Category Archives: Insight

Immaculate

Insight

22 August 2018–Astro-Weather: The waxing gibbous Moon shines to the upper right of Mars this evening. La Bella Luna is in a straight line with Saturn, Jupiter, & Venus!

***

Catherine Daze

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth. And that, I take it, is the aim of literature, whether biography or history… It seems to me, then, that there can be no separate literature of science.” ~Rachel Carson

Hinterglasbild

Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary & the Queenship of Mary– a logical follow-up to the Assumption, now celebrated on the octave day of that feast

392 –Birthday of Eugenius elected – the last Roman Emperor to support polytheism

Image result for Odoacer a soldier became the first King of Italy

 

476 – Birthday of Odoacer a soldier became the first King of Italy. His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire

 

565 –Birthday of  Columbaa, Christian saint -one of the ‘Twelve Apostles of Ireland’ reports seeing a monster in Loch Ness, Scotland

Image result for Pope Gregory IX, established the Papal Inquisition

1241 – Deathday of Pope Gregory IX, established the Papal Inquisition

Image result for 1849 – The first air raid in history. Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice

1849 – The first air raid in history. Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice

Image result for first geneva convention 1864

1864 – Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention

1862 – Birthday of Claude Debussy

1902 – Cadillac Motor Company is founded

Image result for 1902 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President to ride in an automobile

1902 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President to ride in an automobile

Image result for Rudolf Steiner’s 4th Mystery Drama: The Souls’ Awakening

1913 – 1st performance of Rudolf Steiner’s 4th Mystery Drama: The Souls’ Awakening

Image result for 1932 – The BBC begins television broadcasting using John Logie Baird’s system

1932 – The BBC begins television broadcasting using John Logie Baird’s system

1941 – World War II: German troops begin the Siege of Leningrad

1944 – World War II: Holocaust of Kedros in Crete by German force

Image result for Francis Delaisi, French social economist

*1947 – Deathday of Francis Delaisi, French social economist spoken of by Rudolf Steiner in ‘Fall of the Spirits of Darkness’ Lecture 14 Dornach, 28 October 1917 (see except below)

Image result for 1961 – Ida Siekmann dies attempting to cross the Berlin Wall

1961 – Ida Siekmann dies attempting to cross the Berlin Wall

Image result for 1962 – The OAS attempts to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle

1962 – The OAS attempts to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle

Image result for 1971 – J. Edgar Hoover & John Mitchell announce the arrest of 20 of the Camden 28, a group of “Catholic left”

1971 – J. Edgar Hoover & John Mitchell announce the arrest of 20 of the Camden 28, a group of “Catholic left” anti-Vietnam War activists who executed a raid on a Camden, New Jersey draft board

2006 – Russian passenger plane crashes over eastern Ukraine, killing all 170 people on board

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~The power of the Divine Mother encircles my spine
As the snakes entwine the caduceus…
Hidden in my rib cage
A holy poison of fiery Wisdom
Burns a hole in the mountain
& guides my tongue to sweetness…
~hag

***

*Lecture 14 Dornach, 28 October 1917

“For once, therefore, a man woke up and saw that what mattered was not to proclaim democracy but to see the full reality, not to follow slogans, but to see things as they are. This would be particularly important today, for people would then realize that the events which reign with such blood and terror over the whole of humanity are guided and directed from just a few centres. People will never realize this if they persist in the delusion that nation is fighting nation, and allow the European and American Press to lull them to sleep over the kinds of relations that are said to exist between nations. Everything said about antagonism and opposition between nations only exists to cast a veil over the true reasons. For we shall never arrive at the real truth if we feed on words in order to explain these events, but only if we point to actual people. The problem is that this tends to be unpalatable today. And the man who woke up and wrote these statements in 1910 also presented some highly unwelcome accounts in his book. He produced a list of fifty-five individuals who are the real rulers and exploiters of France. The list can be found in Francis Delaisi’s La Democratie et les Financiers, written in 1910; the same man has also written La Guerre qui vient, a book which has become famous. In his La Democratie et les Financiers you will find statements of fundamental significance. There you have someone who has woken up to reality. The book contains impulses which allow one to see through much of what we should see through today, and also to cut through much of the fog which is made to wash over human brains today. Here again, we must resolve to look to reality.

The book has, of course, been ignored. It does, however, raise issues which should be raised all over the world today, for they would teach people much about the reality which others intend to bury under all their declamations on democracy and autocracy and whatever the slogans may be. The book also gives an excellent exposition on the extremely difficult position in which members of parliament find themselves. People think they can vote according to their convictions. But you would have to know all the different threads which tie them to reality if you wanted to know why they vote for one thing and against another. Certain issues really must be raised. Delaisi does so. Thus, for example, he considers a member of parliament and asks the question: Which side should the poor man support? The people pay him three thousand francs a year and the shareholders pay him thirty thousand francs!’ To pose the question is to answer it. So the poor dear man gets his three-thousand-franc allowance from the people, and thirty thousand francs from the shareholders! I think you will agree it is a good piece of proof, a sign of real acumen, to say: How nice that a socialist, a man of the people like Millerand has gained a seat in parliament! Delaisi’s question goes in another direction. He asks: How far can someone like Millerand, who was earning thirty thousands francs a year for representing insurance companies, be independent?

So for once someone did wake up. He is well aware of the threads which run from the actions of such an individual to the different insurance companies. But such things, reported by someone who is awake and sees the truth, are ignored. It is, of course, only too easy to talk about democracy in the Western world. Yet if you wanted to tell people the truth you would have to say: ‘The man called so and so is doing this, and the one called so and so is doing that.’ Delaisi has found fifty-five men — not a democracy but fifty-five specific individuals — who, he says, govern and exploit France. There, someone has discovered the real facts, for in ordinary life, too, a feeling must awaken for the real facts..

It is not a bad thing to know these things, which are ingredients of reality. They must be seriously considered. And one is guided to develop something of a nose for reality when one takes up anthroposophy, whilst the materialistic education people have today, with innumerable channels opening into it from the Press, is designed to point not to the realities but to something which is cloaked in all kinds of slogans. And if someone does wake up, as Delaisi did, and writes about how things really are, how many people get to know about it? How many people will listen? They cannot listen, for it is buried by — well, by a life that again is ruled by the Press. Delaisi shows himself to be a bright person, someone who has gone to a lot of trouble to gain real insight. He is no blind follower of parliamentarianism, nor of democracy. He predicts that the things people think are so clever today will come to an end. He says so expressly, also with reference to the ‘voting machine’ — which is approximately how he puts it. He is entirely scientific and serious in his discourse on this parliamentary voting machine, for he understands the whole system which leads to these ‘voting machines’, where people are made to believe that a convinced majority is voting against a mentally unhinged minority. He knows that something else will have to take the place of this if there is to be healthy development.

This is not yet possible, for people would be deeply shocked if you were to tell them what will take its place. Only people initiated into spiritual science can really know this today.Forms which belong to the past will definitely not take its place. You need not be afraid that someone speaking out of anthroposophy will promote some kind of reactionary or conservative ideas; no, these will not be things of the past, but they will be so different from the ‘voting machine’ which exists today that people will be shocked and consider this madness. Nevertheless it will enter into the impulses of evolution in time. Delaisi, too, says: In organic development certain parts lose their original function and become useless but still persist for some time; in the same way, these parliaments will continue to vote for quite some time, but all real life will have departed from them.”

http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA177/English/RSP1993/19171028p01.html

Blessings & Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg 

***

How We Will: Organizing a Bare Bones Threefold Cultural Revolution

 30 Aug. 2018 at 12 PM to 3 Sep. 2018 at 2 PM 

Registration is now open for How We Will 2018 –

Hosted by The Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago & Urban First Aid – Art As Medicine 4251 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618-2953

We want you in the room! We need your voice and your experiences as we shepherd in the Threefold Commonwealth at Elderberries Threefold Chicago! Please join us as a diverse group of community-change-makers, bringing in new forms of: Culture, Economics and the Rights realm, share what it takes to move from ideas to ideals to action.

Rudolf Steiner spoke very clearly at the end of WWI, about what would take place if the entanglement of the economic and political leaders of the day were to continue unabated to the detriment of civil society: a great civil unrest and a humanity at the grave of civilization. He was also very clear that at the beginning of the 21st century a new impulse would be needed for the future of earth evolution and humanity. We are that new impulse.

Through Tilling the Soil of Our Souls, where the essence of Freedom, Liberty and fraternity /Kinship, can take root, the essence required for this societal shift and structural change, we will work towards a culture of selflessness throughout the weekend so that a new America can truly come into being. We ourselves will have to be the image of this new humanity striving towards and embodying, as best we can, a Beloved Community.

Brian Gray, of Rudolf Steiner College, will join us as we dedicate Elderberries 3Fold Chicago Café to Willi Sucher and his work with the starry worlds.

Presentations, Strategizing, Biography Work, Story-telling, Art Practices, and Threefold breakout groups, will allow us to have a creative dialogue throughout the weekend. John Bloom, Nathaniel Williams, Leah Walker, Kiara Nagel, Elizabeth Roosevelt Weeks, Johannes Kronenberg, Seth Jordan, Kait Ziegler, Destiny Nolen, Dottie Zold and Frank Agrama, will help us tease apart where these three realms and their principles rightfully stand, building moral imaginations for a more conscious community.

Theory U will be the bare bones of our organizing which brings about a safe space for deep listening, suspending our judgments, fears and cynicisms. It is crucial to come to understand the structural principle of the Threefold Commonwealth concept and even more so that we find a way to our humanness in the places we disagree. Through ‘making room for the other’ and ‘allowing the other to be free’ we will find those co-creative ideas waiting to be lifted up for a healthy eco-system begging in our time to be born.

Panel discussions will take place: ‘Against All Odds: Standing for the Future’ – Fred Janney of Anthroposophical Prison Outreach, Dr. Molly McMullen-Laird of Rudolf Steiner Health Center in Michigan, Dr. David Gershan, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg of the Elderberries Grailroad initiative, Joan Jaeckal of the Shade Tree Community School in Watts, and Dana Erickson, Mylene Carberry, on the Front Lines. Robbie Solway will co-lead a conversation on Youth led questions concerning ‘brother what ails thee?’ These panel discussions will also open out further for friends to share their own initiatives and experiences.

Who do you want in the room? Who is missing? Feel free to share with anyone who might find this Forum worth considering. 

 https://howwewill.blog/

 #HowWeWill2018Chicago

#ThreefoldingOurCulturalRevolution

Elderberries Threefold Café is opening it’s second lighthouse for social healing, in the heart of the nation, Chicago. We are stepping into a new future, after 10 years of building community through kindness, care and consideration.

As usual, lifting up the future will take a lot of boots kicking and brows sweating, working side by side, to bring our new space into reality. The mission of our café, is to form co-creative safe spaces across the country where youth and elders, in diverse community, can meet one another, find their work together, and serve the community and each other.

We invite you to join us, the day after the How We Will forum. Bring your tools., open mind, and imagination, with a full bag of Will. No experience necessary. We’ll take care of housing, food, and lots of coffee!

Call Frank with any questions or ideas, and please consider who of your friends and community might find a value in getting involved, we would love to collaborate with groups and schools as well.I promise it will be hard, rewarding, and fun, and safe.

for more info on the forum:
howwewill.blog

Thank you!
Frank Agrama
Co Founder of Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago

***

 

‘THIS WAR IS NOT INEVITABLE’ (The Threefold Social Organism Theatre Project )

A talk at The Rudolf Steiner Branch with Michael Burton

Thursday Sept. 13th 2018 at 7 pm, Performances: Friday at CWS, Sat. Urban Prairie Waldorf school 

In 1917 Rudolf Steiner’s Threefold Social Organism  was an attempt to save a devastated Europe.  100 years later do we have a new chance? 

Written by Michael Hedley Burton and performed by Michael Burton and Christian Peterson

Concerning the birth of the idea of the Threefold Social Organism in 1917-1919

Rudolf Steiner launched the idea of the Threefold Social Organism (Threefold Social Order) in 1917 in the hope that this would help shorten the war and prevent another great conflagration from breaking out at a later date. The times were against him then and he was unsuccessful, but the question of the hour is: “Did what Steiner attempt in those years plant a seed that has waited a hundred years to mature in our own age?”

Suggested donation: $15, $25 or more depending on your circumstances

For information about The Threefold Social Organism Theatre Project please contact Lightweight Theatre on 518 928 0491 or michaelburton999@yahoo.com.au or visit www.wordrenewal.org

Prepare for the feast of the Assumption

Celestial Event, Chicago Event, Insight, Poetry, Remembering, Soul to Soul

14 August 2018, “Speaking with the Stars”: The waxing crescent Moon shines over Venus in twilight. Look left of Bella Luna for fainter Spica. Farther left of Spica shines bright Jupiter. The Moon will march eastward above these celestial landmarks for the next three nights.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

“What is to be the starting force & impulse for events in social & ethical life must come out of the spiritual world.” ~Rudolf Steiner, New Spiritual Impulses in History” Dornach 16 December, 1917

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

600 BC – Birthday of LaTzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, writer – thought to be a contemporary of Confucius. The author of the Tao Te Ching & the founder of Taoism, also thought of as a deity in traditional Chinese religions.

Related image

1340 – Birthday of Meister Bertram of Minden, a German International Gothic painter primarily of religious art, 1st to paint the serpent as a temptress with a human head

1842 – American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminole tribe forced from Florida to Oklahoma

1880 – Construction of Cologne Cathedral is completed

Image result for Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord"

1888 – An audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan’s “The Lost Chord”, one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison’s phonograph in London, England

1912 – U.S. Marines invade Nicaragua

Image result for Battle of Lorraine

1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Lorraine

1916 – Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the Entente in World War I

1922 – Deathday of Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe) British press baron & pre-1914 warmonger

Related image

 

1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired

Image result for atlantic charter

1941 – World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter

1945 – Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II

Image result for Helene Rochling rudolf steiner

1945 – Deathday of Helene Rochling, proof reader, & helper to Rudolf Steiner

1947 – Pakistan gains Independence from the British Empire & joins the Commonwealth of Nations

1956 – Deathday of Bertolt Brecht

2013 – Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi

2015 – The US Embassy in Havana, Cuba re-opens after 54 years

***

Karen Sleigh

My POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Lift your head
& let the eye fix you
With Her wink, a spark to hearken & inspire…
Look up & move forward
You are the eye reflecting fire
In your own Becoming
There is light
Enough to lead you home…
~hag

***

Peter Paul Rubens

Tomorrow, August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary. This mysterious event, which represents the 1st fruits of the resurrection, comes during what the ancients called the season of Lammas or Loaf-mass, the Cross-Quarter between, the Summer Solstice (St. John’s) & the Fall Equinox (Michaelmas). This is the time when John Barleycorn is cut & ground to make our bread; it is a time of sacrifice, of death, in service to life; a time when we leave the sleepiness of summer, to begin the conscious work of harvest.

Also at this cross quarter time we experience the Perseid meteor showers – our wake-up call – so we can activate& forge the iron in our blood for the battle that takes place at Michaelmas.

It came to me clearly that Michaelmas is a reversed Easter festival. Easter reveals 1st: the mystery of death, (conscious sacrifice) -then resurrection, (transformation). Michaelmas, a festival of the future-now, gives us 1st: a resurrection of our soul forces, thru the awakening of our heart-thinking – then a conscious death, the courage to make a mindful sacrifice; to give up nature consciousness to achieve self-consciousness & ultimately to sacrifice the self – “Not me, but Christ in me” to gain spirit consciousness.

And the Feast of the Assumption is a symbol of this sacrifice, a conscious death; the transformation that makes it possible to go into the spiritual world awake. – The life & death of the 3 Mary’s show us a way to live a life that prepares us for a worthy death, which is a revolution, like the sacrifice the caterpillar makes to become a butterfly. A conscious death in the physical world is a resurrection into the spiritual world.

So today, on this eve of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, we have an opportunity to remember that thru our work with anthroposophy, individually & in community, we too can re-emerge like the butterfly, enlivened by the sun, fortified by cosmic iron from the stars, ready to work with Michael & the being of Anthroposophia, in full wakefulness.

~hag

***

by Grace Kahn

20 August 2018 ~MORAL MONDAY~ CHICAGO 7 pm – 9 pm 

“When The Trees Melt Away In A Sun Soaked Cotton Dream”

A Going Going Gone Party for the CWS Class of 2018 – an Art Exhibit with Musical Performances from the Youth at Elderberries Chicago 4251 N. Lincoln Ave.

Illustrations by Grace Kahn, & other Chicago Waldorf School grads

Songs from “Beyond Blue and Red” by Ultra-Violet Archer 

$10 Donation –MORE or less (Youth under 21 FREE)

***

How We Will: Organizing a Bare Bones Threefold Cultural Revolution

Hosted by Urban First Aid – Art As Medicine & The Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago 4251 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618-2953, United States

31 Aug. 2018 at 2 PM to 4 Sep. 2018 at 1PM

REGISTER for How We Will 2018

Contributors 

No automatic alt text available.

Dear Friends -There is room for you at the table. Where will you sit? Signup for this historic event & let us know when you register which sphere you resonate the most with…& then be prepared to sit in all the realms in our exploration of the Three-Fold Social Organism…https://howwewill.blog/

The Cultural Revolution continues! Organizing for systemic change – a separation of powers into three different spheres of action:
Culture – Economics – Political
Freedom – Kinship – Equality

How We Will We want you in the room!

We need your voice and your experiences as we shepherd in the Threefold Commonwealth at Elderberries Threefold Chicago!

Please join us as a diverse group of community-change-makers, bringing in new forms of: Culture, Economics and the Rights realm, share what it takes to move from ideas to ideals to action.

Rudolf Steiner spoke very clearly at the end of WWI, about what would take place if the entanglement of the economic and political leaders of the day were to continue unabated to the detriment of civil society: a great civil unrest and a humanity at the grave of civilization. He was also very clear that at the beginning of the 21st century a new impulse would be needed for the future of earth evolution and humanity. We are that new impulse.

Through Tilling the Soil of Our Souls, where the essence of Freedom, Liberty and Fraternity/Kinship, can take root, the essence required for this societal shift and structural change, we will work towards a culture of selflessness throughout the weekend so that a new America can truly come into being. We ourselves will have to be the image of this new humanity striving towards and embodying, as best we can, a Beloved Community.

Brian Gray, of Rudolf Steiner College, will join us as we dedicate Elderberries 3Fold Chicago Café to Willi Sucher and his work with the starry worlds.

Presentations, Strategizing, Biography Work, Story-telling, Art Practices, and Threefold breakout groups, will allow us to have a creative dialogue throughout the weekend. John Bloom, Nathaniel Williams, Leah Walker, Kiara Nagel, Elizabeth Roosevelt Weeks, Johannes Kronenberg, Seth Jordan, Kait Ziegler, Destiny Nolen, Dottie Zold and Frank Agrama, will help us tease apart where these three realms and their principles rightfully stand, building moral imaginations for a more conscious community.

Theory U will be the bare bones of our organizing which brings about a safe space for deep listening, suspending our judgments, fears and cynicisms. It is crucial to come to understand the structural principle of the Threefold Commonwealth concept and even more so that we find a way to our humanness in the places we disagree. Through ‘making room for the other’ and ‘allowing the other to be free’ we will find those co-creative ideas waiting to be lifted up for a healthy eco-system begging in our time to be born.

Panel discussions will take place:

‘Against All Odds: Standing for the Future’ – Fred Janney of Anthroposophical Prison Outreach, Dr. Molly McMullen-Laird of Rudolf Steiner Health Center in Michigan, Dr. David Gershan, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg of the Elderberries Grailroad initiative, Joan Jaeckal of the Shade Tree Community School in Watts, and Dana Erickson, Mylene Carberry, on the Front Lines.

Robbie Solway will co-lead a conversation on Youth led questions concerning ‘brother what ails thee?’ These panel discussions will also open out further for friends to share their own initiatives and experiences.

Elderberries Threefold Chicago and The Rudolf Steiner Chicago Branch will host the weekend. Our friends Carolyn Arnett, Gordon Edwards and Ann Burfeind will deepen our understanding of the history of Anthroposophy in Chicago, the people and the biography of the City by the lake.

We want you in the room! Who do you want in the room? Who is missing? Feel free to share with anyone who might find this Forum worth considering. 

https://howwewill.blog/

#HowWeWill2018Chicago
#ThreefoldingOurCulturalRevolution

We will also be building out the cafe space two weeks before and two weeks after for those who can stay and help get this Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago up and running!

WE NEED HOUSING!

For more info. Contact Frank Agrama

***

From Necessity to Freedom – The Evolution of Human Consciousness, Social Sculpture & Experiential Discourse with Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Saturday 8 September 2018 at the Los Angeles Branch 110 Martin Alley, Pasadena, CA 91105. Workshop 10 am – 5 pm

How can I Co-Create with Destiny, to spin the thread of my life with integrity, to heal and clear the collective karma, & achieve my True Becoming?

From the vaporous cleft of Mount Parnassus, and the birth place of Greek Philosophy, to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, and the Holy Grail – From Prophesy to Warning, from Fate to Karma, From Destiny to Free Will. 

What is YOUR life Question?

10 am – Doors Open

10:30 am – Explore the legends of The Greek Moirae and the Nordic Norns, the Orphic Hymn and the Prose Poem Edda

11:30 –Song Circle – To call in and to cut away

12:15 pm – Lunch

1:30 pm – Scrying with the Sibyls – The Prophets and the Sistine Chapel…The evolving human consciousness…

2:30 pm – Socratic Questioning – You have to ask the right question to get the right answer

3:15 pm – Break

3:30 pm – Once Upon A Time NOW – The new story

4 pm – Weaving Past, Present and Future

4:30 pm – Rudolf Steiner’s poem: DESTINY

5 pm – End

Hazel Archer Ginsberg, Festivals Coordinator & Council Member of The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, The Traveling Speakers Program, and the Central Regional Council of The Anthroposophical Society, Trans-denominational Minister and founder of ‘Reverse Ritual’ – ‘Understanding Anthroposophy Through the Rhythms of the Year’

***

 

‘THIS WAR IS NOT INEVITABLE’ (The Threefold Social Organism Theatre Project )

A talk at The Rudolf Steiner Branch with Michael Burton

Thursday Sept. 13th 2018 at 7 pm

In 1917 Rudolf Steiner’s Threefold Social Organism  was an attempt to save a devastated Europe.  100 years later do we have a new chance? 

Written by Michael Hedley Burton and performed by Michael Burton and Christian Peterson

Concerning the birth of the idea of the Threefold Social Organism in 1917-1919

Rudolf Steiner launched the idea of the Threefold Social Organism (Threefold Social Order) in 1917 in the hope that this would help shorten the war and prevent another great conflagration from breaking out at a later date. The times were against him then and he was unsuccessful, but the question of the hour is: “Did what Steiner attempt in those years plant a seed that has waited a hundred years to mature in our own age?”

Suggested donation: $15, $25 or more depending on your circumstances

For information about The Threefold Social Organism Theatre Project please contact Lightweight Theatre on 518 928 0491 or michaelburton999@yahoo.com.au or visit www.wordrenewal.org

***

Poetic Imagination, Metamorphosis and the Evolution of Consciousness with Luke Fischer

Sunday 16 September 2018, 2 – 4pm

In this lecture, poet and philosopher, Dr Luke Fischer will discuss ways in which the poetry and thought of Goethe, Rilke, Barfield, and Steiner contribute to an understanding of the evolution of consciousness and of the particular significance of poetic imagination. He will also shed light on how his own poetic and philosophical writings have addressed these topics.

Poetry Reading and Piano Recital

Poet and philosopher, Luke Fischer, will share poems from his poetry collections A Personal History of Vision (UWAP Poetry, 2017) and Paths of Flight (Black Pepper, 2013). Pianist Ryan Senger will perform classical piano works.

Bio: Luke Fischer is a poet, philosopher, and writer. His books include the poetry collections A Personal History of Vision (UWAP Poetry, 2017) and Paths of Flight (Black Pepper, 2013), the monograph The Poet as Phenomenologist: Rilke and the New Poems (Bloomsbury, 2015), and the children’s book The Blue Forest (Lindisfarne Books, 2015). He has co-edited a number of works, including a special section of the Goethe Yearbook (2015) on “Goethe and Environmentalism.” He won the 2012 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize and his poems have been anthologized in the Best Australian Poems (2014, 2015, and 2017). He holds a PhD in philosophy and is an honorary associate of the University of Sydney, Australia. For more information see: www.lukefischerauthor.com

 ***

Veil Painting Workshop with David Dozier

Friday Sept. 21, 2018, 7 -9pm

Saturday Sept. 22, 10 am – 5 pm

Sunday Sept. 23, 10 am -1pm

Workshop fee: $135.00 for RSB members, $160.00 for non-members Supply fee: $135.00*

Veil Painting is a watercolor technique special to artists working with the writings of Rudolf Steiner. Transparent watercolors are thinned far more than usual and glazed over one another on white paper to achieve subtle color washes, or ‘veils.’ The colors are never mixed anywhere but on the paper, and then only one at a time in a wash over dry colors. To avoid loss of time to stretching watercolor paper and waiting for it to dry overnight, students will use 300# cold pressed watercolor paper or heavy illustration board for wet media. We will focus on technique and work with painting motifs using Goethe’s Luster Colors (red, yellow, and blue) and Image Colors (white, black green, and peach), also exploring Goethe’s use of Characteristic Colors, Non-characteristic Colors, and Harmonious Colors in varying combinations on small panels, the Goethean color wheel on a larger panel, with space for a free painting to try and find an image out of the color itself. Supplies: All supplies will be provided for participants out of the supply fee, and will become their personal materials to take home including; brushes, paper, color, jars, rags, tape, ruler, pencil, sharpener, eraser. Participants will be completely equipped to work at home after the workshop, including colors and where to buy additional supplies when needed.

To Register Send check by September 7th to: David Dozier 1050 Columbia Ave. #3E Chicago, IL 60626

*Anyone taking the workshop that believes they already have all the tools and materials they need and wishes to avoid paying the supply fee should speak to Mr. Dozier personally at 773-627-0060, and review their tools and materials against the supply list with him by September 1st, since supplies have to ordered at least two weeks in advance.

Bio: Since 1997 David A. Dozier has taught art history, digital art, painting in oils, pastels and watercolor, black & white drawing, calligraphy and block printing at the Chicago Waldorf School, as well as drawing skills to adults in the Arcturus Rudolf Steiner Education program. He has a Master’s degree in Education (with a Certificate in Waldorf Education) from Antioch New England Graduate School, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communication from Layton School of Art and Design with academic accreditation from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI.

 

 

A review of ‘How to Know, Confront and Work with Evil’ a workshop with Rev. Bastiaan Baan

Festival, Insight, Meditation, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote

6 August 2018 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Earth is entering a stream of debris from giant comet Swift-Tuttle: parent of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Although the shower is not expected to peak until next weekend, this early activity may be a good omen for the nights ahead, especially Aug. 11th-13th when Earth is expected to pass through the densest part of the comet’s debris zone.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Alexandr Ivanov

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ – “We find the transfiguration scene in all the evangelists except St. John. This is significant. Let us clarify the meaning of this scene. What takes place? Jesus goes with three disciples Peter, James and John, up a mountain: this means into the inner sanctuary where one is initiated into higher worlds and where one also speaks in occult language. The disciples were carried up into a higher state of consciousness. They saw then that which is not transitory but eternal. Moses and Elias appear and Jesus himself with them. What does this mean? In occult science the word Elias means the same as El — the goal, the way. Moses is the spiritual scientific word for truth. By the fact that Elias, Moses and Jesus appear you have the fundamental Christian truth: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus himself says — this is a fundamental Christian mystical truth — “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (John, ch. 14, v. 6) ~ Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of St. John, 3rd Lecture

70 AD- The Second Temple of Jerusalem is destroyed by Roman legions under Titus. For 420 years, the 2nd Temple constituted a divine presence – the point where heaven & earth met. Its presence is sorely missed, its absence mourned.

1945 – The Atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, an act of genocide on President Harry Truman’s orders, killing over 166,000 people in a flash, many more died from radiation. This is also the Transfiguration, when Jesus brought the 3 disciples up to mount Tabor, standing with Elijah & Moses, to show them his true glory shining brighter than the Sun.
This image, very like Krishna with Aruna in the Bhagavad Gita.
“A thousand simultaneous suns
Arising in the sky
Might equal that great radiance,
With that great glory vie.”

And of course Robert Oppenheimer’s well known quote about the bomb
also from the Bhagavad Gita:
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

What a juxtaposition between these two polar events.

Interesting also that this is the Lammas season, a time of harvest, when the plant is sacrificed to make the bread.
“The king is dead love live the king”

I think of all those souls who crossed the threshold together, at that time,
will their sacrifice bear fruit…?

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~In the cardboard sky
The Thunder gods gather in
A procession of chattering dark wind
Laying eggs of other lives
Of blue souls in weaving sighs
Where incense rises in long dreams 
To be weighed 
In the over-ripe fruit trees
~hag

***

A review of ‘How to Know, Confront and Work with Evil with Rev. Bastiaan Baan by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

This day, filled with such potent anniversaries, provides the perfect opportunity to put into perspective the weekend workshop by dear Bastiaan Baan. My 1st revelation came when he revealed that fellow Christian Community priest Richard Dancey was working with these questions right before he died, just as Rudolf Steiner was, as seen in his letters to Ita Wegman, & in his last leading thoughts on sub-nature.

Of course we touched on the story of Job, delved into Genesis, & mentioned St. Augustine. “The devil is gods monkey’. We looked into the abyss, knowing the abyss was looking back at us, as we explored the notion of the 9 layers of the inner earth & their relation to the 9 Hierarchies. We dug into Goethe’s Faust & the image of the origins of Mephistopheles as coming up from the Volcano.

We talked about the idea that the adversarial powers seek to create a counter-earth. In Rosicrucianism it is called: Deus Inversus. The word Diablos means: Thru each other, to throw or mix up. We touched again & again on this primal mystery of the origins of evil 1st seen as a command from the godhead, that the Cherubim & Seraphim should not accept the offering from the Thrones. This causes some of the Thrones to turn their back, to shut themselves off, so that they develop their own secret realm, creating a counter-force in evolution – The 1st act of rebelling, which causes spirit to become matter. Yet this also creates the pre-condition for the human being to become free! Bastiaan told the Russian Tale: ‘God’s Blacksmith’, which relates to the Hebrew term Tsimtsum: ‘God is present in his absence’.

We were reminded that the measure with which we gage others will be used on us. And that we cannot shut ourselves off from evil as the Essenes did, we must “See everywhere germinating forces” ~Rudolf Steiner. We may not be able to ‘see into god’s kitchen’ to view the origins of evil in god’s plan, but we can learn to recognize evil in ourselves before it completely takes form thru our words & deeds. We must ‘follow the flowing thoughts’. What began as the science of eugenics, when unchecked became the basis for genocide. We must remember that evil comes when we are semi-conscious. Can we awaken fully to recognize the 1st inklings of evil in our thoughts before they become deeds? Bastiaan told about how when Rudolf Steiner saw the rise of nationalist socialism in Germany he could read the signs that evil was germinating, so he told Marie Steiner to pack everything up, they were officially moving to Switzerland.

Be alert! Cultivate discernment to find the sheep amongst the wolves. Strive to ‘Be as wise as a serpent & as pure as a dove.’ Our work in the 5th post-Atlantean age is spelled out for us in the 5th letter of St. John’s Apocalypse.

Bastiaan then went on to talk about recognizing ‘Black, Grey & White magic’, & gave the example of Ulla von Bernus, the daughter of a Christian Community priest, who became a leader in the ‘Church of Satan’. He spoke of her conversion when she had a dream after a friend died & Christ revealed himself to her saying “I will conquer’. ‘Grey Magic’ = greed, which is propagated in the media. ‘Black Magic’ = abuse, murder, or disregard of others for personal gain. ‘White Magic = selflessness, serving for the good of all.

The last line from Steiner’s Philosophy of Spiritual Activity:  “For idea to become deed, man must first will before it can happen. Such will then has its foundation only in man himself. Therefore ultimately it is man who determines his own deed. He is free.”

Eliza Leahy

We then pondered the nightly review. Can we ask ourselves: Where were the adversarial powers working? Where were my illusions? Where my negativity, my sympathies & antipathies? We can use journaling to awaken to where evil is working thru us, creating a ‘day book’ & a ‘night book’ for dreams. Work to see the connections of what wants to be known, revealing our ‘blind spots’. Perhaps as a tool of learning to know & confront evil, we can ask a trusted friend or partner to hold a mirror to our actions – setting aside time for a daily check-in to see ourselves from another’s point a view, to help reveal our ‘double’.

To try to understand this double Basstiaan gave an over-view of a German tale called “The Little Hunchback” which ends with a plea from the double for a prayer of redemption. This double which is like an elemental being that takes on those unconscious parts of ourselves, & is formed by demonic beings thru the power of evil. We know that elemental beings are amoral; they have no morality except what we give them. Thru their interaction with us they become servants, either for White or Black Magic.

William Blake

We returned again & again thru questions living in the participants to that 1st idea of the rejection of the Thrones offering, which later becomes the shadow reflected in the rejection of Cain’s offering, resulting in the ‘mark of Cain’. We are reminded that to begin to know evil we must become very humble. That love & freedom must be connected to carry discernment. Going toward any extreme allows us to step toward one or the other of the adversarial powers. “In searching for balance, the Christ is present” ~Rudolf Steiner.

To strive to know, confront & work with evil we must cultivate ‘White Magic’ in a culture of selflessness. For we need community to be able to receive the strength from the higher worlds to stand up to the dragon.  We referred to the red window in the Goetheanum, where we see at the bottom, the head of Michael above the large dragon head, looking up to the higher realms. Steiner mentioned to those working on the window that even the mighty Michael, if he were to look directly into the eye of the dragon, would succumb. We must look above, putting evil beneath our feet, back to where it belongs. We are told by St. Paul to out on the ‘armor of god’. To stand with the Christ & Michael, & with all the heavenly hosts, sword in hand & mind, to hold our ground, allowing us to share the power of peace. We need this armor whenever we go into any confrontational situation; for there is always some aspect of evil behind conflict – it gets us in its grip. We must put on the consciousness of god’s armor even when we pray, so that the adversarial powers can’t steal our thoughts & take the power of our prayer for themselves.

But we must also remember that the spiritual world steps back to give us the ability to grow & consciously call it back in. The old adage must be made true: We must practice patience & never lose faith. It is said: “Patience swallows the devil”. We see this in chap. 13 of the Apocalypse – evil will become all pervasive, it will only end if we have endurance, if we endure the trial & stand the test, discerning between illusion, putting fear & hatred beneath our feet. Steiner admitted that WW1 was a complete failure on the part of humanity & yet it became a pre-condition for the reappearance of Christ in the etheric. Reminding us that even Ahriman is part of god.

Basstiaan Baan speaking the Lord’s Prayer in Greek was a highlight for us all. I took that sacred reverberation deep into my being. He asked us to picture Christ speaking it, giving it to the disciples, speaking it with us when we recite it, seeing it as a gift we send back to Christ, thru our human lips; remembering the 7 lines as being the 7 epochs of human evolution, from our godly origins, to the future when we are delivered from evil. To the time of the Maitreya, when the stream of Christian Manichaeism will flourish. We must begin to cultivate this selflessness now. 

Duncan Regehr

We thought a lot about how we could become aware of our own double. Asking: Can I work to develop a dialogue with this part of me? Can I listen to hear the needs of my double? Can I learn to bless this part of myself? Just like Jacob when he wrestled with the angel, asked for a blessing. We must be ever striving for self-knowledge.

Bastiaan gave us an overview of Viktor Frankel’s account of his time in the concentration camps, saying that despite everything, we must say yes to life, asking not what will come to us, but what we can give to life; & that this then becomes our search for meaning. We must create meaning in what seems meaningless. To find our humanness we must, be creative, & practice love & endurance. Can we learn to see suffering as an achievement?

“I, with concentration
and with full love
Look into the darkness.
There I see the light”
(Bastiaan gave us this poem, but I can’t remember who wrote it. Anyone know?)

Bastiaan spoke of the fairy tale called “The three golden hairs of the devil” – the gold speaking to the divine origins of evil.

Duccio di Buoninsegna

We talked about the temptations of Christ & related it to our double bidding his time. We are asked to look for the where, how & when of the redemption of evil in the life of Christ, & are directed to the descent or harrowing of hell. The secret, counter-world of the adversarial powers is penetrated & the light of Christ’s love & selfless surrender becomes a seed of their redemption thru us. From that moment on, these beings serve Christ & can have a place in human evolution. Christ returns to give us the key to the underworld.

And even though our endurance was surly tested by the 100 degree weather, such an amazing group of folks from all over the Midwest (& 1 from Germany), made the weekend a true spiritual gathering; cooking & eating together, doing eurythmy with Mary Ruud, singing a Dvorak piece based on Psalms 23 beautifully rendered & taught by Bastiaan, & played by Elisabeth Swisher. We had an end of day service & the full Sunday service, all in our lovely Christian Community Chapel. Saturday August 4th was also the 17th anniversary of  marriage to my beloved Chuck Ginsberg! I was thrilled to spend this time together with him & our 18 year old daughter, working with this potent topic.

Afterward back home on Sunday evening, at the dinner table, we discussed all we had encountered.  Our family talked for hours,  sharing thoughts & impressions. Our daughter, a recent graduate from the Waldorf school, came away resonating with the idea that creating art was a good way to know, confront & work with evil. She said she was glad she had her whole life to think about important things like this.

After taking it all into my sleep, I awoke with this dream: I was in the chaos of a post-apocalyptic world. Evil authorities broke down the door of our place of refuge. I managed to escape carrying a satchel with the 1st Class lessons & a bright red golden retriever. I was trying to make my way thru the upheaval of the city, fraught with mayhem. I needed to cross a busy street, dodging military vehicles. When I finally made it across, I realized I didn’t have the satchel or the dog. To my dismay I looked back to see them back on the other side of the road, so I had to cross that treacherous street once again. When I got there, the satchel & dog were nowhere to be seen. I asked some people huddled by a large stone. They said they didn’t know. But I knew that they had eaten the dog. Then I noticed a woman laying with the satchel of the 1st Class Lessons under her head. She wouldn’t give it back, she kept chanting ‘god dog god dog’…I thought ‘Do I have to fight her’? But then I thought ‘I will give her a piece of chocolate,’ which I had in my breast pocket.While she was eating, I was able to wrest the satchel free.

After many more encounters where I had to discern who was ‘good’ & who was ‘evil’, I found my way to an underground cave that attracted me because it was pouring out light. My 1st impression was that the people were all primitive, since that were covered with decorative mud & had elaborate jewelry in their dreaded hair, but then I said to myself: ‘Beware the label primitive, for what may seem outwardly backward may actually be a sign of superior intelligence’. I found that I was sitting on the dirt floor; I was catching my breath, trying to become calm after the turmoil. The beautiful people sat & just looked at me with kindness, without worry or concern. Soon I noticed a round table in front of me, on it there was a vast bonsai tree, with a thick textured trunk, that split off into 3 sections. The leaves of the tree swept off to the right in a wave. I said to myself: ‘What seems left in my dream is really right, i must take note”. Then I realized the tree was heavy with every ripe fruit I had ever seen, & many I did not know. I was so happy. I exclaimed ‘How lovely, what tree is this?’ The People gathered closer & without speaking told me to look into the roots. With speechless words they said ‘Yes, dig into the roots’. And as I did, with child-like delight, I discovered a hidden cave, deep in the rich black soil, I dug & dug until I unearthed a golden vessel, which they instructed me to bring forth. Then they all sang & danced & chanted “Pour it out, pour it out…” I lifted the cork, & the most amazing fragrance filled the air, as I poured this elixir out onto the roots of the tree. This ritual went on for what seemed like days with the vessel ever pouring. During this eternal time, I saw so many things which I can’t quite remember, but which created a feeling of reverence & awe.

Finally when it stopped, I noticed that across from the table was a long, rectangular, coffin-like altar with a thick heavy lid that was made of ivory, carved with mysterious glyphs. And suddenly I knew that my daughter was in there! It seemed obvious somehow, & I started talking to her, saying ‘O, now you are pregnant’…I laughed & laughed, saying ‘now you will carry your daughter’…I was crying from joy…Then one of the elders said ‘But what if it is a boy’…with that statement we all let out a collective…’ahhh’…The space became hushed & still…& I awoke, thinking of Bastiaan Baan’s voice resonating The Lord’s Prayer in Greek…

Thank you dear Bastiaan for a powerful encounter.

~hag

***

by Grace Kahn

20 August 2018 ~MORAL MONDAY~ CHICAGO 7 pm – 9 pm 

“When The Trees Melt Away In A Sun Soaked Cotton Dream”

A going going gone Party for the CWS Class of 2018 –

an PDF Art Exhibit PDF with PDF Musical Performances from the Youth at Elderberries Chicago 4251 N. Lincoln Ave.

Illustrations by Grace Kahn, Work by Shanti Rogers, Art booth by Liz Rosu-Rosenberg

Songs from “Beyond Blue and Red” by  Ultra-Violet Archer 

Chance Schneider & DJ Grapefruit Effect

$10 Donation –MORE or less (Youth under 21 FREE)

***

How We Will: Organizing a Bare Bones PDF Threefold Cultural Revolution

 30 Aug. 2018 at 2 PM to 3 Sep. 2018 at 1 PM

 Registration is now open for How We Will 2018 –

The ever growing list of Contributors:

Hosted by The Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago & Urban First Aid – Art As Medicine 4251 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618-2953

A central theme which we will explore at the forum will be the theory and practice of Social Three-folding, developed by Rudolf Steiner. Organizing for systemic change – a separation of powers into three different spheres of action fostering:

In the Economics Realm –a moral imagination of Kinship

In Rights/Governance – Equality

In Culture/Education/Spirituality – Freedom 

Through lectures, capacity building workshops, and collaborative design, we will develop ourselves as change agents with Three-folding activists from around the world. What new tools, skills, levels of listening, mindfulness, forms of capital and alternative currencies, and generative ideas can we gain in order to truly develop our cultural voice and potential to connect and heal our relationships, communities, nations, and the earth?

Come to the How We Will Forum to learn, listen deeply, and dig in with other communities that we might grow together, unified by a common vision of creating a more equitable world.

CHICAGO FRIENDS – WE NEED HOUSING!

We will also be building out the cafe space two weeks before and two weeks after for those who can come early &/or stay and help get this Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago up and running!

 ***

 

 

 

All are Welcome at the Table

Insight, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Speaking with the Stars

2 August 2018 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Evenings this week are a great time to explore the constellation Sagittarius the Archer. This star group lies due south & is at peak altitude between 11 pm & 12 am. The brightest stars within the constellation form the shape of a teapot — a distinctive asterism once you’ve found it — though it’s misshapen this year with the presence of Saturn just north of these stars & the central regions of the Milky Way pass through Sagittarius, so it’s wroth a glance.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

“To cultivate Spiritual Science is no abstract pursuit. To cultivate Spiritual Science means to open the doors to those influences from beyond the earth which have been seeking to come down to the earth since the last third of the nineteenth century. The cultivation of Spiritual Science is in very truth a cosmic event of which we ought to be fully conscious” ~ Rudolf Steiner

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

March against Violence TODAY in Chicago

216 BC – The Carthaginian army led by Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army at the Battle of Cannae

Feast day of “The Virgen de los Angeles” (the Virgin of the Angels) is Costa Rica’s patron saint, also known as La Negrita. According to tradition, La Negrita, the Black Virgin, is a small (less than a meter tall), representation of the Virgin Mary found on this spot on August 2, 1635 by a native woman. As the story goes, when she tried to take the statuette with her, it miraculously reappeared twice back where she’d found it. The townspeople then built a shrine around her. In 1824, the Virgin was declared Costa Rica’s patron saint. La Negrita now resides on a gold, jewel-studded platform at the main altar in the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Cartago. Each August 2, on the anniversary of the statuette’s miraculous discovery, pilgrims from every corner of the country (and beyond) walk the 22 km from San José to the basilica. Many of the penitent complete the last few hundred meters of the pilgrimage on their knees.

1832- Birthday of Henry Steel Olcott – an American military officer, journalist, lawyer & the co-founder & 1st President of the Theosophical Society. Olcott was the first well-known American of European ancestry to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. From 1874 on, Olcott’s spiritual growth & development with Helena Blavatsky & other spiritual leaders would lead to the founding of the Theosophical Society. In 1875, Olcott, Blavatsky, & others, notably William Quan Judge, formed the Theosophical Society in New York City. Olcott financially supported the earliest years of the Theosophical Society & was acting President while Blavatsky served as the Society’s Secretary. In December 1878, they left New York in order to move the headquarters of the Society to India.

1921 – Birthday of Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor & actor

1922 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-Canadian engineer, one of the people who invented the telephone

1922 – A typhoon hits Shantou, Republic of China killing more than 50,000 people

1924 – The last of Rudolf Steiner’s “19 Class Lessons” was given in Dornach.

1934 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg

1939 – Albert Einstein & Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon

1943 – Jewish prisoners stage a revolt at Treblinka, one of the deadliest of Nazi death camps where approximately 900,000 persons were murdered in less than 18 months

1968 – Deathday of Antonio d’Achille , Aquinas scholar

1969 – Deathday of Anna Samweber – an active co-worker in Berlin with Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner-von Sivers. Her anecdotes & recollections were recorded by Jacob Streit during an intensive two days shortly before Anna’s death. They contribute a warm & intimate picture of Rudolf Steiner, the man, & his work. “Frau Dr Steiner owned a lovely diamond watch with her initials inscribed on the lid. It was broken, and I had to take it to a well-known watchmaker who lived a long way from the Motzstrasse (the house at 17 Motzstrasse in Berlin was where Rudolf and Marie Steiner lived from 1903 – 1913, and where the work of the Anthroposophical Society was carried on). It was late on a cold and foggy November evening when I made my way in the direction of Nollendorfplatz, where the building site for a subway was situated. I was walking along a long, wooden blank wall when suddenly two human shapes appeared from the dark and attacked me. I remembered that once Rudolf Steiner had told me that if ever I was in need I could call on him. So when these two attackers went for me, the one holding me from behind so that the other could rob me, I called inwardly and spontaneously: ‘Doctor, help me!’ At the same moment both fellows fell back like lightning and were gone. When Rudolf Steiner came for breakfast the next morning he greeted me with the words ‘Good morning, Sam. What was the matter that you cried so loud last night?’ When I told him about my experience and he had listened quietly, he said simply: ‘But I did help you, didn’t I?’ “ ~Anna Samweber from her book Erinnerungen an Rudolf Steiner (Reminiscences of Rudolf Steiner)

***

TODAY is the Feast of St. Peter’s Chains – In commemoration of the miraculous deliverance of St. Peter, the visible head of the church, from prison. The entire event is described in the Acts of the Apostles, by St. Luke. Herod Agrippa, ruled over Judaea, with the title of king. During his evil reign, he beheaded, James the Great, brother of St. John. Herod then seized St. Peter, intending to make away with him in the same manner. Peter was taken prisoner, chained & locked in a narrow dungeon.

On the eve of his execution, an Angel appeared. Although heavily laden with chains, the holy Apostle was sleeping peacefully, guarded by the Angel, whose brightness illumined the dank dungeon.  Just before dawn the Angel tapped Peter on the side to wake him, saying: “Arise quickly. Put on your sandals & cloak & follow me.” The Apostle, who thought it all a dream, obeyed & followed the Angel, the tight harsh chains falling from his hands. They passed the first & second watches without attracting attention, & reached the iron gate which led to the main street. The gate opened without the aid of human hands. After that the Angel vanished & was seen no more. Peter proceeded immediately to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where the faithful were assembled in prayer.

When he knocked at the door, a servant, named Rhode, came, & asked who was there. Judging by the voice that it was Peter, she was so greatly startled with joy & astonishment, that, without opening the door, she ran back to announce the news. They believed that it must be his guardian Angel. Meanwhile, the Saint repeated knocking at the door. They opened it & saw, with amazement, their beloved shepherd safe & free from chains. Their joy on beholding him was as great as had been their grief when he was taken prisoner. Having given the sign for silence, St. Peter related all that had happened to him. They gave thanks to Divine Providence when he had ended, & learned to trust in future to the heavenly power & mercy.

***

The year is 1100. The date is August 2nd. The monks in the abbey at Gloucester are celebrating the holy-day of St. Peter in Chains. One of the monks wakes from a strange dream in which God promises to strike down the wicked King who has abused the Holy Church. His superior, Abbot Serlo, on hearing of the dream sends a warning to the King, William the Red, who has oppressed all of England with taxes & disgusted many with his licentiousness & blasphemy. Red, as he is called, receives the message the following day while preparing to indulge in one of his favorite sports, hunting, in the New Forest.

Although there are no longer any people dwelling in the New Forest — they were all cleared out by Red’s father, William the Conqueror — there are rumors that it’s a hotbed of pagan activity. And August 2 is an important pagan holy-day. The Saxons call it Lammas, the Loaf-Mass. William the Red laughs at the warning from the monks & goes out hunting. A short time later, he is dead, struck in the chest by a stray arrow, & his brother, Henry, who was in the hunting party is riding hot-foot for Winchester & the crown.

James E. Doyle. 1864. Color lithograph.

Now some people say that William the Red was a Lammas sacrifice, that having made a wasteland of his kingdom, he was killed by the people (or the Gods) as a sacrifice to bring new life to the land. And some people say his brother Henry had him assassinated. And some people say that both versions are true.

This story comes to my mind when I think of Lammas because this tale of sacrifice & hunting, a dying King & a wasted land, embodies many of the dominant themes of Lammas, one of the four seasonal quarter-days, & perhaps the least well-known.

The Celts celebrate this festival from sunset August 1 until sunset on the actual cross quarter day which this year falls on August 7th 2018. They call it Lughnasad after the God Lugh. It is the wake of Lugh, the Sun-King, whose light begins to dwindle after the summer solstice.

The Saxon holiday of Lammas celebrates the harvesting of the grain. The first sheaf of wheat is ceremonially reaped, threshed, milled & baked into a loaf. The grain dies so that the people might live. Grain has always been associated with Gods who are killed & dismembered & then resurrected from the Underworld by the Goddess-Gods like Tammuz, Osiris & Adonis. Eating this bread, the bread of the Gods, gives us life. If all this sounds vaguely Christian, it is. In the sacrament of Communion, bread is blessed, becomes the body of Christ & is eaten to nourish the evolution of the faithful. And All are Welcome at the Table.

Shellie Whither

In Christo Morimur

xox  ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

***

How To Know, Confront, and Work with Evil

A Weekend Workshop with Rev. Bastiaan Baan

At the Christian Community, 2135 W. Wilson Chicago, Il. 60625

Saturday 4 August 2018, 10 am – 8 pm

Sunday 5 August 2018, 11:45am – 5 pm

Fee is a Sliding Scale $25 – $100

Please Rsvp to Rev.  Ann Burfeind 

***

by Grace Kahn

20 August 2018 ~MORAL MONDAY~ CHICAGO 7 pm – 9 pm 

“When The Trees Melt Away In A Sun Soaked Cotton Dream”

A going going gone Party for the CWS Class of 2018 –

an PDF Art Exhibit PDF with PDF Musical Performances from the Youth at Elderberries Chicago 4251 N. Lincoln Ave.

Illustrations by Grace Kahn, Work by Shanti Rogers, Art booth by Liz Rosu-Rosenberg

Songs from “Beyond Blue and Red” by  Ultra-Violet Archer 

Chance Schneider & DJ Grapefruit Effect

$10 Donation –MORE or less (Youth under 21 FREE)

***

How We Will: Organizing a Bare Bones PDF Threefold Cultural Revolution

 30 Aug. 2018 at 12 PM to 3 Sep. 2018 at 2 PM

 Registration is now openfor How We Will 2018 –

The ever growing list of Contributors: Plus new additions being added everyday

Hosted by The Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago & Urban First Aid – Art As Medicine 4251 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618-2953

A central theme which we will explore at the forum will be the theory and practice of Social Three-folding, developed by Rudolf Steiner. Organizing for systemic change – a separation of powers into three different spheres of action fostering:

In the Economics Realm –a moral imagination of Kinship

In Rights/Governance – Equality

In Culture/Education/Spirituality – Freedom 

Through lectures, capacity building workshops, and collaborative design, we will develop ourselves as change agents with Three-folding activists from around the world. What new tools, skills, levels of listening, mindfulness, forms of capital and alternative currencies, and generative ideas can we gain in order to truly develop our cultural voice and potential to connect and heal our relationships, communities, nations, and the earth?

Come to the How We Will Forum to learn, listen deeply, and dig in with other communities that we might grow together, unified by a common vision of creating a more equitable world.

CHICAGO FRIENDS – WE NEED HOUSING!

We will also be building out the cafe space two weeks before and two weeks after for those who can come early &/or stay and help get this Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago up and running!

In honor of this forum  Steiner Books is offering a 25% discount on all Social Responsibility titles until 7/31/2018 with the code: SR0718.

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

Behead the Loaf & Eat

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

1 August 2018 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor, is infusing us with cosmic iron, but the waning Moon remains in the sky all night, cutting the visibility. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye out for some “shooting stars” radiating from a point in the constellation Aquarius the Water-bearer.

Mars came closest to Earth yesterday just 5 days past the opposition with the Sun.

Venus dominates the western sky after sunset. The dazzling goddess of Love shines among the background stars of western Virgo. She appears an hour after sundown & sets just after 10 pm.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“An ethical misunderstanding, a clash, is impossible among ethically free human beings. Only someone who is ethically unfree, who obeys natural drives or the conventional demands of duty, will thrust aside someone who does not follow the same instincts and the same demands. To live in love of action, and to let live in understanding of the other’s will, is the fundamental maxim of free human beings.” ~Rudolf Steiner, The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity

The Harvest fest of Lammas or Lughnasadh begins today until August 7th when we hit the Crossquarter between Summer Solstice & Fall Equinox (see article below)

Feast Day of Joseph of Arimathea – according to all four Gospels, the man who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after the crucifixion. A number of stories that developed during the Middle Ages connect him with both Glastonbury, where he is supposed to have founded the earliest Christian oratory, & also with the Grail legend.

“One must penetrate to an understanding of the Mystery of the Bread, which is said to have been broken by Christ Jesus in the same chalice in which Joseph of Arimathea caught His blood. As legend tells it, this chalice was then removed to Europe, but was preserved by angels in a region high above the surface of the earth until the arrival of Titurel who created for this Grail, this sacred chalice, a temple on Mont Salvat”  ~Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, April 16, 1921

30 BC – Augustus Octavian enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic

30 BC – Deathday of Mark Antony, Roman general & politician

1464 – Deathday of Cosimo de’ Medici, Italian ruler

1469 – Louis XI of France founds the chivalric order called the Order of Saint Michael in Amboise

1714 – Deathday of Queen Anne of Great Britain

1819 – Birthday of Herman Melville, American novelist, short story writer, & poet

1842 – The Lombard Street riot erupts in Philadelphia. A parade was held by over 1,000 members of the black Young Men’s Vigilant Association on Philadelphia’s Lombard Street between 5th & 8th streets in commemoration of the 8th anniversary of the end of slavery in the British West Indies.  As the paraders neared Mother Bethel Church, they were attacked by an Irish Catholic mob. The rioters moved west, setting fires & attacking firefighters & police as they went, heading for the home of African-American leader Robert Purvis. Purvis & his home were reportedly saved from the Irish mob solely by a Catholic priest’s intervention. Requests to the mayor & police for protection initially led to the arrest of several of the victims & none of the rioters. Over three days of attacks, the 2nd African American Presbyterian Church, the abolitionist Smith’s Hall, & numerous homes & public buildings were looted, burned & mostly destroyed. The mayor had credible evidence of a plan to burn several local churches, which he ignored. Eventually, as the rioting began to subside, the local militia was brought in to restore order.

1936 – The Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler

1971 – The Concert for Bangladesh, organized by former Beatle George Harrison, is held at Madison Square Garden in New York City

***

(Lammas/ Lughnassad poem – Aug. 1st )

CORN RIGS & WHEELS

CICADAS TRANCE
IN THETA WAVES OF SOUND

THE SICKLES REAP IN BORDERTIME
OPENING THE GATEWAY TO THE WEST

DRAGONS FLY
INTO THE MOUTH
OF THE HOLLOWMAN –
HIS EYES BLAZE
AS HE GLIMPSES HER WAITING WOMB
ALL RIPE & HOT – HER PHOENIX TOMB
A FIERCE ALCHEMICAL FURANCE –
BAKED IN THE LION FIRE
OF TETRAMORPH ANGELS
JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE
GRIND THE GRAIN
TO MAKE THE BREAD & BEER

MOULDED CHRYSOKOLLA –
THE KNEADED WICKERMAN
FULFILLS THE SACRIFICE
& SITS UPON HER ALTAR –
NEXT TO BRAIDED CORN DOLLIES
& MOIST CAKE

AT THE TOP OF THE HILL –
THE SUN
COVERED WITH PITCH & TAR
& TIED TO THE SPIKED WHEEL OF CATHERINE…
IS SET AFLAME –
THE BLAZING DISK ROLLS IN IMMOLATION
TO IT’S DECLINE

BURN THE OLD STRAW EFFIGY
AT THE FUNERAL GAMES
TO BLESS THE FIRST GRAINS

WATCH SOTHIS RISE –
MORNING FIRST SCORCHER
CELESTIAL JACKAL
HERALD OF THE NEW YEAR –

FLOOD THE FIELDS
WITH YOUR SCINTILLATING SERUM

& WE MEET ONCE AGAIN
ONCE AGAIN, ONCE AGAIN
IN A YEAR & A DAY
TO BEHEAD THE LOAF
& EAT…

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

***

“Bringing in the Sheaves” – Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve: Now begins the harvest and the time of reaping, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves…”

The Wheel turns from St. John’s Tide with its message of the inner Christ Sun and the mirroring of the Holy nights, to Lammas, or Loaf mas, a cross quarter festival traditionally celebrated at the beginning of August, marks the point when we leave the Garden, and earn our own way, “by the sweat of our brow”.

The harvest of grain, and the baking of bread, represents the first child of the cosmic union of Sun and Earth. It symbolizes the essence of humanity, born from this union, for the loaf is more than a gift of nature, it is made by the combined forces of nature with the will forces of human activity.

The harvest season is a time of judgment. We are called upon to sift through the things that have grown up during the past half-year, and decide what we will keep and what we will cut away. We must make choices, and act on them. The cycle of life turns past the peak of growth, into the time of release.

In astrology, the moon, five eighths past the new moon, is called the “disseminating moon”. During this phase, what has built up in the waxing cycle begins to be released into the environment. We start to see the results of our work. At Lammas, the sun is five-eighths of the way around the Wheel from Winter Solstice. Growth has reached its peak, and the life of the Sun God has begun to bleed off into the fruit and grain.

The King is Dead Long Live the King – for now is also the time of sacrifice, of death in service of life. Some of the first fruits are ready for harvest, but some, too unripe to be eaten, must be plucked anyway. These are culls, removed so they won’t drain the life force from the good fruit. If everything was left on the tree, the life force would be diluted, or worse, the bad fruit could weigh down a branch until it breaks, destroying the entire crop, or sometimes killing the tree. The culls are taken so the rest of the fruit, and those who depend on the crop for survival, might live.

John Barleycorn must die… ‘Cut in half and buried, then beaten with sticks, and finally crushed between stones’… as the song goes, nevertheless rises once again. Bread is the perfect sacrifice for “Loaf Mass” or Lughnassadh as the Celtics called it, for they knew that this festival is more than just the first fruits of the earth — it also involves the first fruits of human labor. Grain is processed by human craft, and joined with the four elements to make the staff of life.

What is this day?
It is the day of Lammas.
What is the meaning of this day?
It is the mystery of the corn
What is the mystery of the corn?
That which is cut down will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.

So bake a loaf of bread on Lammas. If you’ve never made bread before, this is a good time to start. Honor the source of the flour as you work with it: remember it was once a plant growing on mother Earth. If you have a garden, add something you’ve harvested–herbs or onion or veggies. If you don’t feel up to making wheat bread, make corn bread, or gingerbread people, or popcorn. What’s most important is intention. All that is necessary to enter sacred time is an awareness of the meaning of your actions.

Saying Grace with you ~hag

***

How We Will We want you in the room!

We need your voice and your experiences as we shepherd in the Threefold Commonwealth at Elderberries Threefold Chicago!

Please join us as a diverse group of community-change-makers, bringing in new forms of: Culture, Economics and the Rights realm, share what it takes to move from ideas to ideals to action.

Rudolf Steiner spoke very clearly at the end of WWI, about what would take place if the entanglement of the economic and political leaders of the day were to continue unabated to the detriment of civil society: a great civil unrest and a humanity at the grave of civilization. He was also very clear that at the beginning of the 21st century a new impulse would be needed for the future of earth evolution and humanity. We are that new impulse.

Through Tilling the Soil of Our Souls, where the essence of Freedom, Liberty and Fraternity/Kinship, can take root, the essence required for this societal shift and structural change, we will work towards a culture of selflessness throughout the weekend so that a new America can truly come into being. We ourselves will have to be the image of this new humanity striving towards and embodying, as best we can, a Beloved Community.

Presentations, Strategizing, Biography Work, Story-telling, Art Practices, and Threefold breakout groups, will allow us to have a creative dialogue throughout the weekend. John Bloom, Nathaniel Williams, Leah Walker, Kiara Nagel, Elizabeth Roosevelt Weeks, Johannes Kronenberg, Seth Jordan, Kait Ziegler, Destiny Nolen, Dottie Zold and Frank Agrama, will help us tease apart where these three realms and their principles rightfully stand, building moral imaginations for a more conscious community.

Theory U will be the bare bones of our organizing which brings about a safe space for deep listening, suspending our judgments, fears and cynicisms. It is crucial to come to understand the structural principle of the Threefold Commonwealth concept and even more so that we find a way to our humanness in the places we disagree. Through ‘making room for the other’ and ‘allowing the other to be free’ we will find those co-creative ideas waiting to be lifted up for a healthy eco-system begging in our time to be born.

Panel discussions will take place: ‘Against All Odds: Standing for the Future’ – Fred Janney of Anthroposophical Prison Outreach, Dr. Molly McMullen-Laird of Rudolf Steiner Health Center in Michigan, Dr. David Gershan, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg of the Elderberries Grailroad initiative, Joan Jaeckal of the Shade Tree Community School in Watts, and Dana Erickson, Mylene Carberry, on the Front Lines.

Robbie Solway will co-lead a conversation on Youth led questions concerning ‘brother what ails thee?’ These panel discussions will also open out further for friends to share their own initiatives and experiences.

Elderberries Threefold Chicago and The Rudolf Steiner Chicago Branch will host the weekend. Our friends Carolyn Arnett, Gordon Edwards and Ann Burfeind will deepen our understanding of the history of Anthroposophy in Chicago, the people and the biography of the City by the lake.

Brian Gray, of Rudolf Steiner College, will join us as we dedicate Elderberries 3Fold Chicago Café to Willi Sucher and his work with the starry worlds.

We want you in the room! Who do you want in the room? Who is missing? Feel free to share with anyone who might find this Forum worth considering. 

#HowWeWill2018Chicago
#ThreefoldingOurCulturalRevolution