore conclude that the mechanistic ideas have slunk into human evolution as an evil thing that ought to be avoided. No, that would be altogether wrong. Dangerous as these ideas are because they give certain Spirits of Darkness the opportunity to arise against the Spirits of Personality who are revealing themselves today; dangerous, above all, as is the mechanistic order from which these ideas are derived, yet on the other hand the very thinking which takes its start from mechanistic ideas is beneficial. For this, my dear friends, is the task of modern time: — Our powers of soul must be equipped with the ideas that live in modern scientific thought and altogether in modern thought. This is the necessary task of modern time. We must permeate ourselves with these ideas and then place them in the service of the new revelation of the heavens…

Thus humankind has passed through a certain education in sharply outlined thinking. But from this point onward it is necessary to turn to the new revelation of the Spirit, and to conceive the spiritual worlds with the same clarity with which we have grown accustomed to conceive the world of Natural Science. This is what the modern intellectual conscience requires, nor will mankind be able to dispense with this. Without this, mankind will never be able to solve the all-important questions that will arise in the present and in the near future. Clear and sharp thinking trained in the modern, scientific ideas and then applied to the spiritual world as it reveals itself anew; such is the configuration, fundamentally speaking, of anthroposophical Spiritual Science. Such is the character which anthroposophical Spiritual Science wants to have, therefore it reckons with the most necessary requirements of our time. Moreover, for this very reason, it is able to descend from spiritual heights, to grasp what is necessary to the everyday life of man. My dear friends, we must again and again repeat that Spiritual Science wishes to bring new help to human work and human tasks of outer life.

A host of other important impulses of our time must be seen in this connection. We are standing in the very midst — not at the end, but I say with full consciousness, in the very midst — of a time of conflict, a time when chaotic events are taking place in human evolution, events from which as I have often said, men ought to learn. Alas! There are so many who have learnt nothing yet from the events of the last four and a half years, whose thinking is still the very same in form as it was four and a half years ago. Events are taking place, my dear friends, which reveal outward humanity — or the life of outward humanity — in conflict and in warfare.

Man must pass through inner conflicts of the soul, conflicts that will strengthen him. We have not to look towards a future more comfortable than the past or the present. Specious ideals — which in reality are nothing but modern narcotics — are not the truth.

For the future, my dear friends, things will by no means be more comfortable in the outer life. For the remainder of earthly evolution mankind will yet have to shoulder far greater discomforts than they dream of yet. Nevertheless, they will shoulder them, for they will be strengthened by inner conflicts of soul — every individual man in his own soul.

When we pierce the veil of phenomena we behold a life of Divine Spiritual, Hierarchical labor; the thing that strikes us first is the great battle which is taking place behind the scene of the physical world of sense — the battle between Wisdom and Love. And man is placed in the midst of this battle. For a long time he has been unconscious of it, in future he must take part more and more consciously in this conflict which is taking place in the world between Wisdom and Love. For Man himself shall be the outcome when Wisdom and Love beat like an eternal pendulum, now towards the side of Wisdom and now towards the side of Love. Only through the rhythmic swinging of the pendulum, not through a sleepy peace, will the future shape itself aright.

All that is written in the book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment is meant to lead men to fight this inner battle out victoriously. But people find it inconvenient; they shrink in fear; they have not the courage to go through the inner fight. And this, my dear friends, is a characteristic phenomenon of our time. Men will not go through this inner fight; they flee from it; they do not want it yet. And because they will not have it inwardly, it is projected outward…” ~Rudolf Steiner

Path of Mars in January 2022
Roen Kelly

26 January 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Through the end of January, Mars is skimming through a particularly rich Milky Way region of Sagittarius. By this morning, the Red Planet is less than a Moon’s width from the northeastern edge of the breathtaking Lagoon Nebula.

Sunrise: 7:14 A.M.
Sunset: 5:12 P.M.
Moonrise: 1:27 A.M.
Moonset: 11:52 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent (37%) ~Astronomy.com

JJ Macgiven

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

155 – Polycarp of Smyrna, pupil of John the Evangelist, burnt at the stake

1915 – Rudolf Steiner gives Helmuth von Moltke a meditation: Genius des Deutschen Vilkes

“Out of the substance of soul and spirit, human beings have to fashion the tools with which to plough a way, the soul-way leading to the castle of the Grail, to the mystery of the Grail, to the mystery of bread and blood, to the fulfilment of the words ‘This do in remembrance of me’. This is, truly, in remembrance of the mighty event of Golgotha, if the symbol of the bread — of what, in other words, develops from the earth through the synthesis of cosmic forces — is understood. It is done in full remembrance if we understand once again how to grasp the world through a spiritualized cosmology and astronomy, and if we learn to comprehend the human being in terms of his essence: the element where the spiritual directly enters him — the mystery of the blood. The path that leads to the Holy Grail must be found through inner work in human souls. This is the task of cognition and the social task.”~Rudolf Steiner, 
The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 8“The Lapse into Matter”, and Chapter 9
“Piercing the Thicket”, excerpts from Steiner’s lectures given at Dornach on 16 & 17 April 1921 … 
focus of the February 2 meeting.

Chapters 7, 8 & 9 in the book can be found online at the CRC’s website by clicking this link
A transcript of the 16 April, 1921 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link
A transcript of the 17 April, 1921 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing  study conversation.  The study has been divided among two volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail — from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  To connect to the audio/video-conference:

Video Conference Details:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106

Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106
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        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcHr5EVwrv

If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
Agenda for this meeting (CST)
 
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Michael – Chapter 8
          Camille – Chapter 9
7:50  Conversation
8:25   ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
There is a knighthood of the 21st century
whose riders do not ride through the darkness of physical forests as of old,
but through the forest of darkened minds.
They are armed with a spiritual armor and an inner sun makes them radiant.
Out of them shines healing, healing that flows from the knowledge of the human being
as a spiritual being. They must create inner order, inner justice, peace and conviction in the darkness
of our time.
~Karl Konig

Share the Air

Susan Seddon Boule

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~I am blind until the moment I see thru another soul’s eyes
Listening with my hands
Lips pressed in prayer
My head rests in love
Limbs moving in sync with the will
Of spirit ensouled
The Logos in lemniscate
Strengthening the ether
In visible speech we stand
Together at the center of forever
~hag

Sealie De Morgan

Listen into & Breathe on the ‘I Think Speech‘ Podcast

Da Omkala

Greetings Dear Friends – Finding the connections between ourselves & the world situation, let us breathe into our lungs knowing that with each breath we take in spiritual life forces that stimulate the warmth & life in our blood, enabling us to be, to think, to feel.

Then when we breathe out – into the world – we can intentionally fill the atmosphere with spiritual concepts – the essence of our being, of our thoughts & feeling life.

Darby Grant

Are we sharing into the ethers enlivened life forces of light, love & warmth? – Or are we breathing out fearful death forces, cold hard unconscious darkness…?

It is in this etheric realm of the life-body which we all share, that The Christ forces can be received, either vivified by our conscious breathing of light; or crucified, again & again, thru our materialistic thoughts, cold feelings, & heartless actions or unconscious reactions. This has repercussions on our human etheric bodies, which can either bring health, or eventually cause a death in our physical body; & with it kill the possibility of receiving a consciousness of Christ. Can we see that what is happening in the world is meant to lead us to a resurrection of this living Christ consciousness?

Banavitx Tankel

I am ever searching for the spiritual significance behind world events. I have been thinking about how the corona control crisis has made us catch our breath – has literally stopped our breathing & is endangering our collective heart – seeking to modify our very humanness by altering the RNA in our blood.

Ben ‘The old beekeeper’

& I am coming to see that the impulse of Love, is a conscious breathing out -which brings us into unification with the etheric world. Breathing out with intention gives us a sense of freedom. Can we make it a selfless offering – connected to the future? Can it help us live into our Destiny? Will we come to the Wedding that unifies us with higher beings in the spiritual worlds – a re-union in life – like what we experience in sleep, & in death.

Leanora Munstone

Breathing in brings us to our Self.  Taking an in-breath connects us to ‘necessity’, which is a past impulse, that awakens us to a consciousness of our Karma. With our 1st breath, we enter life. In rhythmical breathing we are aligned with the cosmos, which connects us with the moral memory of our time before birth, & a feeling for what we need to do to be better human beings. We also have a chance to do this every morning when we wake up.

Brenda Falzell

When we think about breathing, it brings us from the point to the periphery, from the self to the universe – an active expansion into the all & a contraction back to the point of union . We can’t try & mask the fact that human beings must share the air. We breathe each other in, & are called to meet in the sphere of formative forces where we can discover the Christ living in the space between breaths, in the All-Space between heart beats. Here we are asked to transform our ‘necessity’- based on an unfree past – our personal & collective karma – into a right relationship, which can be expressed as the morality of the gods. This animates Love, which is essential for Freedom, creating a destiny, where the perception & reception of our oneness with the higher worlds is our future.

Delpha Umpakwa

Can we become ever more conscious of what fills our heart with warmth – with unselfish thinking – to move out thru our feeling, enthusing a life-affirming will for good? – Let us make the intention to let the Spirit sing & speak thru our Breath.

Chuy Gonzales

This spiritualizes our breathing which can become The Word invoking the Holy Spirit; to live as ‘Christ in me’, to live, from the place of the higher “I”.

~hag

Sealie De Morgan

18 January 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars:” Venus (occult Mercury) which dominated the evening sky in early January, has now just begun to peek out shortly before sunrise to take her place as the Morning Star once again. If you’re up early, see if you can find the bright planet of Love & healing amid the brightening sky – high in the East.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1873 – the Deathday of Edward Bulwer-Lytton who I discovered thru a book that was influential to me as a young woman: Zanoi, A Rosicrucian Tale. He was an English aristocrat, a member of Parliament, 1st Baron of Lytton & Earl of Knebsworth. He was an enormously popular novelist, & a member of the English Rosicrucian Society, founded in 1867 by Robert Wenworth Little. He wrote Paul Clifford, published in three volumes on April 30, 1830, a story of a man who leads a dual life as both a gentleman and a criminal. The first edition was the largest printing of any modern novel up to that time, & it sold out on the first day. It was Bulwer-Lytton’s fifth novel, written when he was twenty-eight. The Last Days of Pompeii, published in 1934, was a very popular work that inspired at least 10 films, plays, and operas. Zanoni was published in 1842. Among its themes are Rosicrucianism, divine madness, love, the elixir of life, & immortality. The Dweller on the Threshold figures prominently. The Coming Race, published in 1871, was a work of science fiction later republished as Vril, the Power of the Coming Race. Several of Bulwer-Lytton’s phrases have become common usage, such as “the great unwashed” from the novel Paul Clifford, “pursuit of the almighty dollar” from his novel The Coming Race, and “the pen is mightier than the sword” from the play Richelieu.

Emerge%20with%20us!%20(1)(1).png
Sometimes you need another chance. Because sometimes…the timing is better the second time around! 
Starting now through January 18 you can register with pro-rated tuition for Applied AnthroposophyAccess to all previous recordings from these programs will be included, leaving you free to catch up on your own time as you jump right into our current courses. 

Click here to register for Applied Anthroposophy by 1/18!

The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) had over 180 people from all over the world participate in the first semester.  You have two options to register this January: 

1. Register for our weekly Seed Series Presentations (check out our stellar faculty here!)

2. Register for the Full Program which includes the Seed Series as well as the option to join up to six themed Chrysalis Groups that meet each week.  (I lead the Thursday morning Chrysalis Group: ‘The Cycle of the Year as Path of Initiation’ with artist Nancy Melvin, 9:30 am CT. )

Course Dates: January 26 – May 25, 2022

Full Program Tuition: $400*

Seed Series Only: $200

*Additional Youth and Equity Discounts available 

to be in formed

Contemporary Cave Painting | 7 January - 21 February 2015 - Overview |  Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery
Rebecca Hossack

Here are today’s Leading Thought’s spoken to In-Form on ‘I Think Speech’

Sea Cooke

What wants to be in-formed on the Earth now, & how can we give it expression? What is required to build a bridge to the spiritual stream that wants to manifest for us in the realm of formative forces. This etheric stream waiting with power at the edges of our consciousness must be able to pour into those that would make a chalice to embrace it, so that these Christic forces can incarnate thru us in the world.

This is the task of those working in the School of Michael now. We are called to recognize all that lives deep within the inner layers of the earth; as well as what is being offered from the periphery, to co-create formative forces that foster harmony & healing love; to build a communal etheric body, together; which will enable us to develop spiritual organs with higher faculties into the future.

Rebecca Arlena

This requires a fundamental change in our perception, & reception, of what the Being of Wisdom is for us now – & how this reflection is directly connected to the goals of the spiritual worlds – which are asking us to DO Anthroposophy, to practice Spiritual Science – to transform  our soul forces, with a new kind of willing – to not only think about it, but deeply feel, & will it, not just for ourselves, but with a sort of collective modern Manicheanism, that acts as a curative catalyst for all. So that the Being of Anthroposophia is able to live, breathe & weave among us – not only in our concepts, but in the very ‘Etherization of our Blood’, working down into our limbs, in collaboration with the supersensible guidance of the School of Michael.

Chelsea Stetez

We must will to learn, to feel, & embody, this Spiritual Being among us.  Then we will be able to build a collective etheric body as the vessel that will exemplify on the earth this Supersensible School. This new communal etheric body that must be consciously built by the whole community of the School of Spiritual Science – is linked to the power given to us thru Rudolf Steiner’s sacrifice, & thru the etheric body of Christian Rosenkreuz; so deeply connected to the mysteries of the etheric appearance of The Christ in our time. The eternal forces of these great initiates, full of the most creative expression of becoming & metamorphosis, must develop into a quickening for OUR life body – built up & personified, here & now, in our freed etheric hearts, as we work together to shape the new etheric body of the Cosmopolitan Michaelic Stream. Then the real life forces streaming out of the universal etheric will become a source of vibrant new creative life, for all humanity. We must strive to be able to sense & live into this source; to be inspired by its light & warmth, as we ‘Walk the Talk’ of true Spiritual Science.

Lenny Drilfort

Sergei O Prokofieff, who was a deeply striving human being gives us these words: “It is after all the most important task of the anthroposophists of the twentieth century, to give the etheric body of Rudolf Steiner—by means of their work dedicated loyally to the essential spiritual impulse of Anthroposophy—such a power, that this etheric body will enable his pupils, that will be enlightened by it, to experience the Christ in a direct way. Or in other words: that the Christ Himself will be able, from the end of the twentieth century on, to work through the etheric body of Rudolf Steiner among his pupils.”

Prokofieff awakens us to this gift from Rudolf Steiner, which must inform our work of embodying the esoteric – thru a communal practice -which must be actualized in concrete, practical life. Yes, friends, I woke up with this thought because the dead are working with us, Gene Gollogly, Dr. David Gershan & Sergei & others are conduits broadcasting to us the ‘Will of Worlds’. And we are the limbs of the gods that must make it happen. See you on the frontlines, that border between the seen & unseen.

~hag

astronomy.com Roan Kelly

10 January 2021- “Speaking with the Stars”: Early-morning observers up before the Sun can enjoy a full view of Hydra the Water Snake this morning. Covering roughly 1,303 square degrees, this is the largest of the officially recognized 88 constellations in our sky.

Sunrise: 7:22 A.M.
Sunset: 4:54 P.M.
Moonrise: 12:08 P.M.
Moonset: 12:45 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (60%)

Studio Olafur Eliasson
Olafer Ellashon

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1881- From a letter written to Joseph Kock we learn that in the night of the 10-11 January 1881, Rudolf Steiner had an experience of the ‘eternal ‘I’ as he was studying Schelling

“Since the Mystery of Golgotha, someone who begins to ask questions will be able to find the right way of doing so, and will also get the right feeling for the new Isis Mystery. What matters today, then, is to ask the right questions, and develop the right attitude to the spiritual world view that can now be presented. Someone who merely wishes to judge can read any number of books and lectures without learning anything apart from mere words. Someone, on the other hand, who approaches in a questing mood, will learn far more than can be found in the words. He will find that these words bear fruit in the powers of growth that lie in his own soul. Anything the spirit teaches us must become real inner experience. That is the important thing.” ~Rudolf Steiner, The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 7“The Questioning Stance of Soul”, excerpts from Steiner’s lectures given at Berlin on 6 January 1914 … focus of the January 12 meeting.

These chapters from the book can be found online at the CRC’s website by clicking this link
A transcript of the 6 January, 1914 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing  study conversation.  The study has been divided among two volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group. This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail — from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  To connect to the audio/video-conference:

Video Conference Details:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106

Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106
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Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcHr5EVwrv

If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
Agenda for this meeting (CST)
 
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Travis – pg. 53 to 57 (top)
          Tom – pg. 57 to 61
7:50  Conversation
8:25   ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
There is a knighthood of the 21st century
whose riders do not ride through the darkness
of physical forests as of old, but through the forest of darkened minds.
They are armed with a spiritual armor and an inner sun makes them radiant.
Out of them shines healing,
healing that flows from the knowledge of the human being as a spiritual being.
They must create inner order, inner justice, peace and conviction in the darkness of our time.
~Karl Konig