Category Archives: Insight

Bemused

History, Insight, Storytelling, Upcoming Events

“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story.”  ~Homer
 
The classical Greeks describe the Muse, as ‘She Who Knows All That Is, Ever Was or Will Be’. Mousa is the ancient Greek word for the Muse, the archetypal goddess of the mind, representing the forces of intuition, inspiration, & creative imagination, that leads to wisdom & self-realization.

She is also the power of language in all of its many forms — the power of communication at its most exalted & divine manifestation thru words, song, music, dance & art. 

Gustave Moreau

“Happy is he whom the Muses love: sweet flows speech from his mouth.”  ~Hesiod

In the seventh century B.C.E. Hesiod sang of Nine Muses, the Mousai:  Kalliopeia, muse of epic poetry & the oldest of the nine Muses; Euterpe, muse of music & lyric poetry; Melpomene, muse of singing & tragedy (interesting compo); Erato, muse of mystical & erotic love; Terpsikhore, muse of whirling & ecstatic dance; Urania, muse of astronomy & prophecy; Kleio, muse of history & heroic poetry; Thaleia, muse of comedy & idyllic poetry; & Polyhymnia, muse of sacred hymns and meditation.

Rossetti

The Nine Muses are the daughters of Mnemosyne, the goddess of Memory, & Zeus, the god of the lightning-like flash of inspiration. Sudden & powerful moments of intuition combined with the power of memory give piercing insights into the mysteries of the universe.

Mnemosyne, the power of remembrance, is one of the three elder Muses, along with Melete, the power of practice, study, & meditation, & Aoide, the power of song, chant, & mantra. These Muses are the ancient Divine Muse of the threefold goddess, the symbolic teacher & guide of the Pythian Priestess at the Delphic Oracle. This prophetic priestess, a channel for the Muse, was the most powerful religious & political authority in the Hellenic world for more than two thousand years. 

John Collier

The Pythia’s greatest law sent from the Divine Muse was: ‘Know Thyself’.

Know thyself through meditation, mantra, & memory – the tools of the 3 elder Muses who are the daughters of the goddess Gaia -the Earth, & the god Uranus – the Heavens. This knowing is the connecting principle between heaven &earth. Through meditation, mantra, & memory, we can connect the power of heaven’s creativity with the grounded, sustaining energy of the earth within our own being.

The Divine Muse taught the use of intuition & prophecy as a way to inner development. They fused prophesy & poetry with inspiration — the creative energy welling up from deep within the mind. The word inspiration means breathing into, inhalation, the breath of life, to be filled with the breath of life, to be inspired, to show genius.

The Divine Muse is inspiration — the sacred breath, the life force in the etheric – the formative power that makes consciousness possible. The Muse breathed into Hesiod, “a divine voice to celebrate the things that were and shall be.”

“This draught of flowing nectar, the Muse’s gift, the sweet fruit of the mind,”  ~Pindar

Thru the Muse we are taught that vibration & music are the gateways to knowledge of the universe, of reality, & of ourselves. The Pythagoreans structured their colleges as temples dedicated to the powers of the Muse.

Both Aristotle & Plato created shrines to the Muse in their colleges of philosophy.

The word museum originally meant the shrine or temple of the Muse, designating a place of transformation of consciousness, a place of research, scholarship, & learning, a place where sculpture, painting, art, & sacred texts were kept. 

Jean Marc Nattier

“Musikos,” the Greek word for music, meant, “relating to the Muses.” 

Plato used musikos to refer to the quality of being, “well educated and versed in things of the mind.” Plato taught that the concept of music encompassed all that relates to the mind. He believed in revealed knowledge as a path to knowing ultimate truth, describing the channel of flowing creativity between the human & divine as the Muse herself.

Within our thinking there are unused areas of potential energy & psychic awareness.  The power to awaken these dormant regions is within us.  We can open the gate to wisdom & consciousness through study, meditation, singing, & dancing — the rituals of the Muse who lies hidden in our memory, waiting to lead us to the highest states of knowledge, blessedness, & being. Once the Muse reveals the truths within us, we understand who we are & what we are supposed to do.

“[The Muses] are all of one mind, their hearts are set upon song,
and their spirit is free from care.”  ~Hesiod

The Muse is not a mythological figment of the ancient past, she is the inner source of wisdom & the force of creativity within our own minds.  Rise in your thinking to meet the Muse within & she will come. ~hag

16 Febrauary 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Ernst Haeckel

1834 – Birthday of Ernst Haeckel,  a promoter of scientific racism who embraced the idea of Social Darwinism. Haeckel was also a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist, & artist who discovered, described & named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, & coined many terms in biology, including ecology. Haeckel promoted & popularized Charles Darwin’s work in Germany. The published artwork of Haeckel includes over 100 detailed, multi-color illustrations of animals & sea creatures. See Haeckel, the Riddles of the World and Theosophy, by Rudolf Steiner, Berlin, 5th October 1905

1924 –  Rudolf Steiner began the Karmic Relationships lecture today in Dornach GA 235-240 – KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS I, GA 235, Lecture I, 16 February 1924, Dornach

“I now wish to begin to speak to you of the laws and conditions of human destiny, which, as you know, it has become customary to describe as karma. Karma, however, cannot be seen clearly unless we are prepared to learn to know the different kinds of universal law and universal activity…Both when we try to comprehend the World’s phenomena and when we wish to understand the phenomena of human life, we are wont to speak of “causes and effects.” Especially in science nowadays, people are accustomed to speak quite generally of “causes and effects.” Yet it is precisely this habit which leads into the greatest difficulties, in face of the true reality. For if we speak in this way, we are leaving out of account the variety of forms in which “cause and effect” actually occur in the universe…”

The Categories of Aristotle – a process of contraction…
Is there a path to expansion…..?

PUBLIC LECTURE AND EURYTHMY WORKSHOP WITH CLAUDIA FONTANA

Friday 24 March 2023 – Lecture 7 pm CT – 8:30 pm – Purchase tickets at the door or pay online
$12

Saturday 25 March 2023 – Workshop – 9 am CT– (10:30 am 1/2 hour break – 11 am) 12:30 pm CT – Purchase tickets at the door or pay online $50

The Categories of Aristotle: A process of contraction…exploring a path to expansion…

Does one have to be a philosopher of great erudition to approach Aristotle’s gift to humanity……his Categories?

Perhaps , YES! But an initial acquaintance with them can lead out of the confinement of the intellectual concept to an experience of expansion supported by Eurythmy.

In the evening lecture Claudia will introduce the life of the Categories before they became concepts – Bringing the symbols in a sequence of sounds  (called the Evolutionary Sequence ) out of their conceptual form, to life, supported by Eurythmy and examples of poetry.

During the workshop we will enter into the movement of the poetry presented  during the lecture. This will be accessible to Eurythmists as well as to anyone interested in the life of language, poetry and our alphabet.

at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society
4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map)
https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar 
www.rschicago.org/donate

For more info contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Claudia Fontana saw a Eurythmy performance when still a teenager. Unbeknownst to her at the time, that performance was the gate to her destiny path. Soon thereafter she studied Eurythmy in Vienna and subsequently spent fourteen years as a performer with the Dornach, London and Stuttgart Eurythmeum ensembles. Teaching became the next challenge which she happily met in the United States, Europe. Before Covid, she spent seven years teaching all levels in Thailand, Malaysia and China. She resides in Ann Arbor, MI still performing and teaching.

The Women at the Tomb – A Festival of Resurrection

with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg,

Insights about Mary Magdalene with Faith DiVecchio, 

Song-Circle with Velsum, 

Eurythmy – & an artistic break out session

Holy Saturday 8 April 2023

1 pm – 3pm CT a hybrid event in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & on zoom

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7050174041

Meeting ID: 705 017 4041

For more Info. contact Hag@RSChicago.org Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map)
www.rschicago.org/donate

PRESENTS:

The Mystery of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

This course is available on Zoom. You will be emailed a Zoom link closer to the time of the class. The course will be recorded and you will receive a link to watch it. Go to the Infinity Foundation web site to enroll

Course Number 231154 / Zoom
Date: Thursday, May 11
Time 7:00 – 8:30 PM CST
Cost $33/23 payment 10 days in advance

Gerald Shepherd

When we tune into the Cycle of the Seasons, we experience that as the Earth breathes out in the Springtime, the beings of nature reach upwards towards the heights. The longing of the human soul also strives to meet this mood of ascension, which attunes all life to the cosmic expanses.

Together we will gain insights in how to rise up to our Higher Self by participating in this harmonizing spring-dialogue between the worlds.

This reconnection between heaven & earth was prefigured in the story of Jacob’s ladder from the Old Testament. Through his dream of the ‘stairway to heaven’, Jacob gave us a prophecy in the picture of a golden ladder on which choirs of Angels traverse between the ‘Above & Below’. The Mystery of the Ascension of Christ, 40 days after the Resurrection at Easter, fulfilled Jacob’s Prophecy. Christ as the Being of Love became the living bridge connecting us to the eternal.

Through this workshop we will learn how humanity will also be transfigured in the fullness of time. The company of the Angelic Hierarchies wait for us, their younger siblings, to ascend, first of all in our thinking, to meet them in fellowship, as they work all the while by our sides.

Nancy Poer

~Vitae Sophia~A Whitsun Festival of United Soul Endeavor 

with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Velsum Voices & Eurythmy

Saturday 27 May 2023 a Hybrid event in person* & on zoom

We are called to redeem the ether spheres to create an Ecclesia, a chalice for The Sophia. Then the spirit flame can spread out to become what Steiner called a “World Whitsun”, which began in earnest at the Christmas Conference. The Whitsun Festival highlights one of the greatest challenges of being human: placing our individual gifts, in right relationship within the social realm. This challenge is especially strong now during this ‘pandemic’. Our groups striving to know Spiritual Science must work together as a community, to have the possibility to create a new culture where a sacrament is possible in every encounter. Our individual strength is enhanced by weaving our gifts together, kindling our social world in conscious community.

Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83663366670?pwd=L292UzlOR1pkZjBXSWpxK1B2b0o1dz09 Meeting ID: 836 6336 6670 / Passcode: 397593

For more Info. contact Hag@RSChicago.org Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
*Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map) www.rschicago.org/donate

Harken

Celestial Event, History, Insight, Poetry, Quote, Upcoming Events
Vankessel allegory of air

~Hail breath of Wisdom
Humming forth from
The throat of my beloved
You thrill me
Like a seed bell calling spring
Bidding me
To harken to
The secrets of the ethers
Pulsing thru the bossy wind
Striving to awaken & reveal
Our task
Will you listen?
~hag

Chart via John Jardine Goss/ EarthSky.

11 February 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Today, we can see waning Bella Luna near Spica, the brightest star of Virgo the Maiden.

Yasuo Kuniyoshi

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Image result for St. Gobnait

Feast Day of St. Gobnait, Irish patron Saint of BeeKeepers. She was born in County Clare in the 5th or 6th Century, & is said to have been the sister of Saint Abban. She fled a family feud, taking refuge in the Aran Islands. Here an angel appeared & told her that this was “not the place of her resurrection” & that she should look for a place where she would find nine white deer grazing. She found the deer at the place now known as St. Gobnet’s Wood.

Celtic lore held bees in high esteem, believing the soul left the body as a bee or a butterfly. Gobnait is said to have added beekeeping to her life’s work, developing a lifelong affinity with them. She started a religious order & dedicated her days to helping the sick. She used honey as a healing aid. She is credited with saving the people at Ballyvourney from the plague.

One story tells of how she drove off a brigand by sending a swarm of bees after him and making him restore the cattle he had stolen.

St Gobnait’s well is situated to the North of Ballyagran. It is said that a white stag can sometimes be seen at the well.

660 BC – Traditional date for the founding of Japan by Emperor Jimmu

AD 55 – Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman emperor-ship, dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome. This clears the way for Nero to become Emperor

1534 – Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England

1650 – Deathday of René Descartes, French mathematician & philosopher

1790 – The Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitions U.S. Congress for the abolition of slavery.

1847 – Birthday of Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph.

1858 – Bernadette Soubirous’s first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France. Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, & we celebrate her message of peace, & healing. In 1858, a 14-year-old peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, was gathering firewood in the countryside when a beautiful woman, standing on a rock in a natural grotto, appeared to her. This began a series of 18 apparitions in which Bernadette spoke & prayed with the woman. On one visit, the mysterious woman instructed Bernadette to dig into the dry ground & drink from the spring that flowed there. Although no spring was visible, Bernatdette scratched at the ground & a spring began to bubble up. To this day, the waters continue to flow, which have a miraculous healing property. Lourdes is well-known for the many miracles of healing that have taken place there over the years

On 11 February 1858, Bernadette went with her sister Toinette & neighbor Jeanne Abadie to collect some firewood.

“…I came back towards the grotto and started taking off my stockings. I had hardly taken off the first stocking when I heard a sound like a gust of wind. Then I turned my head towards the meadow. I saw the trees quite still: I went on taking off my stockings. I heard the same sound again. As I raised my head to look at the grotto, I saw a lady dressed in white, wearing a white dress, a blue girdle and a yellow rose on each foot, the same color as the chain of her rosary; the beads of the rosary were white….From the niche, or rather the dark alcove behind it, came a dazzling light…”.

Bernadette tried to make the sign of the Cross but she could not, because her hands were trembling. The lady smiled, & invited Soubirous to pray the rosary with her. Soubirous tried to keep this a secret, but Toinette told her mother. After parental cross-examination, she & her sister received a spanking for their story.

Three days later, 14 February, Bernadette returned to the Grotto. She had brought holy water as a test that the apparition was not of evil origin/provenance: “The second time was the following Sunday…Then I started to throw holy water in her direction, and at the same time I said that if she came from God she was to stay, but if not, she must go. She started to smile, and bowed … This was the second time.”

Bernadette’s companions are said to have become afraid when they saw her in ecstasy. She remained ecstatic even as they returned to the village. On 18 February, she spoke of being told by the Lady to return to the Grotto over a period of two weeks. She quoted the apparition: “The Lady spoke to me the third time..She told me also that she did not promise to make me happy in this world, but in the next.”

Bernadette was ordered by her parents to never go there again. She went anyway, & on 24 February, She related that the apparition asked for prayer & penitence for the conversion of sinners.

Bernadette described the apparition as uo petito damizelo (“a tiny maiden“) of about twelve years old. Bernadette insisted that the apparition was no taller than herself. Bernadette was very small even by the standards of other poorly nourished children.

Bernadette described the apparition as dressed in a flowing white robe, with a blue sash around her waist. This was the uniform of a religious group called the Children of Mary, which, on account of her poverty, Bernadette was not permitted to join (although she was admitted after the apparitions). Her Aunt Bernarde was a long-time member.

The next day, she said the apparition asked her to dig in the ground & drink from the spring she found there, that soon became a focal point for pilgrimages. Although it was muddy at first, the stream became increasingly clean.

As word spread, this water was given to medical patients of all kinds, & many reports of miraculous cures followed. Seven of these cures were confirmed. The first person with a “certified miracle” was a woman whose right hand had been deformed as a consequence of an accident.

The government fenced off the Grotto & issued stiff penalties for anybody trying to get near the off-limits area. In the process, Lourdes became a national issue in France, resulting in the intervention of Emperor Napoleon III with an order to reopen the grotto on 4 October 1858. The Church had decided to stay away from the controversy altogether.

Bernadette, knowing the local area well, managed to visit the barricaded grotto under cover of darkness. There, on 25 March, she said she was told: “I am the Immaculate Conception” (“que soy era immaculada concepciou”).

On Easter Sunday, 7 April, her examining doctor stated that Bernadette, in ecstasy, was observed to have held her hands over a lit candle without sustaining harm.

On 16 July, Bernadette went for the last time to the Grotto. “I have never seen her so beautiful before,” she reported.

The Church, faced with nationwide questions, decided to institute an investigative commission on 17 November 1858. On 18 January 1860, the local bishop finally declared that: “The Virgin Mary did appear indeed to Bernadette Soubirous” These events established the Marian veneration in Lourdes, which together with Fátima & the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most frequented Marian shrines in the world, & to which between 4-6 million pilgrims travel annually.

In the early sixteenth century, a twelve-year-old shepherdess called Anglèze de Sagazan received a vision of the Virgin Mary near the spring at Garaison (part of the commune of Monléon-Magnoac), somewhat further away. Anglèze’s story is strikingly similar to that of Bernadette: she was a pious but illiterate & poorly educated girl, extremely impoverished, who spoke only in the local language, but successfully convinced authorities that her vision was genuine & persuaded them to obey the instructions of her apparitions. Like Bernadette, she was the only one who could see the apparition (others could apparently hear it); however, the apparition at Garaison’s supernatural powers tended toward the miraculous provision of abundant food, rather than healing the sick & injured.

The Apocalypsis according to St. Bernadette Subirous

“Pray for the poor sinners, pray for a sick world”, the lady told Bernadette and started to heal people who drank from the water.

Bernadette died in 1879. Her body remained uncorrupted. She was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933. The text of the “Secrets” was never revealed.

According to the “Schwarzer Brief”, The five prophecies imparted to Lourdes visionary Saint Bernadette Soubirous by the Blessed Mother, were written down before she died & given to Pope Leo XIII. The letters were never revealed by Leo, nor his successor Pope Saint Pius X. In fact, shortly before the turn of the century the letters were ‘misplaced’ & the Vatican ‘lost track’ of them. Bernadette´s letter remained in the Vatican Archives until 1997, when it was discovered by the French Father Antoine LaGrande who searched for material & correspondence on Lourdes. According to LaGrande, the letter consisted of five sheets, which were found in a metal box in the vaults of the Archives. On each sheet, a revelation was written down.

1. Described the development of the Lourdes sanctuary & predicted that it would become an important place of pilgrimage after Bernadette´s death. Many people would be healed by the water from the spring.

2. Mentioned important scientific discoveries including “the use of electric energy” & the invention of several types of machines.

3. Predicted the rise of an evil dictator in Germany which would cause “something horribly evil”. His rule of terror would end in a war in which “nearly all nations participate”.

4. Announced that man would fly into outer space & eventually land on the moon in or around 1970.

5. Was the most detailed text: “Your Holiness, the Holy Virgin told me that with the end of the 20th Century the end of the age of science would follow. A new era of the Faith will begin everywhere on Earth. Eventually the evidence is found that it was God who created the Earth and Man. This will be the beginning of the end of the sciences; the people will not believe in them any longer. Millions will turn back to Christ…” The Church, Bernadette said, would play a new, important role. The loss of trust in the Sciences, said the seer, was caused by the “haughtiness of the physicians who used their knowledge to create a monster, a creature which is neither man nor beast.” This would cause a public scandal. The people would realize that the scientists went too far – & “chase them like you chase a rapacious wolf.”

Furthermore, Bernadette warns that a new, big war could break out at the turn of the Millennium. “After the year 2000 a final clash between nations will happen. In a horrible battle, 5.650.451 soldiers will loose their life & a bomb with great impact will be thrown onto a city in Persia.”

If the original text indeed says “thrown onto”, it would be a remarkable prediction; only since World War 2, bombs were thrown on cities. Air raids were completely unknown in Bernadette´s time. (Afganistan became independent only in 1919 – until 1751 it was a part of Persia, during the 19th century it was under both, Persian & British/Indian influence)

“At the end”, Bernadette continued, “The Lord will pour out His blessings. Poverty, disease & hunger have an end, every tenth person will have the power to heal. There will be a Second Golden Age of mankind”, the seer concluded.

Dear friends, What if these Marian Apparitions are working to advance our etheric vision?

1861 – American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state

1937 – A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers

1971 – Eighty-seven countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, & Soviet Union, sign the Seabed Arms Control Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters

1978 – China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare & Charles Dickens

1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

1981 – Around 100,000 US gallons of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 108 workers

1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner

2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak & the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests

The Categories of Aristotle – a process of contraction…
Is there a path to expansion…..?

PUBLIC LECTURE AND EURYTHMY WORKSHOP WITH CLAUDIA FONTANA

Does one have to be a philosopher of great erudition to understand Aristotle’s gift to humanity – his Categories? Let us explore a path to an experience supported by Eurythmy.

Friday 24 March 2023 – Lecture 7 pm CT – 8:30 pm – Purchase tickets at the door or pay online
$12

Saturday 25 March 2023 – Workshop – 9 am – 12 noon CT– Purchase tickets at the door or pay online $50

at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society
4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map)
https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar 
www.rschicago.org/donate

For more info contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Claudia Fontana saw a Eurythmy performance when still a teenager. Unbeknownst to her at the time, that performance was the gate to her destiny path. Soon thereafter she studied Eurythmy in Vienna and subsequently spent fourteen years as a performer with the Dornach, London and Stuttgart Eurythmeum ensembles. Teaching became the next challenge which she happily met in the United States, Europe. Before Covid, she spent seven years teaching all levels in Thailand, Malaysia and China. She resides in Ann Arbor, MI still performing and teaching.

The Women at the Tomb – A Festival of Resurrection

with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg,

Insights about Mary Magdalene with Faith DiVecchio, 

Song-Circle with Velsum, 

Eurythmy – & an artistic break out session

Holy Saturday 8 April 2023

1 pm – 3pm CT a hybrid event in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & on zoom

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7050174041

Meeting ID: 705 017 4041

For more Info. contact Hag@RSChicago.org Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map)
www.rschicago.org/donate

PRESENTS:

The Mystery of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

This course is available on Zoom. You will be emailed a Zoom link closer to the time of the class. The course will be recorded and you will receive a link to watch it. Go to the Infinity Foundation web site to enroll

Course Number 231154 / Zoom
Date: Thursday, May 11
Time 7:00 – 8:30 PM CST
Cost $33/23 payment 10 days in advance

Gerald Shepherd

When we tune into the Cycle of the Seasons, we experience that as the Earth breathes out in the Springtime, the beings of nature reach upwards towards the heights. The longing of the human soul also strives to meet this mood of ascension, which attunes all life to the cosmic expanses.

Together we will gain insights in how to rise up to our Higher Self by participating in this harmonizing spring-dialogue between the worlds.

This reconnection between heaven & earth was prefigured in the story of Jacob’s ladder from the Old Testament. Through his dream of the ‘stairway to heaven’, Jacob gave us a prophecy in the picture of a golden ladder on which choirs of Angels traverse between the ‘Above & Below’. The Mystery of the Ascension of Christ, 40 days after the Resurrection at Easter, fulfilled Jacob’s Prophecy. Christ as the Being of Love became the living bridge connecting us to the eternal.

Through this workshop we will learn how humanity will also be transfigured in the fullness of time. The company of the Angelic Hierarchies wait for us, their younger siblings, to ascend, first of all in our thinking, to meet them in fellowship, as they work all the while by our sides.

Nancy Poer

~Vitae Sophia~A Whitsun Festival of United Soul Endeavor 

with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Velsum Voices & Eurythmy

Saturday 27 May 2023 a Hybrid event in person* & on zoom

We are called to redeem the ether spheres to create an Ecclesia, a chalice for The Sophia. Then the spirit flame can spread out to become what Steiner called a “World Whitsun”, which began in earnest at the Christmas Conference. The Whitsun Festival highlights one of the greatest challenges of being human: placing our individual gifts, in right relationship within the social realm. This challenge is especially strong now during this ‘pandemic’. Our groups striving to know Spiritual Science must work together as a community, to have the possibility to create a new culture where a sacrament is possible in every encounter. Our individual strength is enhanced by weaving our gifts together, kindling our social world in conscious community.

Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83663366670?pwd=L292UzlOR1pkZjBXSWpxK1B2b0o1dz09 Meeting ID: 836 6336 6670 / Passcode: 397593

For more Info. contact Hag@RSChicago.org Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
*Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map) www.rschicago.org/donate

The Preparers

Celestial Event, Community, History, Insight, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Upcoming Events
Rita Cassia

Dear friends, I thought to bring back into focus our ‘Thought Seed project‘ with this 10:10 Testament: In our present age we have a mighty opportunity – Every human being (Anthropos) has the inherent wisdom (Sophia) to solve the riddles of existence, & to transform both self & society – to give birth within ourselves to the being of Anthroposophia – to develop our higher ‘I’ on the earth. In the ‘Apocalypse of John: Lecture XII’ Rudolf Steiner said: “We are preparing for the preparers. The Anthroposophical spiritual movement is today but a very small flame; in the future it must develop into a mighty spiritual fire!” Our current world situation calls us to be alert to the formative forces that can either drag us down into the abyss of unconscious slavery OR these forces can be developed in awakened consciousness into a New Etheric-Sun Heart, which must begin to be enlivened even if at 1st it is just thru our Cognitive-Imagination, so that in our many incarnations we can continue this work.

Zosia Nowak

These new more conscious formative forces must be built up thru our individual efforts, we can then bring these fruits together in freedom to co-create a larger ‘Love imbued egregore‘– a shared Christic Etheric Body of Sophia-Michael – as a seed for all of human evolution, in which we consciously participate in a formative Sun-becoming process. This must be a systematic, spiritually scientific praxis, not some fantasy or illusion. It is built up & formed, step by step, in a disciplined, consistent way – a fully conscious method put into the practical application of the 4 stages of the Reverse-Cultus:

  1. Communion as pure thinking – “Spiritual Knowledge is a real communion, the beginning of a cosmic ritual that is suitable for human beings today”. We rise in our thinking to commune with the spiritual world behind sense perception.
  2. Transubstantiation or Transformation – from matter to spirit
  3. Offering a selfless meeting Ego to Ego “That good can become”
  4. Revelation of destiny unfolding as “Christ in Me”

These essential guidelines of the modern spiritual path, that were given to us a 100 years ago by Rudolf Steiner, are the New Mysteries which will prepare us to be transformed & adapted to the Social-Cognitive Art of a modern come-unity of Anthroposophia.

etheric heart ~Rudolf Steiner

BTW: Please don’t get discouraged if you can’t always join into the 10:10 Thought Seed. Perhaps you can start by setting your alarm to at least mark it. Even a split second moment of attention adds to the spark.

Here’s a wonderful Steiner verse that fits well with the growing light that hearlds the promise of Spring’s new beginnings.

Sun, thou bearer of rays,
Thy light’s power over matter
Magics life out of the earth’s
Limitless rich depths.

Heart, thou bearer of soul,
Thy light’s power over spirit
Magics life out of the human being’s
Limitless deep inwardness.

If I gaze upon the Sun
Her light speaks to me in radiance
Of the Spirit, filled with grace,
Wielding through the beings of worlds.

If I feel within my heart
The Spirit speaks its own true word
About the human being, loved by him
Through all time and eternity.

Looking upwards, I can see
In the Sun’s bright disc
The mighty heart of worlds.

Looking inwards, I can feel
In the heart’s warm beat
The human Sun ensouled. ~Rudolf Steiner

Chart via John Jardine Goss/ EarthSky.

7 February 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The green comet – will pass near the red planet – Mars – in mid-February. Here’s how to see them: See that green line across our chart? That’s the ecliptic, or path the sun travels during the day. Look along that line for 2 bright reddish objects, a planet and a star. The green comet will sweep past red Mars around February 10 and 11. It’ll go on to pass the red-orange star Aldebaran, Eye of the Bull in the constellation Taurus. The comet is faint now and moving fast away from our sun. You’ll need a dark-sky to see it.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1478 – Birthday of Thomas More, Chancellor of Enhland, author of Utopia, according to Rudolf Steiner in GA 167 & 171 he was condemed to death for betraying occult secrets.

Editorial cartoon (by Thomas Nast) depicts a defiant Pope Pius IX (1792 – 1878) as he stands on railroad tracks and attempts to block a train labelled ‘Progress, 19th Century’ with nothing more than an umbrella labelled ‘The Ecumenical Council,’ mid 19th century. The ecumenical council, First Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church, issued a statement on papal infallibility which is referred to by the cartoon caption, ‘I am infallible.’ (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images)

1878 – Deathday of Pope Pius IX head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. At the time of his election, he was seen as a champion of liberalism and reform, but the Revolutions of 1848 decisively reversed his policies. Yet he emphasized Mary’s role in salvation & promulgated the dogma of the Immaculate Conception – that Mary, the Mother of God, was conceived without original sin. His chief legacy is the dogma of papal infallibility – preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine! Pope John Paul II beatified him in 2000.

1966 – Deathday of composer Leopold van der Pals. In 1907, after four years of basic musical education in Lausanne, Van der Pals moved to Berlin where he met Rudolf Steiner, who made a great impression on him and introduced the idea of metamorphosis, derived from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. At the time, Berlin was a melting pot of musical development in the wake of the romantic era. Van der Pals experimented with new harmonic ideas and alternative cadenzas. He shaped his personal expression, a hybrid of different styles such as romanticism, impressionism, free tonality and inspiration from Russian and Nordic folklore. In 1915, due to World War I, Van der Pals moved to Arlesheim & then DornachSwitzerland.

The Women at the Tomb – A Festival of Resurrection

with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Insights about Mary Magdalene with Faith DiVecchio, Song-Circle with Velsum, Eurythmy – & an artistic break out session

Holy Saturday 8 April 2023

1 pm – 3pm CT a hybrid event in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & on zoom

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7050174041

Meeting ID: 705 017 4041

For more Info. contact Hag@RSChicago.org Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map)
www.rschicago.org/donate

PRESENTS:

The Mystery of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

This course is available on Zoom. You will be emailed a Zoom link closer to the time of the class. The course will be recorded and you will receive a link to watch it. Go to the Infinity Foundation web site to enroll

Course Number 231154 / Zoom
Date: Thursday, May 11
Time 7:00 – 8:30 PM CST
Cost $33/23 payment 10 days in advance

Gerald Shepherd

When we tune into the Cycle of the Seasons, we experience that as the Earth breathes out in the Springtime, the beings of nature reach upwards towards the heights. The longing of the human soul also strives to meet this mood of ascension, which attunes all life to the cosmic expanses.

Together we will gain insights in how to rise up to our Higher Self by participating in this harmonizing spring-dialogue between the worlds.

This reconnection between heaven & earth was prefigured in the story of Jacob’s ladder from the Old Testament. Through his dream of the ‘stairway to heaven’, Jacob gave us a prophecy in the picture of a golden ladder on which choirs of Angels traverse between the ‘Above & Below’. The Mystery of the Ascension of Christ, 40 days after the Resurrection at Easter, fulfilled Jacob’s Prophecy. Christ as the Being of Love became the living bridge connecting us to the eternal.

Through this workshop we will learn how humanity will also be transfigured in the fullness of time. The company of the Angelic Hierarchies wait for us, their younger siblings, to ascend, first of all in our thinking, to meet them in fellowship, as they work all the while by our sides.

Nancy Poer

~Vitae Sophia~A Whitsun Festival of United Soul Endeavor with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Velsum Voices & Eurythmy

Saturday 27 May 2023 a Hybrid event in person* & on zoom

We are called to redeem the ether spheres to create an Ecclesia, a chalice for The Sophia. Then the spirit flame can spread out to become what Steiner called a “World Whitsun”, which began in earnest at the Christmas Conference. The Whitsun Festival highlights one of the greatest challenges of being human: placing our individual gifts, in right relationship within the social realm. This challenge is especially strong now during this ‘pandemic’. Our groups striving to know Spiritual Science must work together as a community, to have the possibility to create a new culture where a sacrament is possible in every encounter. Our individual strength is enhanced by weaving our gifts together, kindling our social world in conscious community.

Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83663366670?pwd=L292UzlOR1pkZjBXSWpxK1B2b0o1dz09 Meeting ID: 836 6336 6670 / Passcode: 397593

For more Info. contact Hag@RSChicago.org Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
*Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map) www.rschicago.org/donate

The Alchemy of Brigid

Biography, Community, Festival, Insight

Greetings on this Feast of Purification of the BVM – 40 days after Christmas.

You, my dear friends, are being called at this liminal time to stand at the Threshold, where your true purpose & the world’s deep hunger meet…
You are free, of course, to ignore this milestone moment…Maybe you have a kind of amnesia, & don’t remember what you came here to do in this life? Could it be you don’t see the signs? Carl Jung once said: “Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event.”.

What will it take for you to collaborate with the forces of change?

What would it be like to: Think Willing; Feel Thinking; Will Feeling…?

Ever adjusting to the ongoing shifts, to re-direct, to play, in the interplay – stepping up to the experience of transformation with exhilaration & gratitude in the face of the eternal flux?

Dearly Beloved, your mission is to become your True You in the Divine We in 2023…

The Alchemical Triple Goddess Brigid can be our guide & role-model. Her Celtic Feast Day Imbolc, which roughly translates to mean: ‘a Quickening in the Belly’, is celebrated at this Cross-Quarter time, which comes when the Sun hits 15 degrees in the constellation Capricorn, falling this year on the 5th of February 2023, heralding the promise of Spring – The perfect time for a re-dedication to your life purpose.

As Goddess of Smith-craft & the Sacred Forge, Brigid is representative of our fiery will force. Brigid invites us to heat up our dormant potential – to re-seed our perfect passion – to be-come the tools of our own self-same destiny…

The name Brigid means ‘One who Exalts Herself’. She holds the Trinity in the unity of Maiden, Mother, Crone – past, present, future – aligning with the Threshold moments in the cycle of the year as path of initiation.

She is said to have invented the Ogham alphabet; so Brigid is patron of the written word – especially Poetry – called ‘Fire in the head’. In Druid tradition, poetry is attendant with augury, so what would it be like to reclaim Brigit as the patron of our new clairvoyance..?

Addie Hirschten

Since Brigid is strongly associated not only with the forge but with the Sacred Well, this fosters a deep healing of our formative forces which strengthens our physical, & brings purification to our astral sheath. The Fire of will born from the “I” & represented by the Forge brought into temperance as the banked Hearth fires, & combined with the healing waters, brings in the alchemy of medicine making – herbal potions, & a nurturing of Fertility. The joining of Fire & Water is an ancient alchemical symbol of the union of opposites – The Alchemical Marriage – which gives birth to the creative force.

As modern Bards & Anthrosoph-Druids, Brigid can inspire all who align with her archetype. We are invited to acknowledge ourselves as re-dedicated instruments in a Christic re-kindling of a new vitality, germinating the seeds in an evolution of transformation.

True Alchemy, as practiced by the Rosicrucian’s, is a process of the spiritual or psychological development & progression. It can be summed up with the Latin words “Solve et Coagula” –

1st- Separation: Are you willing to name the dross – get the lead out – the junk that gets in the way? Will you take the time to step out of your shadow? Do you dare to look deep into that dark adversarial places we all harbor? YES, it’s Time to begin the process of freeing ourselves from any obstacle that may have become entrenched in our being…

2nd Stage: Purification: Dissolving all the impurities…flushing the roots…washing away…opening the flood gates…a dissolution percolating into those hard to reach places…stirring up what has long been submerged…purging those places that even the fire could not reach…perhaps you’d even like to brave the cold hard truth & plunge your whole self into the icy waters of the Holy well…will you leap into the pool of ablution? So cold it feels hot…getting your blood flowing…tingling with life force…the pores of your skin opening & closing like an excretory organ…waking up your sluggish nature…bringing you back to clarity & wholesomeness…a true Baptism…a rebirth that makes you feel brand new…let the waters of adaptability free you from the swamp…drink deep of the waters of the Holy well & let your authentic-self float confidently to the surface…remembering always, that yes, Brigid’s Holy Well is as close as your next glass of water…

& the 3rd stage: The Refining/Re-combining – the creation of a unified self. Can you list your strengths? Those parts of you that are golden, (or perhaps silver – parts may need a little polishing) sweeping the hearth of your heart clean – re-forming…What are your good qualities?…those positive parts of yourSelf that you want to foster & encourage, affirm & strengthen… What Potentials do you want to focus on & give energy to…?

Salt, Sulphur & Mercury, like the Maiden, Mother, Crone, make up the ‘Three Principles’ of Alchemy. In the spiritual process, salt is often seen as the physical body, the ultimate ‘prima materia’, of the philosophers stone. Salt is ‘bitter’, a symbol for knowledge & wisdom gained, which is often bitter, & painful at 1st. In general sulfur is the symbol for the omnipresent Spirit of life. The fire of will. Mercury represents the healing adaptability of the soul.

Rosicrucianism which works with the cognitive imagination of this Spiritual Alchemy, is a world view aimed at understanding both the world around us, the world within us, & the correspondences between them.

“Visita Inferiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem” = Seek out the lower reaches of the earth, perfect them, & you will find the hidden stone.

“Holy water…Sacred Flame
Brigid We Invoke your Name
Bless my Hands, my Head, my Heart
Source of Healing, Song & Art”

See you on the high road
~hag

ArtNight 3 February 2023 – A Youth Sponsored Event using our Shared Space Agreement @ the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4251 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago

Doors open at 7:30 pm
8 pm – Sharings Start – $12 (pay online)

YOU MUST RSVP at this Link:

ArtNight has been described as a 21st-century Salon. We gather once a month in Chicago. People sign up to present and perform what they’re passionate about,
having facilitated discussions and activities, and enjoying food from local establishments.

What we’re trying to do.

  1. Establish spaces where doing what you love is normal.
  2. Promote passion instead of perfection. You don’t need to be famous, talented, attractive, virtuosic or wealthy – it’s meaningful and important to do what you love no matter who you are and you should be supported.
  3. Create genuine connections in substance-free environments.
  4. Encourage curiosity and learning.
  5. Be a place where you can have fun without shame or embarrassment.

Article about ArtNight

The ArtNight night starts off with a vibe. As people filter in, we hang out,
talk to strangers who’ll become our friends, and we settle down before we
settle in for the next couple hours.
​
The ArtNight itself starts off with a welcome activity. Don’t worry,
it’s not your classic, awkward high school ice breaker.
​
Now it’s time for the main event. The people who volunteered to share do their thing. We watch and listen and experience and ask questions
and fall in love with them, loving their passions.
​
In between the sharing, we take a break for that meaningful discussion
we keep mentioning. Every ArtNight has a specific discussion topic,
and everyone is encouraged to share their experiences.
It’s always a dialogue, never a debate.
​
The ArtNight closes out with a vibe. We eat, and we reconnect with the
people we met earlier. All of this was to get to know people
for who they actually are – so we keep doing it.

YOU MUST RSVP to attend

PRESENTS:

The Mystery of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

This course is available on Zoom. You will be emailed a Zoom link closer to the time of the class. The course will be recorded and you will receive a link to watch it. Go to the Infinity Foundation web site to enroll

Course Number 231154 / Zoom
Date: Thursday, May 11
Time 7:00 – 8:30 PM CST
Cost $33/23 payment 10 days in advance

Gerald Shepherd

When we tune into the Cycle of the Seasons, we experience that as the Earth breathes out in the Springtime, the beings of nature reach upwards towards the heights. The longing of the human soul also strives to meet this mood of ascension, which attunes all life to the cosmic expanses.

Together we will gain insights in how to rise up to our Higher Self by participating in this harmonizing spring-dialogue between the worlds.

This reconnection between heaven & earth was prefigured in the story of Jacob’s ladder from the Old Testament. Through his dream of the ‘stairway to heaven’, Jacob gave us a prophecy in the picture of a golden ladder on which choirs of Angels traverse between the ‘Above & Below’. The Mystery of the Ascension of Christ, 40 days after the Resurrection at Easter, fulfilled Jacob’s Prophecy. Christ as the Being of Love became the living bridge connecting us to the eternal.

Through this workshop we will learn how humanity will also be transfigured in the fullness of time. The company of the Angelic Hierarchies wait for us, their younger siblings, to ascend, first of all in our thinking, to meet them in fellowship, as they work all the while by our sides.

The Open Secret

Biography, Community, Festival, History, Insight, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Upcoming Events

Dear friends – I have been carrying a powerful overlay of the Holy Nights deeply in my soul, & in the ongoing alchemical digestion, so many thoughts & insights continue to arise which I have started to share in these prior essays: Festival of Offering, Come unity, Vidar Speaks, & there is so much more, which realistically I cannot relay before I leave tomorrow for the West Coast.  But I do want to try & put a few words to the experience we had at Camphill Beaver Run on NYE 2023, 100 years after the burning of the 1st Goetheanum.

We entered Rainbow Hall in the evening with the stage converted to give us a background bathed in deep primary blue, edged with the red velvet curtains, to receive: FIRE IN THE TEMPLE – The True Story of the Death of Rudolf Steiner, An Open-Secret Drama in Two Parts, written by Glen Williamson, directed by Laurie Portocarrero. They both read multiple roles, with the addition of eurythmists Zachary Dolphin as the Archangel Michael, & Sea-Anna Vasilas who gives a moving eurythmy performance & also plays ‘Sam’ a fictional amalgamation of several important anthroposophists.

We are propelled back to the years 1923, 1924 & early 1925 – We met in Dornach, & go all over Europe – living also into flashbacks from ancient times, where we get glimpses into various karmic connections thru earlier incarnations, & see how the individualities who become part of the original Vorstand interact.

Glen has been working on this script since 2017. What is most intriguing to me is that most of the dialogue comes from their own words, sourced from lectures, letters, memoirs & personal notebooks.

Everyone at the conference kept saying – ‘the play that’s not a play’ – because we all felt it to be so relevant – the ‘characters’ are US now!…

The 1st thing we meet is a ‘Dark Lodge of a Secret Brotherhood’ working with ‘Green Demons’, who thruout the play seek to stop the impulses brought forth from the spiritual world thru Rudolf Steiner, who thru Zachary’s powerful eurythmy we see working closely with the Archangel Michael.

Then we are immediately propelled to the dramatic scene of the burning.  

The interaction between these historic personalities shows the various karmic streams playing out. We as the audience can relate, feeling acutely the joys & sorrows of how hard it is to be in relationship. I found myself wishing that they could just love & accept each other, as Dr. Steiner did. The play clearly shows how he appreciated every one of them for who they were, & what they had to give; each playing an important role in the whole, each in their own way serving.

We are pulled into love & compassion thru the insights gleaned from their various relationships; from pet names, to open hostilities & misunderstandings.

The flow between Glen & Laurie is a potent dance. It is breathtaking to follow Laurie as she flawlessly builds & embodies the essence of the various personae for us, subtle yet highly refined & defined – And then she just lets that character drop away – moving graciously into the next soul essence – her whole demeanor transforming before our eyes – until we believe that Marie Steiner or Ita Wegman stand before us.

Sea-Anna brings the light & hope of her combined character alive with her expressive being. Her eurythmy is heart-throbbing & compelling. Zachary IS Michael – his articulate commanding presence opens us to the spiritual world, allowing us to perceive & contemplate the quintessence of this mighty Being.

Thru them we see the characters, whose lives we feel intertwined with, struggle to remember their past lives together; struggle to know when to speak about such things & when not to, & the consequences of not asking the Parzival question in time. We see how Steiner left everyone free to meet their karma. And we often lament that if they could have worked harder on their moral inner development, & if they had been able to truly take up the indications that Steiner gave them, then so much would have been different. And the thing is folks, the play does not make us feel that this is outside ourselves. It continues to apply to us today!

We feel Steiner’s burden, his humor & magnanimity; & his great responsibility as an initiate. We experience Marie Steiner’s pain & see her glory. We take on Ita Wegman’s mission. And even if sometimes we feel a onesided sympathy or antipathy rise up, or a keen sense of frustration, (this gives us great insight into ourselves) we can’t help being warmed by, & want to rout for, all the individualities that were at the center of the Anthroposophical impulse with Rudolf Steiner. Sharing their gifts, we revel in their deeds. And our own conscience is pricked by their all too humanness.

We stand on a druid hill, we go to ancient Greece, & into the middle ages – We knee at the death beds of Edith Mayon & our beloved teacher Rudolf Steiner.  

“Our houses may be shattered into dust.
But in the Temple of our body, pain
may grow into a light of soul,
and through the dust and ashes we will bear
a godly flame within our human hearts.” ~Rudolf Steiner

Can we learn from the triumphs, & mistakes, of our forebearers, as we move into the Centennial of the Christmas Conference with its refounding thru Rudolf Steiner? This play prods us awake & prompts us to be active, vigilant, & practical, asking: What is next for us, now, & for the next 100 years?  

~hag

The staged reading is beyond gripping – The full cast production with music, sets, lighting/sound & costumes will be epic!

To support a full-scale production of this important work donate here

Dear friends – I will be offline until the Cross-quarter 1 February 2023 – Come play with me in Northern Cali:

Candlemas – a Cross-Quarter Festival Heralding Spring – with Willow Summer & Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Wednesday 25 January 2023 – Program – 3 pm – Potluck – 5 pm, Please Bring Food & Drink to Share

Storytelling: The Alchemy of Celtic Triple Goddess Brigid

The Year of the Water Rabbit – Tu B’Shvat – Beeswax Crafting – Singing

Rudolf Steiner’s Seed Meditation – from ‘How to Know Higher Worlds’

‘Charm the Plow’ – Bless & Consecrate the Farm tools

Three Springs Community Farm 15300 Bodega Hwy, Bodega, CA 94922

Contact Willow for more info.

Velsum Voices Presents: ‘New Nightingale, New Rose’

A Benefit Concert to support Nancy Jewel Poer and the community events at White Feather Ranch

Saturday, 28 January 2023, at 2 pm PT

In the Peace Garden at White Feather Ranch, Placerville, CA

All Ages – Love Donation – Contribute what you will

Come join us for Velsum’s West Coast Debut!

Dress in warm clothes for a hearty heart-filled afternoon of music and celebration. We will have an outdoor fire. If it is too chilly we can meet in the Ranch House. Pack your own picnic lunch or dinner.

Can’t make the concert? You can still Donate to Nancy’s web site

*RSVP to receive directions to White Feather Ranch  hazel@reverseritual.com

‘Velsum‘ is a musical initiative formed through Lucien Dante Lazar and Ultra-Violet Archer. The songs are inspired to develop our human capacity for Love and Logic. Velsum is a celebration of harmony, rhythm, prayer, and the human voice. Each song is permeated with a sincere interest in the other, the self, the world, and the cosmos. ‘”Velsum’s music is a product of listening.” We hope that by listening to these songs, you feel heard. ~Velsum

Lucien and Ultra met as children at the Chicago Waldorf School, and became friends and collaborators as young adults. They now write, record and perform original music through the initiative Velsum. They debuted the show ‘New Nightingale, New Rose’ last winter at Angelic Organics Farm, and have performed it throughout the Midwest. Through weaving harmonies, poetic recitations, and movement, New Nightingale, New Rose invites the audience on a quest for love and wisdom.  A joyful experience awaits young and old!

Here is a short video clip of Velsum, and here you can find their link to all links! https://linktr.ee/velsum

~Velsum: Ancient Futurism~ Lucien Dante Lazar and Ultra-Violet Archer 

Here is a short video clip of Velsum find them on Instagram, Bandcamp, apple music, soundcloud, spotify, youtube

Ultra-Violet Archer – (b. Chicago, IL, 1999) is a songwriter and music producer, exploring music as a tool for healing and storytelling. After studying at Oberlin College & Conservatory and spending a year in Järna, Sweden, at the International Youth Initiative Program, she currently studies music at Columbia College Chicago. She strives to make music that invites people to honor the parts of themselves they feel but can’t yet put into words.  https://linktr.ee/UltraVioletArcher

Lucien Dante Lazar (b. Chicago, IL, 1994) is an interdisciplinary artist whose praxis is founded in the intersections of art, science, and spirituality. He received his BA from Bard College (2016), his MFA from California College of the Arts (2020), and is currently working on his PhD in the Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness program at California Institute of Integral Studies. His dissertation will concern the pedagogy of spiritual development through the diversity of the arts.

PRESENTS:

The Mystery of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

This course is available on Zoom. You will be emailed a Zoom link closer to the time of the class. The course will be recorded and you will receive a link to watch it. Go to the Infinity Foundation web site to enroll

Course Number 231154 / Zoom
Date: Thursday, May 11
Time 7:00 – 8:30 PM CST
Cost $33/23 payment 10 days in advance

Gerald Shepherd

When we tune into the Cycle of the Seasons, we experience that as the Earth breathes out in the Springtime, the beings of nature reach upwards towards the heights. The longing of the human soul also strives to meet this mood of ascension, which attunes all life to the cosmic expanses.

Together we will gain insights in how to rise up to our Higher Self by participating in this harmonizing spring-dialogue between the worlds.

This reconnection between heaven & earth was prefigured in the story of Jacob’s ladder from the Old Testament. Through his dream of the ‘stairway to heaven’, Jacob gave us a prophecy in the picture of a golden ladder on which choirs of Angels traverse between the ‘Above & Below’. The Mystery of the Ascension of Christ, 40 days after the Resurrection at Easter, fulfilled Jacob’s Prophecy. Christ as the Being of Love became the living bridge connecting us to the eternal.

Through this workshop we will learn how humanity will also be transfigured in the fullness of time. The company of the Angelic Hierarchies wait for us, their younger siblings, to ascend, first of all in our thinking, to meet them in fellowship, as they work all the while by our sides.