Greetings freinds – In thinking of Ireland today I found this by Rudolf Steiner, given on 19 Nov. 1917 as part of ‘The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, XI – Individual Spirit Beings and the Undivided Foundation of the World’: “…In past times, the human beings who were familiar with Ireland brought the particular characteristics of Ireland to expression in fairy tales and legends. I would like to point out that an esoteric legend was known that expressed the essence of Ireland in relation to the earthly organism. It was said that humanity was once cast out of paradise because in paradise Lucifer had misled humanity, which was then scattered across the rest of the world. The rest of the world, however, had already been there at the time when humanity was cast out of paradise. One therefore distinguishes — so it is said in this fairy tale, in this legendary representation — between the paradise with Lucifer in it and the rest of the earth into which humanity was expelled. It is different with Ireland, however; it does not belong in the same sense to the rest of the earth, because before Lucifer had set foot in paradise a likeness of paradise had formed itself upon the earth, and this likeness has become Ireland.
You should well understand that Ireland is therefore that bit of earth that had no part of Lucifer, to which Lucifer had no relationship. That which had to be separated from paradise so that the earthly likeness of paradise could arise would have hindered Lucifer from entering paradise. Ireland thus was conceived according to this legend as a separation of those portions of paradise that would have hindered Lucifer from entering paradise. Only after Ireland had been separated from paradise could Lucifer enter paradise.
This esoteric legend that I have presented in a very incomplete way is something very beautiful. It was for many people an explanation for the unique task of Ireland throughout the centuries. In the first Mystery Drama that I have written, you find what is so often told, how the Christianizing of Europe originated with the Irish monks. When St. Patrick introduced Christianity into Ireland the situation was such that Christianity led there to the highest devoutness. It gives new meaning to the legend about which I just spoke that Ireland — called Ierne by the Greeks and Ivernia by the Romans — was called the Isle of the Saints in those times in which the forces of European Christianity originated in their best impulses directly from Ireland, from Irish people who had been lovingly initiated into Christianity. It was called this because of the great devoutness that reigned within their Christian cloisters. This is connected with the fact that these territorial forces, about which I have spoken, ascending from the earth and taking hold of the human double, are at their very best on the island of Ireland.
You will say that in that case the best human beings must be in Ireland. Yes, this is so, but not in the world. Into every region other people wander and have descendants, etc. It is not so, therefore, that man is merely the product of the bit of earth on which he stands. It can very well be that the forces ascending from the earth oppose the character of the human beings there. One must not confuse what really develops within the human being with the characteristics of the earthly organism in a definite territory. Then one would simply open oneself again to the world of illusion.
What I have just suggested, however, that Ireland is a special land, we are able to say today. From this should emerge a factor, among many factors, that could lead today in a fruitful way to social and political ideas. One must take such factors into account. What I have just said about Ireland is a factor, and one must reckon with such factors. One must gather everything together, to be created into a science of the forming of human conditions on earth. Until this comes about no true healing can come into the arrangement of public affairs. What can be communicated from the spiritual world must flow into the regulations that one encounters. For this reason I have said in public lectures that it is important that everyone concerned with public affairs — statesmen and so on — should acquaint himself with these things. Through this alone can public servants master reality. They will not do it, or at least they have not done so up to now, but it is a necessity nevertheless.
At a definite moment in time in the third post-Atlantean era a certain brotherhood made arrangements to send a large number of colonists from Asia Minor to the island of Ireland. At that time colonists settled there from the same realm in Asia from which later the philosopher Thales originated. You may read in my Riddles of Philosophy (see Note 9 ) about the philosophy of Thales. Thales came from the same region, although later; he was born, of course, only in the fourth post-Atlantean period. Earlier, however, out of the same milieu, out of the whole spiritual substance from which later the philosopher Thales originated, the initiates had sent colonists to Ireland. Why? Because they were familiar with the characteristics of a realm of the earth such as Ireland. They knew what was indicated in the esoteric legend about which I have spoken to you. They knew that the forces ascending from the earth through the soil of the Irish island worked in such a way upon human beings that man was influenced little in the direction of intellectualism, little in the direction of egoism, little in the direction of the capacity to make resolves. The initiates who sent colonists there knew this full well, and they selected people who, through their particular karmic predisposition, seemed suited to be exposed to just these influences of Ireland. Today there are still descendants in Ireland of that old population who were at that time transplanted from Asia Minor and who were to develop in such a way that not the least intellectuality, not the least intellect, not the least capacity for making resolves, should develop but instead special qualities of the feeling (Gemuet) soul.
Through this was prepared far in advance what took place in Ireland as that glorious evolution of Christianity, the peaceful spreading of Christianity from which streamed the Christianizing of Europe. This was prepared far in advance. The countrymen of the later Thales sent people there who proved themselves equipped to become monks and who could work there in the way I indicated. Such things were often done in ancient times, and when you find historic colonizations described in exoteric history by today’s unintelligent historians (who have, however, much intelligence — intelligence can be found in the streets today) you must always understand that in such colonizations lay a deep-seated wisdom that was directed and guided by considering always what was to take place in the future, by taking into account at that time the characteristics of earthly evolution.
This was another way of bringing spiritual wisdom into the world. This should not be done today, however, by just anyone who takes the proper path; it would be wrong simply to prescribe something for people against their will in order to partition the earth; rather one should proceed in such a way that people are told the truth so that they may guide themselves accordingly.
This task consists in the struggle against evil, of transforming evil into good.
~Rudolf Steiner, The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, XI – Individual Spirit Beings and the Undivided Foundation of the World: Part 2
– ‘Kiss me I’m Irish’ – Today I’m not going to give a lecture on the person of St. Patrick, but center instead on the history of this secular, worldwide, early Spring celebration. Since around the 9th century, people in Ireland have been observing the Feast Day of St. Patrick on March 17. But the first St. Patrick’s Day parade was not in Ireland, it was in a Spanish colony in what is now St. Augustine, Florida, of all places – Held on March 17, 1601.
A century later, homesick Irish soldiers marched in New York City on March 17, 1772, to honor the Irish patron saint. Enthusiasm for the St. Patrick’s Day parades in New York City, Boston & other early American cities only grew from there. Over the years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants flourished, prompting the rise of so-called “Irish Aid” societies like the ‘Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick’ & the ‘Hibernian Society’. Each group held annual parades featuring bagpipes & drums.
Up until the mid-19th century, most Irish immigrants in America were members of the Protestant middle class. But when the Great Potato Famine hit Ireland in 1845, close to 1 million poor Irish Catholics began pouring into America to escape starvation. The immigrants were reviled & suffered much prejudice. They had trouble finding jobs. When Irish Americans took to the streets on St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate their heritage, newspapers portrayed them in cartoons as drunk, violent monkeys.
The Irish Americans soon began to realize that their large & growing numbers could give them a political power that had yet to be realized. So they started to organize, & their voting bloc, known as the “green machine,” became an important swing vote for political hopefuls. Suddenly, annual St. Patrick’s Day parades became a show of strength for Irish Americans, as well as a must-attend event for a slew of political candidates.
In 1948, President Harry S. Truman attended New York City‘s St. Patrick’s Day parade, a proud moment for the many Irish Americans whose ancestors had to fight stereotypes & racial prejudice to find acceptance in the New World.
As Irish immigrants spread out over the United States, other cities developed their own traditions. One of these is Chicago’s annual dyeing of the Chicago River green. The practice started in 1962, when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges & realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the holiday. That year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river–enough to keep it green for a week. Today, in order to minimize environmental damage, only 40 pounds of dye are used, & the river turns green for only several hours.
St. Patrick’s Day & the ‘wearing of the green’ is celebrated around the world in locations far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore & Russia.
Besides the Shamrock, the icon of the Irish holiday is the Leprechaun. The original Irish name for these figures of folklore is “Lobaircin,” meaning “small-bodied fellow” – fairies – who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil. In Celtic folktales, leprechauns are cantankerous souls, said to be responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies. Leprechauns are known for their trickery, which they often used to protect their much-fabled Pot-O-Gold at the end of the rainbow…
‘Wishing you a Pot-O-Gold, & all the joy your heart can hold’
~hag
17 March 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna in her waxing crescent phase is relatively high in the west after sunset.
This Friday, March 19th at 6 pm PT, 7 pm MT, 8 pm CT, 9 pm ET we will be speaking with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
“Holding the Chalice of Balance with Archangel Raphael – An exploration of the Vernal Equinox” with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
At the time of the Spring Equinox, Raphael, Archangel of the East & the Element of Air, is active as the great Cosmic Physician. The Easter-Tide works on us thru the spiritual healing of inspiration, provided by Raphael who is now in the etheric heights, waving a helix of shining vitality. Raphael uses the caduceus as a wand, to mingle air & fire, water & earth, transmuting them into healing forces; working & weaving in the cosmos, & entering into our conscious inspiration of light. Yes this is a goal of our human evolution, to be able to breathe light. Spiritual Science calls it ‘moral breathing’ – to ‘inhale evil & exhale the good’. Could the Corona crisis be calling us to this task? We have a powerful ally to assist us every year at this special time of balance.
For more info. contact Front Range Anthroposophical Cafe – Tom Altgelt altgelt@indra.com
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Daniel Ospina
The 8-Fold Path to the Easter Elementals
Holy Week 2021 (March 28 – April 4): Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am (Central Time) to create together a Thought-Seed Egregore based on the Herbert Hahn Verse
“When I think light, my soul shines, When my soul shines, the earth is a star, When the earth is a star, then I am, a true human being”
Sophie Takata
& then we will take turns sharing the indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner / The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (let me know if you would like to lead one of the days? (5 min) HOLY WEEK CHART
Palm SUNDAY Resolves or ‘RIGHT JUDGMENT.’ having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.
Holy MONDAY Talking – ‘RIGHT WORD.’
Holy TUESDAY External actions- ‘RIGHT DEED.’
Holy WEDNESDAY The ordering of life. – ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT.’
Maundy THURSDAY Human Endeavour. – ‘TO LET ALL THE EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT.’
Good FRIDAY The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life. – ‘RIGHT MEMORY.’ (Remembering what has been learned from experiences).
Holy SATURDAY To pay attention to one’s ideas. – ‘RIGHT OPINION.’
The octave of the New Sun EASTER SUNDAY To turn one’s gaze inwards – ‘RIGHT EXAMINATION.’
Whoever is holding the leading thoughts for that day will tie it into some 5-10 min. artistic exercise based on the indications
Group sharing (5 min)
We close with the ‘reversed’ Hahn verse. I am a True Human Being For the Earth is a Star The Earth is a Star When I Think Light When I think Light My Soul Shines
*Dear friends, please join the call at 10:05 am to get settled in so we can begin the Thought-Seed promptly at 10:10 am Topic: The 8-Fold Path thru Holy Week 2021 Time: Starting on Palm Sunday Mar 28 – thru Easter Morning, 2021 10:10 AM Central Time (US and Canada) Every day, 8 occurrence(s) Mar 28, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 29, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 31, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 1, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 2, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 3, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 4, 2021 10:10 AM
Dial by your location – Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 – Passcode: 776400 – Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a961qZZhF
Events & Festivals Committee of the Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) https://donate.rschicago.org/
A Tall Tale on the ‘I Think Speech’ podcast – Greetings friends on this eve of St. Patrick’s Day, Today for ‘Tune-in Tuesday’ – my weekly musing for our Practice Group working with the 6Basic, Essential, Protective exercises, given to us by Rudolf Steiner, in honor of the 5th exercise of Open-mindedness, I thought to share a ‘Tall Tale’ revised by me for us today, but originally told 6 years ago when my daughter was still at the Chicago Waldorf School, by master teacher Carol Triggiano, known far & wide as a fabulous storyteller – Open-mindedness asks us to consider that anything is possible. So here is a wonderful Paul Bunyan Tall Tale.
The crescent Moon A 12-percent-lit Moon hangs in the sky the evening of March 16, showing off Mare Crisium on its eastern side. NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
16 March 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna passes south of Uranus at 9 pm CST. Our satellite, less than four days old & only 12 percent lit an hour after sunset, currently straddles the border between Cetus & Aries. Just visible along the lit lunar edge is Mare Crisium, the Sea of Crises. On its western side are two small craters: Pierce to the south & Swift to the north. And north of the mare’s rim is the large crater Cleomedes, which stands out in stark relief now but will begin to disappear as the Moon grows closer to Full, losing contrast along the way.
1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burned to death after the Fall of Montségur.
1966 – Death Day of Countess Johanna von Keyserlingk
Johanna von Keyserlingk: Vessel for the Etheric Christ
Humanity is ripe for ‘the Christ experience’ such as Paul had in Damascus. Johanna von Keyserlingk, the hostess of the conference in Koberwitz in 1924 where biodynamic agriculture was born, was one such person. Inwardly she was also the hostess of powerful spiritual observations. She shared these insights in books such ‘Gralburg’ (Grail Castle, about the Hermitage near the Goetheanum in Bern Switzerland) ‘Twelve days around Rudolf Steiner’ (about her time with Rudolf Steiner during the Agriculture course on her estate) her insights into The mystery of Kaspar Hauser & Lord Stanhope, & power of the Palladium. The trip to Byzantium – The Palladium of Victory. But mostly her life was very secret, & she endured a lot of suffering.
As an 8-year-old girl of noble birth, while walking with her governess in the Vienna Woods in 1887, meets a thin, 26-year-old man, with dark hair & powerful eyes, who looks at her with a penetrating gaze. This meeting lives & works in her until, as the 39-year-old countess, she meets a 56-year-old man towards the end of the 1st World War. She had already attended 2 of his lectures & read some of his books. After this meeting she is able to speak with him in private. He asks her where she was at the age of 8. After some thought, she comes to nothing but the place – Breslau, where she lived then. But he shakes his head, apparently he means something else with his question. Johanna has more conversations with him & six months later he repeats the question. Then she suddenly remembers the young man in the Vienna Woods who had looked at her with wonderful eyes. This man was, of course, Rudolf Steiner.
On March 26, 1879, on the threshold of the beginning of the new Michael era, Johanna was born in Brno. Her father, which she described as a true despot, was the son of Scottish nobility -Karl von Skene. He eneded up in Silesia via Austria & married her future mother, Klara Schoeller, who came from a family of industrialists. Together with 3 brothers (Karl, Philipp & Robert) she lived near her father’s estates.
Her clairvoyant powers were revealed early on, which was not unusual in her father’s Celtic line. These experiences made her both lonely & independent at an early age. Not understood by people in her environment, she often sought comfort in nature, in the park near ancient trees, & there she had contact with elemental spirits.
About this period she wrote: “I remember very well that as a small child I could look at the window between the bars of my bed and see the sun rise in the morning and that I experienced the sun as what other children see as their mother and father. I know also, that the other children I played with often chased me when I correctly predicted the death of an adult as if it were self-evident. However, when I noticed that not even my mother saw what I perceived spiritually in my environment, I kept silent.”
At the end of her teens, she became involved with Kant’s philosophy, with Angelus Silesius & with the poet Hölderlin. In 1899 she was 21 years old, she married Count Carl Wilhelm von Keyserlingk, & had 3 boys: Wolfgang (1900), & a boy (1902) who soon died & Adalbert (1905). They went to live in Klettendorff, not far from Breslau. Later this became the castle Koberwitz (1920), partly on the advice of Steiner.
Because of her devoted son Adalbert, most of the memoirs & notes were made public, but only after Johanna died at the age of 87 (March 16, 1966 in Bad Teinach). With intimate friends such as Rudolf Meyer (who lived in Koberwitz for 3 years), Emil Bock, Friedrich Rittelmeyer, Eliza von Moltke, Margarita Woloschina & Monica von Miltitz, she already shared her experiences & her confidential conversations with Steiner during her life.
When she was 28, Johanna went thru a painful phase in her life. She was sick in bed due to an entopic pregnancy, which almost killed her. What she experienced was that some sort of strange individuality wanted to incarnate in her.
“When I had been given up by the doctors and felt that my life force was leaving me, I suddenly saw a shining figure next to the bed, from which a penetrating force emanated.”
And the first words she was able to speak after this experience were:
“Me and my house want to serve the Lord; for I have experienced what the captain of Capernaum experienced.” (And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” 7Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9“For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 10Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 11“I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment. ~ Matthew 8:5-10)
“When I heard from the doctors that there was no more salvation for me, which I had already experienced myself, I knew: now I will reach the goal of my life, the Christ. Either in death or in the spirit world. White starlight was around me, and I was thinking of the fevered son of Capernaum’s chieftain. Science dawned on me: when you now see the Christ, he can also restore earth life to you. There were energies buzzing next to me and a fire figure appeared next to my bed. Such strength emanated from him that I believed I could not bear it. It was like over-tensioning the atmosphere because of the pressing of the ether. I felt as if that would tear me apart and heard the words: Go, your faith has helped you …
It was a very white silence around me, and glittering life entered me from there. The pains were gone. The doctor came and assumed that this condition was agony. But life continued to shine, and when my husband asked what had happened, I could only say that in the New Testament he had to seek out the healing of Capernaum. As of this hour, there was only a common solution for us. Me and my house want to serve the Lord. My illness was gone and life took a different direction. But as bright was the light that I had seen, so dark was the time I had to live in the following years. It was like I was going to die. For years now I had experienced the terrible of death in all phases.”
Her brow bone, which was just above the root of the nose, literally shattered. Years later, bone splinters that had grown out had to be removed using tweezers. With the forehead chakra released in this radical way, her clairvoyant experiences increased in number & intensity.
What is expressed in this event? Perhaps people who are associated with Christ on earth had a role to play in preparing for His return in the etheric starting in the 20th century; a karmic bond that is revealed in this time of the Second Coming. Rudolf Steiner talked about the youth of Nain, who was raised from the dead by Christ & so was initiated into a task for the future of humanity. Steiner also pointed out the connection between the resurrected Lazarus John & the teacher of humanity, Christian Rosenkreutz. This is also the time when Steiner describes Christ becoming the Lord of karma.
At the ‘Turning Point of Time’ the apostles gathered by Christ were the 1st to be inaugurated in this new impulse, there must be anthroposophers starting in the 30’s & into our time now that are able to receive the inspiration of Christ, now as Lord of Karma. Anthroposophy wants to be a movement of people who work to restore their karma. Steiner tells us: Spiritual science “imposes enormous responsibility upon us, for it prepares for the concrete event of the reappearance of Christ.”
It is known that Steiner took actual people as examples for some of the characters in his mystery dramas. Perhaps Johanna was the model for Theodora?
According to Steiner, Johanna had an awakened consciousness that would become normal perhaps a 1000 years in the future! Perhaps this ‘premature birth’ was what caused her much pain in her life…? And yet, Steiner called the figure next to the sick bed of Johanna the Christ power.
In one of the conversations with Steiner, he also warned that Johanna was facing great Luciferic dangers, but that she had special qualities – the iron of Mars, that could protect her from this. He called her ‘the Iron Countess’.
In 1915, Johanna started to write down a series of imaginations that she received. This lead to a book that describes the fortunes of a grail knight going through a mental training: the book Gralburg. In the preface she writes the following about it:
In these imaginations my own experience in full reality passes by. It is lived more real than earthly events are experienced. As the images are there, that’s how I experienced them. Often the images and words sounded strange and inexplicable, I did not understand them and I do not understand much of them nowadays, but I could not change anything, because I wanted to stay with the truth. Often the end of an image was added as an explanation only after years. Real spirit beings met the spirit student, and they addressed him in real words. These spiritual words have actually been spoken to him.
As far as I can judge, these things have lived in the astral. The astral, however, takes place in the interior of the earth in the direction of midnight. This astral is invisible in itself and fine visible form force expresses itself in the periphery of the earth, in the ether world. That which happens invisibly in the depths, is imprinted in the ether and comes to visibility, and what I saw there I wrote down.
This book cannot be judged by a literary standard. I wrote it down for myself and I don’t feel the need for others to read it. If it were just me, I would put it in a desk drawer; and then it can be read after my death or not. And when I am asked now, yes, why do you spend it anyway, then I can only answer – not for my sake, but so that the others hear of the figure so lovingly striding through the hall.
Imagine a fine brilliance of tender sunlight flowing from his soul Imagine a pair of warm eyes, so full of love that you start to glow, and you kneel Imagine a mouth from which truth springs as if from a deep source the deity itself arises, it sounds so beautiful, that forever you would like to listen to this voice in reverence.
Imagine his hands caressing your hair with a gesture that heals all suffering. Yes, under their light springs the new life we seek! Imagine a ruler striding like this and highest heavenly threads are for him and where his foot goes is light that shows us the right way. Do you see his garment shining from afar then the fire starts to burn in your heart, it is so beautiful that you cannot comprehend it.
And he sees your suffering and he approaches you which makes your heart completely still. And gently, like the song of angelic children, the air that blows towards you is so lovely.
You can put your head on his knee in quiet humility and deep peace comes into you. The sun radiates from his holy body and sun flows over your mind, and you see jubilantly in the golden distance, your homeland, where he draws you.
Later she adds to this hymn : “At the sight of the Nazarene standing before me, written down in a short moment”.
Through the book: Koberwitz 1924, Geburtsstunde einer neuen Landwirtschaft, “moment of birth of a new agriculture”, many people learn the name of the Keyserlingk family. At the time, Koberwitz was an estate owned by the family, near Breslau.
At Pentecost in 1924, a gathering took place here in the penultimate year before Rudolf Steiner’s untimely death, to which many attendees have fond memories. From the descriptions of the different souls you can get the feeling that there was a true cosmopolitan Pentecostal Spirit. As the title of the book indicates, this was also the time and place where the birth of biodynamic agriculture can be situated.
But more happened there in the days of June 7-17, 1924. For example, it was the first time the Johani Epistle was pronounced at the altar, during the Christian Consecration Service (established 2 years earlier). The impression arises that in Koberwitz a successful meeting between the royal & the priestly streams took place. In total there were 120 people, many with an agricultural background, but also many who attended, for example, the evening lectures on karma or the Eurythmy performances, such as Eliza von Moltke, Rittelmeyer, Bock, Wachsmuth, Koschützki, Marie Steiner, Vreede & many others. So these days were busy with all kinds of activities. It was later discovered that at night Steiner wrote whole parts of his autobiography, which appeared shortly afterwards in the weekly Das Goetheanum & were later compiled into My Way of Life, he also received & answered countless mail correspondences.
In addition to a number of eurhythmy performances & esoteric hours, karma lectures were also held in Breslau in the evening. In addition, a large number of people had personal conversations with Steiner. It is therefore surprising to hear that Steiner, who made an extremely tired impression on arrival, gradually became more vital. From those 12 special days around Rudolf Steiner arose many personal memories of a number of participants.
Here’s a good example of ‘how karma works’. In principle, the course was only intended for people with an agricultural background. Young Wilhelm Rath, as one of the initiators of the youth movement, passed by Koberwitz alone to deliver a package to Steiner, some notes by Walter Johannes Stein, in which he describes his own spiritual experiences for Rudolf Steiner. The state post is not the appropriate means for distributing such documents so WJ Stein asked Rath to hand them over personally. Because of this, Rath was then allowed to attend the entire Steiner course, although Wachsmuth wanted to deny him that at first. This later turns out to be an important turning point in his professional work,
The book Koberwitz 1924 not only gives a nice impression of the conference but also of Johanna herself. We read that she played a harmonium for the guests, that she & her husband were the perfect hosts & that she personally took care of the flowers & plants in the castle park. The Staff loved her. A chambermaid, who also wrote a contribution in the book singing her praises.
A life motto for the count’s couple was: Founding places of love and peace, where the Christ can be resurrected – this was engraved on a memorial for Steiner after he died.
The image of a fairytale-like white mosque with a minaret appeared before Johanna’s eye, & she heard the word Bosphorus. According to her, this was the answer to a question she had been dealing with for a long time. It was 1925 & Rudolf Steiner had already died. Later on Christmas 1925, she was with severe pneumonia in Sonnenhof in Arlesheim, where Ita Wegman nursed her. There, Mieta Waller asked her if she could use her clairvoyance to help find the Palladium in Constantinople. After all, legend tells that Emperor Constantine buried the Palladium under a large column. This question was the start of a long search that would be continued by her son Adalbert.
The Palladium has been called the greatest solar gem on Earth by Steiner, & world development depends on whether this underground sun-sanctuary is illuminated by “the sun of the west” – the new light of human thought. A truly cryptic description! Especially since Steiner also indicated that it would be an object buried somewhere. The comparison can then be made between the physically present cup of the last supper & the transcendental grail.
She made a trip to Constantinople, to Hagia Sophia & experienced all kinds of things that are described in a diary, including that she had seen this mosque in the image of the ghost. Physical indications & images not yet understood alternated. However, the Palladium was not found. It is questionable whether the Palladium might have been found spiritually. However, she said, this cannot be discussed it is “a question for the future”.
In the Achmedie Imperial Palace, she received gruesome images inscribed in the ether of the Council of Constantinople in 869 AD. She recognized ahrimanic inspirations. Steiner often spoke of this council where the “spirit” of the human being was abolished. She experienced what Steiner called a second Golgotha & the moment when the karma of the people began to become disordered.
In Hagia Sophia, however, she experienced the luminous presence of Christ & of of Michael, as the sunrise of a new dawn.
It is a risk when people make statements about what they consider to be their previous incarnations. Because the chance of mistakes & projection of wishes is high & the reader may be led astray by such incorrect information. It was therefore not Johanna’s aim that the relevant notes of her own research in her diaries would be made public during her lifetime. She did, however, discuss it with Steiner & her son Adalbert. He decided to publish the notes after her death, fully aware of the problems that this could entail.
In 1922 she visited a forest in Rawitz where she had been as a child. “When I arrived, the spirits of the trees and shrubs on this familiar road back started to speak to me, to my surprise. But what they told me this time was not pleasant to me. They told me: “You are free now, you have to deliver us, we are bound to these trees.” And they added, I had tied them to this place myself in a past life. I said to them, “Your trees are not old at all, how can I have met you before?” But they answer: Our fathers were already here, and in them our spirits have inherited themselves. – You shouldn’t leave until you deliver us”.
It is then explained to her how she could accomplish this salvation by making 3 crosses on the trunk while invoking the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. So she does this & from each one a strip of light is released, which then, according to her observation, dissolves in the light of Christ.
Shortly before, she had had “images” in the same environment of a man who lived several hundred years ago, who loved to be in nature & had conversations with nature spirits. She had the impression that the man was also involved in magic. He spoke to her : “I am glad that you are here, I have also come to see you. You must carry on with the work that I have begun. I will show you what happened here, and you must then free what I have banned. “
It is characteristic of Johanna that she told Steiner this kind of experience. She was not yet sure about the meaning. Steiner confirmed that this man with faustic traits was a previous incarnation of hers. He had banished the elemental beings in the trees. That is why she now had to free them herself.
In an earlier conversation where Eliza von Moltke was also present, Steiner had said, “The countess once experienced that earth life is spiritual death.” Without Steiner’s help, she probably wouldn’t have come to these insights.
A central theme with Johanna that she always discussed with Steiner (she has had about twenty-eight apprenticeships with him) is Shamballah or the golden land, as she calls it. She related that to the moment when the blood of Christ flowed into the earth initiating a new solar globe. She saw out of the earth’s core, a golden fire in the earth’s depth. Like Ptolemy she called this the primal sun. This connected her with Empedocles who plunged into the fire of Mount Etna.
She described it in the following way in a question to Steiner: “…originally there was the fire and the light. These lived together in a deep harmony. Then the light rejected the power of the fire, and the smoke, which could no longer rise in the light, returned and covered the fire, and so the primeval fire was covered with a layer of ash. This axis is the mineral of the Earth. At first people saw through it to their primal home, the primal sun, but the earth became more and more dense and the smoke darkened more and more. Man seemed to be separated from the primeval sun (which is paradise) by the mineral layer. With this primeval sun which has been revived by the Christ, man must try to unite again.”
Steiner confirmed to her that this primordial sun is also the land of Shamballah, where the initiates of all time took their inspiration and what will become visible to all people in the future. It is closely related to the etheric second coming of the Christ & His work on a new heaven & a new earth in which people can play an active role.
Steiner spoke repeatedly of the Iron Count & Countess, not only because the Koberwitz land which was iron rich. He wanted Johanna to conquer & free her clairvoyance with her iron will, which was linked to her innate clairvoyance, & also from her dependence on Steiner’s influence. Before she met Steiner, Johanna had a life where everything came to her. Spiritual guidance had provided for her fortunes. This would change soon.
They were able to remain in Koberwitz for 4years after 1924. A movement started immediately on several fronts, reinforced after Steiner’s death in 1925, that came to destroy the new biodynamic impulse. The fertilizer industry, including IG Farben, felt threatened by this new impulse. They wanted to buy a booklet describing the agricultural course for a large sum of money. But Carl declined, partly because it was decided to test it in practice before the course content is published. In the company where Carl worked with several co-owners, tensions grew & he had to leave the field in 1928. They also left Koberwitz. Shortly after, he died en route to Dornach. According to Johanna because of a broken heart.
Not much is known about her life after that, except that it was difficult. In 1941 she was captured by the Gestapo, who interrogated her for days. She saw a figure next to the German officer who was closely following what was being said. But she was not tempted to give in to this demonic being. Unfortunately it is not known how Johanna experienced the years 1933-1945.
After 1945 she could no longer stay in Poland & fled to the west where she ended up in Stuttgart, completely destitute & incognito. In 1949 the book Koberwitz was published as a private edition. In the years before her death she went blind.
Just before this book went to press, I learned that a group of people is publishing At this time she wrote about Kaspar Hauser. She also wrote about her relationship with Steiner after his death: “While during the life of Rudolf Steiner one could still live in the sphere of his personal closeness without great effort, it was no longer possible after his death. After the death hour of 1925, there were still encounters in the astral for me. But I think that this is happening more and more at a distance. Was the atmosphere of the earth obscured by what was preparing for threats there in Germany? We were alone, as if deserted. It was as if there was an impenetrable dark night in the otherwise bright atmosphere”.
This shows how difficult it was to hold the Pentecostal substance of Koberwitz in the dark period now dawning.
“It was on the morning of Rudolf Steiner’s cremation, which I did not go to. The teacher’s body was still laid out in his studio, where the aura of the beloved teacher appeared next to me. I was told to write. I took paper and pen and the following words came from his presence. Often I could not write quickly enough, then paused and waited until I was back, as Rudolf Steiner used to do when he dictated to me.
“My job has ended….What I could give the people who were ready for it, I gave them…I am going, because I found no ears that could hear the spiritual word behind the word…I am going, because I found no eyes that could see the ghosts behind the earth images….I go because I found no people who could realize my will… The mysteries remain hidden until I come back. I will come back and reveal the mysteries when I have succeeded in creating an altar, a cultic place for human souls, in spirit worlds. Then I’ll come back. Then I will continue to reveal the mysteries.”
“Those are to blame for my death, which have held back the culture of the heart. Had people pushed through their hearts into the depths, they would have found the strength for the challenges of this time.”
There are those who do not consider these statements to come from Steiner but rather as projections from Johanna herself, or from the adversarial forces speaking. It is left to the reader to judge.
We do know that Rudolf Steiner is able to teach his students in the spirit body, as indicated in the mystery dramas.
A short conversation with Steiner in 1924, before his death, will conclude this biography for now.
Johanna: “Mankind is spoiled anyway [miscarriages]“. Steiner: “Yes, you can say that.” Johanna: “But what will happen at the end of the century?” Steiner in despair: “I don’t know either – but Ahriman is also part of Christ.”
***
R. Steiner, in:The Gospel of Matthew(Zeist 2003, GA 123), lecture, Sept. 10. 1910
M. von Miltitz, in Foreword by J. von Keyserlingk,Die Reise nach Byzanz-Das Palladium des Sieges(Basel 1991)
Erlöste Elemente(Stuttgart 1991)
Palladiump. 16
Adalbert (died 23-10-1993), besides an enthusiastic promoter of biodynamic agriculture, also a doctor and researcher of ancient mystery places, wroteVergessene Kulturen im Monte Gargano(Nürnberg 1968) andUnd sie erstarrten in Stein(Basel 1983).
Die Reise nach Byzanz-Das Palladium des Sieges,p. 16. InIn the Gospels there are several references to Capernaum and a healing of a sick person through Christ. Johanna talks about a chief and his sick son. Matthew 8 speaks of a chief of Capernaum and his sick servant; in Luke 7 about a chief and his sick slave ; in John 4 about a courtier and his sick son.
Koberwitz 1924, Geburtsstunde einer neuen Landwirtschaft(Privatdruck 1985) p. 25f
InIJsselaarde. Magazine to deepen the relationship with the living environment(Sept. 1999)
Wiedergerufen vom Herrn des Schicksals and Falter und Bluete (with poems) (Dornach 1998)
KC Markides, The magician of Strovolos (Deventer 1995), see also the article by G. Zwahlen about Daskalos inDas Goetheanum,number 34, Dec. 3. 1995
GA 118, Jan 25. 1910
The Gospel according to Matthew(Zeist 2003, GA 123), lecture 10 Sept. 1910
Gralburg(Stuttgart 1968, antiquarian still available sporadically). It was thrown into the lap many years ago through a book flea market. That eventually led to this article. Steiner already thought that the book should be made public because it demonstrates how an individual path of development can proceed.
H. Giersch (ed.)Das Ätherische Christus-Wirken. Rudolf Steiner über die Wiederkunft Christivan Harold Giersch (Dornach 1991)
G. Hillerdal and B. Gustafsson,Christ experiences today(Bergen op Zoom 2002); HW. Schroeder, On the second coming of Christ (Zeist 2000); HP van Moons,Coming and Second Coming – About the second coming of Christ and the coming of anti-christ(Zeist 1999); G. Bossis,My shadow, that is your neighbor(Zeist 2001); G. Goelzer and M. Friederich,Falter und Bluete – Christuswort und Christerkenntnis(Dornach 1994); Wiedergerufen vom Herrn des Schicksals, A1 Die Samariterin am Brunnen(Dornach 1998)
Fertile agriculture(Zeist 1992,GA 327)
The Aya (or: Hagia) Sophia, completed in 537 on the site where a church was built in 360, became a mosque in 1453 and has been a museum since 1932.
H. Oehms,Know your karma – Karma insight and self-development(Zeist 2000); F. Berger,fellow sufferers, coherence between different lives on the track(Zeist 2000); J. Saether,Wandeln unter unsichtbaren Menschen(Stuttgart 1999). About learning to look at people in order to place them in a spiritual context, without speaking directly about previous incarnations, see: A. Koopmans,Kijk op karma(Zeist 2002) andPractical human science(Zutphen 2004)
J.Ben Aharon,The spiritual event of the 20th century. An imagination. The occult dimension of the years 1933-1945(Zeist 1996)
R. Steiner (GA 118) nomination Munich March 15, 1910
The years 1933-1945 could have been illuminated by her from her clairvoyant fireplaces. You can suspect that J. Ben Aharon experienced this lack as well and that is why he connects with Johanna in his book about those years.
In various terms this theme is mentioned “altar in the spiritual world”, as is also the case in the speech for the youth in Koberwitz:“spiritual light will only come in this century, if Michael succeeds in the way in the astral light to the altar where the flame burns that Ahriman fears. ” Also inHelmuth von Moltke 1848-1916. Dokumente zu seinem Wirken(Basel 1993) March 27, 1919
In:Koberwitz 1924, p. 177
These statements (as well as the following) make it clear that Steiner saw a bright future for mankind looming. In lectures (GA 346) for the priests of the Christian Community he mentioned the year 1933 in which the apocalyptic beast would stir again. –
This Friday, March 19th at 6 pm PT, 7 pm MT, 8 pm CT, 9 pm ET we will be speaking with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
“Holding the Chalice of Balance with Archangel Raphael – An exploration of the Vernal Equinox” with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
At the time of the Spring Equinox, Raphael, Archangel of the East & the Element of Air, is active as the great Cosmic Physician. The Easter-Tide works on us thru the spiritual healing of inspiration, provided by Raphael who is now in the etheric heights, waving a helix of shining vitality. Raphael uses the caduceus as a wand, to mingle air & fire, water & earth, transmuting them into healing forces; working & weaving in the cosmos, & entering into our conscious inspiration of light. Yes this is a goal of our human evolution, to be able to breathe light. Spiritual Science calls it ‘moral breathing’ – to ‘inhale evil & exhale the good’. Could the Corona crisis be calling us to this task? We have a powerful ally to assist us every year at this special time of balance.
For more info. contact Front Range Anthroposophical Cafe – Tom Altgelt altgelt@indra.com
***
Daniel Ospina
The 8-Fold Path to the Easter Elementals
Holy Week 2021 (March 28 – April 4): Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am (Central Time) to create together a Thought-Seed Egregore based on the Herbert Hahn Verse
“When I think light, my soul shines, When my soul shines, the earth is a star, When the earth is a star, then I am, a true human being”
Sophie Takata
& then we will take turns sharing the indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner / The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (let me know if you would like to lead one of the days? (5 min) HOLY WEEK CHART
Palm SUNDAY Resolves or ‘RIGHT JUDGMENT.’ having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.
Holy MONDAY Talking – ‘RIGHT WORD.’
Holy TUESDAY External actions- ‘RIGHT DEED.’
Holy WEDNESDAY The ordering of life. – ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT.’
Maundy THURSDAY Human Endeavour. – ‘TO LET ALL THE EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT.’
Good FRIDAY The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life. – ‘RIGHT MEMORY.’ (Remembering what has been learned from experiences).
Holy SATURDAY To pay attention to one’s ideas. – ‘RIGHT OPINION.’
The octave of the New Sun EASTER SUNDAY To turn one’s gaze inwards – ‘RIGHT EXAMINATION.’
Whoever is holding the leading thoughts for that day will tie it into some 5-10 min. artistic exercise based on the indications
Group sharing (5 min)
We close with the ‘reversed’ Hahn verse. I am a True Human Being For the Earth is a Star The Earth is a Star When I Think Light When I think Light My Soul Shines
*Dear friends, please join the call at 10:05 am to get settled in so we can begin the Thought-Seed promptly at 10:10 am Topic: The 8-Fold Path thru Holy Week 2021 Time: Starting on Palm Sunday Mar 28 – thru Easter Morning, 2021 10:10 AM Central Time (US and Canada) Every day, 8 occurrence(s) Mar 28, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 29, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 31, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 1, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 2, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 3, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 4, 2021 10:10 AM
Dial by your location – Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 – Passcode: 776400 – Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a961qZZhF
Events & Festivals Committee of the Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) https://donate.rschicago.org/
A friend of Rosemary McMullen shared this from Marianne Williamson:
“I was watching a video the other day where a man was quoting Rudolf Steiner. Steiner was the first metaphysical writer I ever read and his ideas changed the course of my life.
The quote was something Steiner had said about how modern technology has made it “harder to be human.” I thought about that in terms of its profound contemporary relevance. It is harder to be human today. Everything from the food we eat to the air we breathe to electromagnetic waves to economic conditions to personal and political mean-spiritedness and prejudice – those things do make it harder to be human. Steiner was saying we must deepen our spiritual practice to compensate for the assault on our core humanity, and boy is that ever true.
But I also find, at a time when my practice of “A Course in Miracles” is deeper than it’s been in a while, that I experience a happiness that allows me to float above the rough terrain. The stress of this era makes our spiritual practice the most powerful tool for the reclamation of inner peace. In ACIM it says that the effects of love are maximal. God’s love isn’t limited by what a mess we have made of the world.
So there is an underground revolution going on these days, an army of radical lovers infusing society with a different kind of consciousness. You are quite probably one of them if you are even reading this. And we are everywhere. We work in every job and we live in every place. We come from all religions and no religion. We have heard the call to redeem the world for the sake of the human heart, and we are doing the best we can.
Everything we need will be given us. Everyone we need to meet we will meet. All support we need will be provided if we stay devoted to the task. That is my strongest, most firm belief, and also my experience. We are here for a mighty purpose and none of us is alone.
We need a quantum change and there IS a quantum change. It is us, when our hearts are open to love. It is us, when our hearts are open to forgiveness. It is us, when our hearts are open to peace. And we are everywhere.”
Noa Ambar Regav
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Even now in the long pause of possibility Quiet beneath its feathers There rises a wild honking That awakens the will to love… ~hag
15 March 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: At new moon, Bella Luna passes between the Earth & Sun, making her invisible in our sky. As the moon waxes, going from New moon to Full moon, Bella Luna moves about 1/2 degree eastward of the Sun per hour, or 12 degrees per day. That’s why the waxing moon will become easier to see after its initial evening appearance.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Blessings on this ‘Ides of March‘ which marked the Feast of the goddess of the New Year which was celebrated on this day in ancient Rome.
Of course we know it as the day in In 44 BC when Julius Caesar, dictator of Rome, is stabbed to death in the Roman Senate house by 60 conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus on March 15.
Caesar was elected pontifex maximus, or “high priest,” allegedly by heavy bribes. Among other achievements, Caesar conquered all of Gaul, made the first Roman inroads into Britain, and won devoted supporters in his legions. However, his successes also aroused Pompey’s jealousy, leading to the collapse of their political alliance.
The Roman Senate supported Pompey and asked Caesar to give up his army, which he refused to do. Caesar led his legions across the Rubicon River from Cisalpine Gaul to Italy, declaring war against Pompey and his forces.
He returned to Rome and was made dictator for life. As sole Roman ruler, Caesar launched ambitious programs of reform within the empire. The most lasting of these was his establishment of the Julian calendar, which, with the exception of a slight modification and adjustment in the 16th century, remains in use today. He also planned new imperial expansions in central Europe and to the east. In the midst of these vast designs, he was assassinated by a group of conspirators who believed that his death would lead to the restoration of the Roman Republic. However, the result of the “Ides of March” was to plunge Rome into a fresh round of civil wars, out of which Octavian, Caesar’s grand-nephew, would emerge as Augustus, the first Roman emperor, destroying the republic forever.
“Holding the Chalice of Balance with Archangel Raphael – An exploration of the Vernal Equinox” with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
At the time of the Spring Equinox, Raphael, Archangel of the East & the Element of Air, is active as the great Cosmic Physician. The Easter-Tide works on us thru the spiritual healing of inspiration, provided by Raphael who is now in the etheric heights, waving a helix of shining vitality. Raphael uses the caduceus as a wand, to mingle air & fire, water & earth, transmuting them into healing forces; working & weaving in the cosmos, & entering into our conscious inspiration of light. Yes this is a goal of our human evolution, to be able to breathe light. Spiritual Science calls it ‘moral breathing’ – to ‘inhale evil & exhale the good’. Could the Corona crisis be calling us to this task? We have a powerful ally to assist us every year at this special time of balance.
For more info. contact Front Range Anthroposophical Cafe – Tom Altgelt altgelt@indra.com
***
Daniel Ospina
The 8-Fold Path to the Easter Elementals
Holy Week 2021 (March 28 – April 4): Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am (Central Time) to create together a Thought-Seed Egregore based on the Herbert Hahn Verse
“When I think light, my soul shines, When my soul shines, the earth is a star, When the earth is a star, then I am, a true human being”
Sophie Takata
& then we will take turns sharing the indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner / The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (let me know if you would like to lead one of the days? (5 min) HOLY WEEK CHART
Palm SUNDAY Resolves or ‘RIGHT JUDGMENT.’ having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.
Holy MONDAY Talking – ‘RIGHT WORD.’
Holy TUESDAY External actions- ‘RIGHT DEED.’
Holy WEDNESDAY The ordering of life. – ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT.’
Maundy THURSDAY Human Endeavour. – ‘TO LET ALL THE EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT.’
Good FRIDAY The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life. – ‘RIGHT MEMORY.’ (Remembering what has been learned from experiences).
Holy SATURDAY To pay attention to one’s ideas. – ‘RIGHT OPINION.’
The octave of the New Sun EASTER SUNDAY To turn one’s gaze inwards – ‘RIGHT EXAMINATION.’
Whoever is holding the leading thoughts for that day will tie it into some 5-10 min. artistic exercise based on the indications
Group sharing (5 min)
We close with the ‘reversed’ Hahn verse. I am a True Human Being For the Earth is a Star The Earth is a Star When I Think Light When I think Light My Soul Shines
*Dear friends, please join the call at 10:05 am to get settled in so we can begin the Thought-Seed promptly at 10:10 am Topic: The 8-Fold Path thru Holy Week 2021 Time: Starting on Palm Sunday Mar 28 – thru Easter Morning, 2021 10:10 AM Central Time (US and Canada) Every day, 8 occurrence(s) Mar 28, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 29, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 31, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 1, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 2, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 3, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 4, 2021 10:10 AM
Dial by your location – Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 – Passcode: 776400 – Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a961qZZhF
Events & Festivals Committee of the Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) https://donate.rschicago.org/
We have passed the half way point in our Lenten-Tide journey. I hope you are digging in deep. I had such disturbing dreams the last few nights, divulging bits of my unripe parts that I am most ashamed & fearful of. I took it as a sign to take hold of shame & give those parts more ingenious love…And it has prompted me to ask: What parts of myself have the least integrity & don’t act in harmony with what I regard as my highest Self? How can I bring them into alignment with my true “I”?
I am also living with the question: Is it possible that in repressing things that I don’t like, I have also disowned potentially strong & beautiful aspects of myself? What are they? And: Are those really ‘sins’ that are bugging me about the people whose destinies are entwined with mine, or just echoes of my incompletely developed virtues? How can I go about forgiving myself, forgiving them – Hell I need to be thanking them for goading me…
Some people try to deny their portion of the world’s darkness & project it onto individuals or groups they dislike. Others acknowledge its power so readily that they allow themselves to be overwhelmed by it. I believe in taking an in-between position, accepting it as an unredeemed gift that can serve for liberation.
Where do you stand? It’s easy to see fanaticism, rigidity, & intolerance in other people, but harder to acknowledge them in yourself. Do you dare? Do I?
~hag
Jen Gray
10:10 Testament: At the YIP 13 Initiative Forum Project Lab someone suggested we sing songs to the Sun. One woman from Denmark offered ‘Let the Sunshine in’ by the 5th Dimension. A young woman from New Zealand thought the Beatles song Here comes the Sun would be nice.
Sonia Cavvalinnci
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Taking the low road I climb the highest hill Where the wind whips me Awake I await the radiation A flare that tares & makes bright The night, a dawning Bed for the crescent Moon… ~hag
We are looking forward to seeing you at The Anthroposophical Café!
Speaker: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
When: Friday, March 19, 2021 at 5 pm (PT) 7 pm (MT) 8 pm (CT) 9 pm (ET)
Where: Zoom (code coming soon)
Holding the Chalice of Balance with Archangel Raphael – An exploration of the Vernal Equinox with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg*
At the time of the Spring Equinox, Raphael, Archangel of the East & the Element of Air, is active as the great Cosmic Physician. The Easter-Tide works on us thru the spiritual healing of inspiration, when we can open to the crowning of all truths found in the healing breath of humankind. In the Spring, the Easter event is recalled in many cultures & although the Mystery of Golgotha entered into the evolution of the Earth as a once-and-for-all event, it is renewed in us each year.
Holy Week 2021 (March 28 – April 4): Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am (Central Time) to create together a Thought-Seed Egregore based on the Herbert Hahn Verse
“When I think light, my soul shines, When my soul shines, the earth is a star, When the earth is a star, then I am, a true human being”
& then we will take turns sharing the indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner / The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (let me know if you would like to lead one of the days? (5 min) Holy Week chart
Palm SUNDAY Resolves or ‘RIGHT JUDGMENT.’ having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.
Holy MONDAY Talking – ‘RIGHT WORD.’
Holy TUESDAY External actions- ‘RIGHT DEED.’
Holy WEDNESDAY The ordering of life. – ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT.’
Maundy THURSDAY Human Endeavour. – ‘TO LET ALL THE EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT.’
Good FRIDAY The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life. – ‘RIGHT MEMORY.’ (Remembering what has been learned from experiences).
Holy SATURDAY To pay attention to one’s ideas. – ‘RIGHT OPINION.’
The octave of the New Sun EASTER SUNDAY To turn one’s gaze inwards – ‘RIGHT EXAMINATION.’
Whoever is holding the leading thoughts for that day will tie it into some 5-10 min. artistic exercise based on the indications
Group sharing (5 min)
We close with the ‘reversed’ Hahn verse. I am a True Human Being For the Earth is a Star The Earth is a Star When I Think Light When I think Light My Soul Shines
*Dear friends, please join the call at 10:05 am to get settled in so we can begin the Thought-Seed promptly at 10:10 am Topic: The 8-Fold Path thru Holy Week 2021 Time: Starting on Palm Sunday Mar 28 – thru Easter Morning, 2021 10:10 AM Central Time (US and Canada) Every day, 8 occurrence(s) Mar 28, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 29, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 31, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 1, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 2, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 3, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 4, 2021 10:10 AM
Dial by your location Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aX8X3nrr3 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: 425730
Easter Sunday – 4 April 2021, in person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online 2 pm – 4 pm Central Time.
Group Eurythmy with Mary Ruud
Hazel Archer – The octave of the New Sun
Keynote with Ines Katharina (Bee Keeper, Founder of the Biodynamic Emerald Honeybee Sanctuary, Waldorf Teacher) Ines will connect the Easter Thought with the Elemental Beings & the flight of the Queen Bee.
We close with singing ‘Now the green Blade Riseth’
Potluck Social Time in the Schreinerei – Please bring food & drink to share
$10 Suggested Donation (can’t make it? or joining us online? please consider supporting this event, Thank you)
Hazel Archer is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Easter Festival for the Elementals
Time: Apr 4, 2021 02:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Dial by your location – Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 – Passcode: 776400 – Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a961qZZhF
Events & Festivals Committee of the Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) https://donate.rschicago.org/
“We must realise that from a certain point of view the smallest and the greatest achievement of which we are capable are of equal importance for the whole. Life is a mosaic, composed of tiny pieces of stone. The man who places one little piece into the mosaic is not less important than the man who thought out the plan of the mosaic.” ~Rudolf Steiner – GA 118 – Düsseldorf, February 20, 1910
Helen Miles
On this 19th day of our Lenten-Tide journey I invite you to contemplate your piece of the mosaic, your contribution to divine plan…What 1 thing can you do everyday to enhance the collective reality?
Donald Nebbile
10:10 Testament: I shared the concept of our initiative of creating a collective egregore – a willed visualization at 10:10 everyday, with the participants of the YIP 13 IF on Sunday during the ‘Project Lab’ which I will share as soon as they release the harvest. I was thrilled by the many responses & wanted to share one that I put into action myself today. I spoke my prayer/intention/verse into a glass of water & then poured it in the earth…
Sue Temme
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated with added titles by Roy Sadler
LENT 4, PASSIONTIDE I The Passiontide Hope v49 I feel the force of Cosmic Being, speaks clear thought, recalling how its own spirit’s grown in world nights’ darkness, and bowing to the dawning cosmic day with inner rays of hope.
EASTERTIDE IV, BELTANE The Marriage v4 I feel the essence of my being, speaks senses’ feeling, uniting in the sunlit world with all that shines; it would add warmth to thinking’s clarity and marry Man and World.
We are looking forward to seeing you at The Anthroposophical Café!
Speaker: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
When: Friday, March 19, 2021 at 5 pm (PT) 7 pm (MT) 8 pm (CT) 9 pm (ET)
Where: Zoom (code coming soon)
Holding the Chalice of Balance with Archangel Raphael – An exploration of the Vernal Equinox with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg*
At the time of the Spring Equinox, Raphael, Archangel of the East & the Element of Air, is active as the great Cosmic Physician. The Easter-Tide works on us thru the spiritual healing of inspiration, when we can open to the crowning of all truths found in the healing breath of humankind. In the Spring, the Easter event is recalled in many cultures & although the Mystery of Golgotha entered into the evolution of the Earth as a once-and-for-all event, it is renewed in us each year.
Holy Week 2021 (March 28 – April 4): Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am (Central Time) to create together a Thought-Seed Egregore based on the Herbert Hahn Verse
“When I think light, my soul shines, When my soul shines, the earth is a star, When the earth is a star, then I am, a true human being”
& then we will take turns sharing the indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner / The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (let me know if you would like to lead one of the days? (5 min) Holy Week chart
Palm SUNDAY Resolves or ‘RIGHT JUDGMENT.’ having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.
Holy MONDAY Talking – ‘RIGHT WORD.’
Holy TUESDAY External actions- ‘RIGHT DEED.’
Holy WEDNESDAY The ordering of life. – ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT.’
Maundy THURSDAY Human Endeavour. – ‘TO LET ALL THE EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT.’
Good FRIDAY The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life. – ‘RIGHT MEMORY.’ (Remembering what has been learned from experiences).
Holy SATURDAY To pay attention to one’s ideas. – ‘RIGHT OPINION.’
The octave of the New Sun EASTER SUNDAY To turn one’s gaze inwards – ‘RIGHT EXAMINATION.’
Whoever is holding the leading thoughts for that day will tie it into some 5-10 min. artistic exercise based on the indications
Group sharing (5 min)
We close with the ‘reversed’ Hahn verse. I am a True Human Being For the Earth is a Star The Earth is a Star When I Think Light When I think Light My Soul Shines
Easter Sunday – 4 April 2021, in person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online 2 pm – 4 pm Central Time.
Group Eurythmy with Mary Ruud
Hazel Archer – The octave of the New Sun
Keynote with Ines Katharina (Bee Keeper, Founder of the Biodynamic Emerald Honeybee Sanctuary, Waldorf Teacher) Ines will connect the Easter Thought with the Elemental Beings & the flight of the Queen Bee.
Mary Ruud will give us a performance of ‘Rock Spring Wonder’
We close with singing ‘Now the green Blade Riseth’
Potluck Social Time in the Schreinerei – Please bring food & drink to share
$10 Suggested Donation (can’t make it? or joining us online? please consider supporting this event, Thank you)
*Dear friends, please join the call at 10:05 am to get settled in so we can begin the Thought-Seed promptly at 10:10 am Topic: The 8-Fold Path thru Holy Week 2021 Time: Starting on Palm Sunday Mar 28 – thru Easter Morning, 2021 10:10 AM Central Time (US and Canada) Every day, 8 occurrence(s) Mar 28, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 29, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM Mar 31, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 1, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 2, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 3, 2021 10:10 AM Apr 4, 2021 10:10 AM
Dial by your location Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aX8X3nrr3 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: 425730
Events & Festivals Committee of the Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) https://donate.rschicago.org/
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WAYS TO ENGAGE:
The ARC (Anthroposophical Resorce Center in Atlanta) is inviting you to a Six Basic Exercise Practice Group
Time: weekdays 9 am PT / 11am CT / 12:00 PM ET
Each weekday you are invited to join in a 15 minute practice group focusing on Rudolf Steiner’s foundational exercises. We begin the time each day with a 5 minute leading thought focusing one aspect of the practice. We will follow that with a 5 minute period in which we turn off our cameras and practice on our own. After the five minute bell, we take 1-2 minutes to journal about our experience and the end the call with a 3 minute closing thought. Come when you can, and leave when you must.
Wednesdays 9:30-11:00am CT – True and False Paths in Spiritual Investigation, by Rudolf Steiner. We incorporate ‘The Calendar of the Soul’, eurythmy, focused discussion and seasonal artistic explorations in our study. All are Welcome. Contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg. Hazel@ReverseRitual.comWe meet in person in the Branch Library or join via Zoom Meetinghttps://zoom.us/j/98689103462’Meeting ID: 986 8910 3462
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Fridays 12noon – 1:30pm CT. The Esoteric Path Through the Nineteen Class Lessons by Sergei O. Prokofieff. A serious study for Members of the School of Spiritual Science. Contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg. Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
3 March – 7 March 2021 The International Youth Initiative Program (YIP) invites you to the ‘Initiative Forum: Are you Listening’ The week is packed full of workshops, lectures and open spaces – we’ve made sure that there are opportunities to participate no matter what time zone you’re in. We are excited to welcome over 15 different contributors to the forum including Orland Bishop, Nora Rahimian, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Diane Longboat, and Helmy Abouleish. Check out the full list on our website’s contributor page!
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March 3, 2021 – 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm CT. The Karma Project – The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing monthly study conversation, Manifestations of Karma. If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81681631480 Meeting ID: 816 8163 1480
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Tuesday 23 March 6:30-8:30pm Appreciating Our Differences Through Looking at Temperaments – The Center for Biography and Social Art warmly invites members of your community to attend this workshop in person or online. “How do we solve the riddle which each individual presents to us? We solve it by approaching each person in such a way that harmony results between them and us.” – Rudolf Steiner. Register in advance for this meeting:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrdeyvrzgqE9AnBYQ3hIc5KuxMvZa0rmW_ Warmly, Kathleen,center4biography@gmail.comCenter for Biography & Social Artbiographysocialart.org
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28 March 28 – 4 April, 10:10 am CT – Holy Week & Easter Festival 2021 The 8-Fold Path to the Easter Elementals. Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week, including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am CT to create together a Thought-Seed based on a Herbert Hahn Verse “When I think light, my soul shines, When my soul shines, the earth is a star, When the earth is a star, then I am, a true human being. We will then work with indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner’s/The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (5 min) Holy Week chart. $10 Suggested Donation.Contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg. Hazel@ReverseRitual.comJoin Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/95633444828?pwd=Wk56K08vK2dNQUhhK0Q2S09zQWJrQT09Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: bee
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