Category Archives: Insight

Re-Building the Temple of Liberty

phillis-wheatley

Phillis Wheatley arrived in America, from Africa, at the tender age of 7 years old, in chains, to become the slave of Boston’s John Wheatley. She had an amazing gift for poetry & a deep karmic tie with George Washington. Thomas Paine published her poem “To His Excellency, General Washington in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1776:
“Celestial choir! enthron’d in realms of light,
Columbia’s scenes of glorious toils I write.
While freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms,
She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
See mother earth her offspring’s fate bemoan,
And nations gaze at scenes before unknown!
See the bright beams of heaven’s revolving light
Involved in sorrows and veil of night!
The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
Olive and laurel bind her golden hair:
Wherever shines this native of the skies,
Unnumber’d charms and recent graces rise.
Fix’d are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia’s arm prevails”.

columbia-hail

And did you know that “Hail Columbia”, written in 1798, was our National Anthem, before it was changed to “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1931!?!
“Hail, Columbia, happy land,
Hail, ye heroes, heav’n born band,

O, Columbia! the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine of each patriot’s devotion,
A world offers homage to thee.
Thy mandates make heroes assemblev When Liberty’s form stands in view;
Thy banners make tyranny tremble
When borne by the Red, White and Blue!”

apotheosis-of-washington

The name of our Capital is Washington – the District of Columbia. The fresco covering the dome is called “The Apotheosis of Washington”, & it shows our 1st president working with Columbia, encircled by the spirits of the 13 colonies, blessing him from the heavens.

In David Ovason’s book, The Secret Architecture of our Nation’s Capital, The District of Columbia & its Federal City were arranged, so that the constellation of Virgo, with its goddess symbolism, dominates the structure. The right triangle of the first magnitude stars that contains the constellation Virgo, Arcturus, Regulus & Spica, can be found in the plan of the Federal city marked by the location of the Capital, the White House & the Washington Monument. The consecration ceremonies for these sites, done by leaders in Freemasonry, all include prominent astrological connections to Virgo…

columbia-architecture

Benjamin Franklin, a Freemason, like many of the founding fathers, also admired & worked with the Iroquois traditions, adapting their ideas into the Albany Plan & the Articles of Confederation.

sons-of_liberty

The Sons of Liberty took their name from the guiding spirit of this land. And as I showed in yesterday’s post, Columbia in her guise as Liberty, is often portrayed as an Indian Princess. Walt Whitman perpetuated that vision in his poem, As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario’s Shores

“AS I sat alone, by blue Ontario’s shore, As I mused of these mighty days, and of peace return’d, and the dead that return no more, A Phantom, gigantic, superb, with stern visage, accosted me; Chant me the poem, it said, that comes from the soul of America—chant me the carol of victory; And strike up the marches of Libertad—marches more powerful yet; and sing me before you go, the song of the throes of Democracy. (Democracy—the destin’d conqueror—yet treacherous lip-smiles everywhere, And Death and infidelity at every step.)”

Whitman also saw the connection with Calliope & wrote about it in “Song of the Exposition”:
“She comes! this famous Female—as was indeed to be expected;
(For who, so-ever youthful, ’cute and handsome, would wish to stay in mansions such as those, When offer’d quarters with all the modern improvements,
With all the fun that ’s going—and all the best society?)

She comes! I hear the rustling of her gown;
I scent the odor of her breath’s delicious fragrance;
I mark her step divine—her curious eyes a-turning, rolling,
Upon this very scene.

The Dame of Dames! can I believe, then,
Those ancient temples classic, and castles strong and feudalistic,
could none of them restrain her?
Nor shades of Virgil and Dante—nor myriad memories, poems, old associations, magnetize and hold on to her?
But that she ’s left them all—and here?

Yes, if you will allow me to say so,
I, my friends, if you do not, can plainly see Her,
The same Undying Soul of Earth’s, activity’s, beauty’s, heroism’s Expression,
Out from her evolutions hither come—submerged the strata of her former themes,
Hidden and cover’d by to-day’s—foundation of to-day’s;
Ended, deceas’d, through time, her voice by Castaly’s fountain;
Silent through time the broken-lipp’d Sphynx in Egypt—silent those century-baffling tombs;
Closed for aye the epics of Asia’s, Europe’s helmeted warriors;
Calliope’s call for ever closed—Clio, Melpomene, Thalia closed and dead;
Seal’d the stately rhythmus of Una and Oriana—ended the quest of the Holy Graal;
Jerusalem a handful of ashes blown by the wind—extinct;
The Crusaders’ streams of shadowy, midnight troops, sped with the sunrise;
Amadis, Tancred, utterly gone—Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver gone,
Palmerin, ogre, departed—vanish’d the turrets that Usk reflected,
Arthur vanish’d with all his knights—Merlin and Lancelot and Galahad—all gone—dissolv’d utterly, like an exhalation;
Pass’d! pass’d! for us, for ever pass’d! that once so mighty World—now void, inanimate, phantom World!”

columbia-eagle

The eagle was also a symbol used by the Founding Fathers (Franklin wanted the national bird to be the humble turkey, which of course later became the symbol for the 1st Thanksgiving, uniting immigrants with those who were native to this land). The Eagle was also an emblem for ancient Rome, & it appeared with Columbia in Her aspect as Liberty, often clad in Athena’s Armor, protectress of the Republic, defender against tyranny & strife.

FF cover.qxd:9780980119022-template.qxd

In the book “A Sanctuary for the Rights of Mankind”, Rick Spaulding & Maurice York, speculate that many of the Founding Fathers had earlier incarnations together in ancient Rome. And Chapter 8 is compelling in its description of “The Temple of Liberty” as being a manifestation of the Freemasonic tradition.

Abraham Lincoln, says in his Perpetuation of our Political Institutions They (the founding Fathers) were the pillars of the Temple of Liberty and now, that they have crumbled away, that temple must fall, unless we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason. Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence.–Let those materials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws: and, that we improved to the last; that we remained free to the last; that we revered his name to the last; that, during his long sleep, we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place; shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our WASHINGTON.

Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Will we, as individuals, & as a people, take up this idea of self-development, in freedom? Like Percival we are called to search within for the grail castle, & re-build the Temple of Liberty.

Blessings on We the People, on this election day 2016

 ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

***

heart-sprout

Join us TONIGHT for our Annual All Souls Festival

Especially scheduled this year on Election Night Tuesday 8 November 2016

at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL.

Potluck 6pm

7pm Welcome with a Steiner verse

May love of hearts reach out to love of souls
May warmth of love ray out to Spirit-light
Even so would we draw near to you
Thinking with you Thoughts of Spirit
Feeling in you the Love of Worlds
Consciously at one with you
Willing in silent being.

Carolyn Arnett will read the names of the dead

Deborah Rogers will inscribe them on the board

All are invited to share the names of their beloved ones who have died this year

Then we will open it up for everyone to speak the names of those whose inspiration we want to call in: Like Rudolf Steiner & the Founding Mothers & Fathers…ETC…

Healing prayers for the Native Americans, & What of our Folk-Spirit Columbia?

After the chalice is full with the blessings of all these beloved spiritual beings, we will do the Hallelujah in eurythmy

We will then begin the Song Circle with Nancy Melvin, singing together old favorites like “This Land is Your Land”, “America the Beautiful”, “If I had a Hammer”…feel free to bring suggestions…

We will close with the Verse for the Michaelic Age

We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror
Of what approaches us from the future.

We must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations
About the future.

We must look forward with absolute equanimity
To whatever may come.

And we must think only that whatever comes
Is given to us by a cosmic guidance full of wisdom.

It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely,
To live without any security in material existence
And to live with pure trust in the ever-present help
of the spiritual world.

Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.

For this let us seek awakening
To the reality of the spirit
From within ourselves,
Every morning and every evening. ~Rudolf Steiner

Contact Deborah Rogers with the names of your beloved ones who have died this year, to be read in the circle beewisdom33@yahoo.com

Hail Columbia

Columbia is a Roman name, from the word “Columba” meaning “Dove of Peace

colimbia-peace

columbia-statue-of-liberty

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
‘ With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
~These words, written by Emma Lazarus, are engraved inside the statue of Columbia Liberty.

colmbia-settlers

Whether you think of her as an archetype, a Folk-Spirit, or an ancient goddess with a new name, Columbia is the personified ideals of liberty & freedom in America. She represents virtues that the best of humanity unselfishly strive toward.

But have we as a people lost sight of these values? Has she left us? Have we deserted her?

Today, as the Sun reaches 15 degrees Scorpio, the actual Cross-Quarter Day between Autumn Equinox & the Winter Solstice, I honor Her & pray that She blesses us with Her gifts. I ask Her to guide us during this election, since our nation’s identity & ethics are muddled in materialism & We the People stand once more at a crossroads, facing difficult times. How I wish Her statue was still behind the Speaker’s chair in the House of Representatives, having Columbia as a guide for our national leaders certainly couldn’t hurt!

columbia-libercaus-behind-the-speaker-in-the-house-of-representatives

We need the virtues She represents, now more than ever. Venerating Columbia calls us to continue to strive towards our highest ideals.

Personifying values in the form of a goddess has a long history; Rome recognized Libertas, goddess of liberty, among others. Our own Statue of Liberty, actually entitled Liberty Enlightening the World, is directly modeled on classical depictions of Libertas.

As people began to break away from older models of government & the modern nation-state developed, female personifications of countries emerged: the UK was represented as Brittannia, France as Marianne, & Switzerland as Helvetia.

columbia-statue-of-freedom-atop-the-dome-of-the-capitolcolumbia-freedom_headcolumbia-freedom_1-169x300

The Statue of Freedom atop the dome of the Capitol combines symbols of Liberty & Columbia: she wears the gown of a Native American, & a helmet topped with the 5 pointed star & the eagle. Unifying these images atop the legislative heart of American government, is a statement that these ideals are the pinnacle of what it means to be American.

columbia-indian_princess_

America as goddess, personifying the emerging nation of the United States was founded before the Revolutionary War. She was represented in simple Native American garb, standing in contrast to the Old World’s overly grand caricature. In a 1774 engraving, Paul Revere uses an Indian woman to depict America being subjugated by British ministers, who are forcing her to drink vile tea for her own good (a disturbing image of the rape of America)

columbia-paul-revere

Another patriot leader, Thomas Paine, included Her in his poem, the “Liberty Tree,” referring to Her as “The Goddess of Liberty.”

In a chariot of light, form the regions of the day,
The Goddess of Liberty came,
Ten thousand celestials directed her way,
And hither conducted the dame.
A fair budding branch from the gardens above,
Where millions with millions agree,
She brought in her hand as a pledge of her love,
And the plant she named Liberty Tree.

The celestial exotic stuck deep in the ground,
Like a native it flourished and bore;
The fame of its fruit drew the nations around,
To seek out this peaceable shore.
Unmindful of names or distinctions they came,
For freemen like brothers agree;
With one spirit endued, they one friendship pursued,
And their temple was Liberty Tree.

Beneath this fair tree, like the patriarchs of old,
Their bread in contentment they ate,
Unvexed with the troubles of silver or gold,
The cares of the grand and the great.

But hear, O ye swains (a tale most profane),
How all the tyrannical powers,
Kings, Commons and Lords, are uniting amain
To cut down this guardian of ours.
From the East to the West blow the trumpet to arms,
Through the land let the sound of it flee;
Let the far and the near all unite with a cheer,
In defense of our Liberty Tree”.

columbia-ceres_-_new_jersey

As the USA became a nation, Lady Liberty became the official symbol of some of its newly formed states. In addition, Lady Liberty images appeared on coins, paintings, stamps, & in sculptures throughout the land.

columbia-statue-of-the-republic-golden-ladycolumbia-court_of_honor_and_grand_basin

The Statue of the Republic, now in Jackson Park, Chicago, formally part of the Colombian Exhibition of 1893.

statue-of-liberty-oldstatue-of-liberty-face

The most famous depictions of the American Freedom Goddess, the Statue of Liberty, (Liberty Enlightening the World)was a gift from France to the United States in honor of America’s 100th birthday, designed by French Freemason & sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi with the assistance of engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. The head of Lady Liberty’s statue wears a crown with solar rays, similar to the crown on the Colossus of Rhodes, a magnificent monument to the Sun God Helios that once stood astride a Greek harbor & was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The seven rays on Liberty’s crown represent the seven continents & seven seas. The torch Liberty holds in Her right upstretched hand is the Flame of Freedom, & underneath Her feet are broken chains representing overcoming tyranny & enslavement. The tablet Liberty holds in Her left hand is inscribed with July 4, the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence & the birth of the USA as a nation. Her flowing gown is similar in design to depictions of Libertas in ancient Rome.

Liberty relies upon itself, invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light, is positive and composed, and knows no discouragement.” ~From Walt Whitman‘s Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855)

Doesn’t this description sound a lot like qualities held by our Time-Spirit Michael?

What would it be like to rise in our thinking to meet Columbia? To bring Her qualities to bare once again in our great land?

columbia-liberty-pole-surmounted-by-a-liberty-cap

“O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties, Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat, Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!”

~”America the Beautiful” lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates, music composed by church organist & choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark

nov-8-2016

“…As the United States election occurs on November 8th, we are called upon to direct the clear shining of Michael’s thoughts and the transforming Christ will into the unconscious realm of the dragon where Venus now meets the poison sting of Scorpion”. Read more from the Astrosophy Center

The last segment of the Michael imagination can be a meditative force for the coming days:

Ye, the disciples of spirit knowledge,
Take Michael’s wisdom beckoning,
Take the Word of Love of the Will of Worlds
Into your soul’s aspiring, actively!
~Rudolf Steiner

halloween-vera-pavlova

Join us for our Annual All Souls Festival

Especially scheduled this year on Election Night Tuesday 8 November 2016

Potluck 6 pm, Festival 7 pm – 9 pm

Get away from the media frenzy- As We Create a Healing Sanctuary thru Story & SongTo Honor Our Dearly Departed working with us from the Spiritual World

Feel how we gaze lovingly into heights that now call you to other work.
May your power reach out from spirit-realms to the friends you left behind.

Hear our soul’s request sent to you in confidence;
We need here, for our earthly work, strong power from spirit lands-
We thank our friends now dead for this.

A hope that makes us happy, a loss that pains us deeply:
Let us hope that you light our lives, far-and-near, un-lost,
A soul-star in the spiritual firmament
.”  ~Rudolf Steiner

Nancy Melvin will lead us in a song-circle. 

Engage with Columbia  the Folk-Spirit of America, & The Founding Mothers & Fathers of our country, as well as the Native Americans who were here before us with Hazel Archer Ginsberg 

Contact Deborah Rogers with the names of your beloved ones who have died this year, to be read in the circle beewisdom33@yahoo.com

***

Janet & Matt Trierweiler

Saturday  12 November  2016 Closing event

Calaj.com Artists Matthew Schaefer and Janet Trierweiler Schaefer present:

Silent Lecture” Art Exhibit & Discussion 

3pm – 8pm Paintings on view (in the un-rented space next to the Branch)

6:30pm – Artist Discussion – topics may include:

                         Setting limits to hold the limitless.      

                         Human systems at work.

                         The fallible element, how it works in art.

                         The steps or ritual.

                         The visible/invisible origin.

                         Finding the spiritual in art through a primitive gesture.

                         A cognitive transformation, instinct to intuition.

Snacks to Share Encouraged

For more info. Contact  Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Re-heat my half-bake

21 October 2016 – Astro-Weather: Our cosmic conversation continues: The Orionids – Peak these next few days Oct 20-22 2016. The meteor shower of the Mighty Hunter Orion is underway, with the earth traveling once again through the trail of cosmic dust left by Halley’s Comet.

From an article by Dr Elizabeth Vreede: ” Comets represent an element that does not wholly enter the usual sphere of cosmic law, although they still contain a trace of the direct working of spiritual powers, indeed, of the very highest — the Seraphim and Cherubim. Before ordinary law may be broken through, the very highest power and insight is required. The various comets, indeed, are agents of a very special nature in our planetary system, their polar antithesis being in the moons. Just as the moons are a kind of corpse which the planetary system trails along with it, so, on the other side, the comets may be spoken of as constant purifiers of the spiritual atmosphere within the solar system. In earlier times men thought of them as the “scavengers of God,” and many superstitions have gathered around them. To the eye of Spirit, too, the mission of the comets is perpetually to expel impure astral forces from the Cosmos or to introduce new impulses.”

5 things you need to know about the Orionid meteor shower:

  1. The meteors are actually debris from the Comet Halley – The Comet Halley hasn’t paid Earth a visit since 1986, but pieces of the famous space rock still show up every fall. Each year, around October 20-22, our planet intersects with the comet’s orbit, according to Earth Sky. Pieces of Halley disintegrate in Earth’s upper atmosphere nearly 60 miles above the planet’s surface, but not before creating quite the spectacle for those down below.
  2. Let’s be honest, watching this thing is a commitment. Experts agree that the shower will take place before dawn on October 21 or 22, but can’t pinpoint an exact date.
  3. 10-20 Meteors Could Fall Each Hour – The Orionid Meteor Shower is a “modest shower.” That means you won’t see a constant stream of glowing rocks plummeting toward Earth at any given moment. Don’t let that fool you. Those watching from dark or rural locations will still have a front row seat for the kind of spectacle that only comes from space.
  4. …And They’ll Be Traveling At 41 Miles Per Second – You read that right. 41 miles per second. These rocks are literally scorching across the sky as they enter Earth’s atmosphere. Roughly half of these blazing fast meteors will leave gas trails behind them that are visible for a few seconds after the meteor is gone.
  5. From. Every. Direction.- The Orionids flying from the sky this month are named after the constellation Orion, where they appear to radiate. The thing is, these meteors generally aren’t visible until they’re at least 30 degrees from that radiant point. This means they can appear any & everywhere in the night sky. If watching with a party, focus on different areas of the night sky & be sure to call out the meteors as you see them.

oct-21

Saturn & Antares now form a more compact, right triangle with bright Venus low in the southwest at dusk

***

As the sun relates to the constellations during the course of the year, there are contemplations that correspond to these relationships. Bringing these meditations into daily practice is a moral activity that brings a conscious change that everyone may experience. Here is such a practice from the Calendar of Virtues: For Scorpio – (October 21 – November 20.) Patience becomes Insight [Opposite: Loss of Temper]

 temple-legend-cover

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

 ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1097 – First Crusade: Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, & Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, begin the Siege of Antioch

William Lionel Wyllie's panoramic painting of the Battle of Trafalgar in the Victory gallery in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard
William Lionel Wyllie

1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar: A British fleet led by Vice Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French & Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve

1833 – Birthday of Alfred Nobel, Swedish chemist & engineer, invented dynamite & founded the Nobel Prize

1867 – The Medicine Lodge Treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate to a reservation in western Oklahoma

American inventor Thomas Alva Edison holding a light bulb in his laboratory. Menlo Park, 1910s (Photo by Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

1879 – Thomas Edison invents the first commercially practical incandescent light bulb

1892 – Opening ceremonies for the World’s Columbian Exposition are held in Chicago, though because construction was behind schedule, the exposition did not open until May 1, 1893

1945 – Women’s suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time

1959 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun & other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA

1965 – Comet Ikeya–Seki approaches perihelion, passing 279,617 miles from the sun

jack-kerouac-q

1969 – Deathday of Jack Kerouac

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Break my ache –
Still my agitate
Rip thru my restless skin
Rubbed raw – pity full & late to the gate
Re-heat my half-bake
While I conjugate
~hag

***

simcaht-torah

Immediately following the seven-day festival of Sukkot comes the festival of Shemini Atzeret,  The holiday at the end of Sukkot, during which are recited prayers for rain, & Simchat Torah (October 23-25, 2016) when we conclude — & begin anew — the annual Torah reading cycle. The holiday is marked with unbridled rejoicing, especially during the “hakafot” procession, as we march, sing & dance with the Torah scrolls.

On Simchat Torah,” goes the chassidic adage, “we rejoice in the Torah, & the Torah rejoices in us; the Torah, too, wants to dance, so we become the Torah’s dancing feet.”

As the month of Tishrei comes to a close, we have experienced & celebrated the most powerful moments of the Jewish year. As the Torah reading cycle comes to an end, & we start reading the Torah all over again, what new lessons, insights, & inspiration will we derive this time around?

Shemini Atzeret Rain Feast, this ritual reflects a theology wherein people help to carry out the work of God. The story of Ḥoni Ha-M’ageil:

Long ago, in the Land of Israel, there was a terrible drought. Usually the rain fell in abundance between Shemini Atzeret and Passover, but this year there hadn’t been a drop, and Passover was only a couple of weeks away! The people were almost ready to give up hope. Without rain, there would be no crops and no way to survive. In desperation, they turned to a man named Ḥoni Ha-M’ageil, Ḥoni the Circle Drawer, and asked him to pray for rain. Ḥoni had an especially close relationship with God and a strong desire to help others. He instructed the people to bring their ovens, which they kept outside in those days, into their homes, so that the ovens would not be destroyed by rain. And then he prayed for rain. The people were hopeful. But no rain fell.

Some people would have given up then, after praying to no avail, but not Ḥoni. He was a persistent man. Ḥoni then drew a circle in the sand and stood right in the middle of it and said, “Ribbono shel Olam! Master of the Universe, Your children have turned to me, because I am almost like a member of Your family. I swear by Your Great Name—I will not move from this circle until You take pity on Your children!”

Suddenly it began to drizzle. Some people would have stopped then, with their promise to bring rain fulfilled, but not Ḥoni. Ḥoni could hear his disciples saying, “We look to you to save us from death. This drizzle will not be enough.”

So Ḥoni said to God, “This is not what I wanted. I wanted enough rain to fill up every cistern, ditch, and cavern.” Then it began to rain violently. Some say that each individual raindrop was the size of a softball, if not larger. Most people would have stopped then, and gone inside to seek shelter from the storm, but not Ḥoni. Ḥoni could hear his disciples saying, “We look to you to save us from death. This storm is powerful enough to destroy the whole world!”

So Ḥoni said to God, “This is not what I meant either. I am asking You for the rain of blessing and graciousness.” Now it rained the right way, but there was still so much water that the Israelites had to head for high ground. They all gathered at the Temple Mount, the highest point then in Jerusalem.

Then Ḥoni’s disciples came up to him and said, “Just as you prayed for it to rain, now pray for it to go away!” Ḥoni prayed once again, “Ribbono shel Olam! Master of the Universe, Your children are a delicate people. They cannot endure too much or too little of anything. May it be Your will that the rain cease and there be relief for the world.”

The wind began to blow, the clouds dispersed, and the sun shone bright once again. The people went out into the fields and were able to gather fresh mushrooms and vegetation for a great and wonderful feast.

In the absence of Ḥoni Ha-M’ageil, we must come with a plan that cannot fail. We ask that You bless the earth with rain, But realize that action works as a chain, So we will pour the first few drops, & pray ‘til Pesach it never stops.

(Pass pitchers of water around for participants to pour (very lightly) in all directions outside of the circle. Once everyone has poured water, recite together:

So too, may Adonai shower us all with blessing and provide for the needs which are most pressing. We pray for all to enjoy a harvest of bounty, Here in the United States and in every county. May no one go hungry even once this year, Whether friend or stranger, far or near. Let our deeds reinforce our heartfelt prayers.Let us take action before taking our chairs.

Participants exit the circle & retrieve the food they brought to donate. Then participants pack the food into boxes, which will be taken to a local food pantry.

When all of the donations have been packed, recite together: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ הַמֵּכִין מָזוֹן לְכָל בְּרִיּוֹתָיו. Ba-ruch a-tah A-do-nai, ha-mei-chin ma-zon l’-chol b’-ri-yo-tav. Blessed are You, Adonai, who provides enough food for all of Your creations.

After this part of the ritual, everyone can enjoy a festive meal in the sukkah.

The joyous climax of Simchat Torah is the dancing of hakafot (lit. “circles”), during which we dance & sing with the Torah scrolls.

chochmah velo k’silut, tevunah velo kalut rosh. Lamdeinu Torat chesed she’taachilenu bayamim haba’im uvechol sha’ah. Amen. Source of Life, every year you plant within us a new tree of life. May it be your will that this year our interpretations will blossom forth kindness and not cruelty, wisdom and not foolishness, awareness and not thoughtlessness. May you teach us a Torah of love that will nourish us in the coming days at every hour. Amen.

Or try this: During the hakafot let your dance be a reflection of the new wisdom you want to receive in the coming year.

Simchat Torah is also a symbolic move from death to life – the death of Moses & of the old year, the birth of the New Year & the newly created plants, animals, & humans. It is the rebirth of the Torah. That makes Simchat Torah a good time to celebrate all renewals & transformations.

If you have experienced a major change during the year, such as the loss of a loved one or a relationship, a wedding, conversion, coming out, or birth of a child, you can recite the following prayer as the Torah scroll used for Deuteronomy is exchanged for the Torah scroll used for Genesis (or as the Torah scroll is rolled from one place to another).

K’shem shehaTorah niglelet mimakom lemakom besimcha uveshalom, ken eglol mimakom lemakom berachamim uve’ratzon.

Just as the Torah is rolled from place to place amid joy and peace, so too may I roll from place to place surrounded by compassion and good will.

Tonight I begin a 10 day journey into a  Tone Eurythmy Therapy Course with Jan Ranck, so I will be taking a sabbatical from the blog, until All Hallows Eve.

Blessings & Peace

 ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

For info. on the  Tone Eurythmy Therapy Course, The Bridging Project –From Soul to Soul-Between Life and Death, October 26, 2016 – 7:15 pm CST & our Annual All Souls Festival click: https://reverseritual.com/festivals-2/festival-dates/current-festival-events/

The Ripened Fruits of Thinking

16 October 2016 – Astro-Weather: The variable star Algol in Perseus reaches minimum brightness at 8:49 CDT. If you start tracking it this evening, you can watch it more than triple in brightness by dawn. This eclipsing binary star runs through a cycle from minimum to maximum & back every 2.87 days. Algol remains visible all night, passing nearly overhead around 1:30am CDT

The Moon reaches perigee -the closest point in its orbit around Earth-at 6:34pm CDT. It is then 222,364 miles away from us

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

We understand only the very smallest part of human history and of our own life if we consider it in its external aspect, I mean in that aspect which we see from the limited view-point of our earthly life between birth and death. It is impossible to comprehend the inner motives of history and life unless we turn our gaze to that spiritual background which underlies the outer, physical happenings“.  ~Rudolf Steiner, Karmic Relationships, Volume IV: Lecture III

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1311 – The beginning of the Council of Vienne by Pope Clement V against the Templar order

1793 – Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis XVI, is guillotined at the height of the French Revolution

arnold-bocklin-roger-freeing-angelica-1873Arnold Bocklin

1827 – Birthday of Arnold Bocklin , a Swiss symbolist painter portraying mythological, fantastical figures along classical architecture constructions creating a strange, fantasy world. Böcklin is best known for his five versions of the Isle of the Dead, which partly evokes the Cemetery close to his studio where his baby daughter Maria had been buried.

arnold-bocklin-isle-of-the-deadArnold Bocklin

Rudolf Steiner speaks of him as an Arthurian Knight: Thus even in the 9th century, in the paganism of Europe, there still lived much of the pre-Christian Christianity. That is the remarkable fact. Moreover even in that time the belated followers of European paganism understood the Cosmic Christ far more worthily and truly than those who received the Christ in the Christianity that was spread officially under that name. Strangely we can see the life around King Arthur radiate into the present time, continued even into our time, placed into the immediate present by the sudden power of destiny. Thus I beheld in seership a member of the Round Table of King Arthur, who lived the life of the Round Table in a very deep and intense way, though he stood a little aside from the others who were given more to the adventures of their knighthood. This was a knight who lived a rather contemplative life, though it was not like the Knighthood of the Grail, for this did not exist in Arthur’s circle. What the knights did in the fulfilment of their tasks, which in accordance with that age were for the most part warlike campaigns, was called by the name ‘Adventure’ (Aventure). But there was one who stood out from among the others as I saw him, revealing a life truly wonderful in its inspiration. For we must imagine the knights going out on to the spur of land, seeing the wonderful play of clouds above, the waves beneath, the surging interplay of the one and the other, which gives a mighty and majestic impression to this very day. In all this they saw the Spiritual and were inspired with it, and this gave them their strength. But there was one among them who penetrated most deeply into this surging and foaming of the waves, with the spiritual beings wildly rising in the foam with their figures grotesque to earthly sight. He had a wonderful perception of the way in which the marvellously pure sun-influence played into the rest of nature, living and weaving in the spiritual life and movement of the surface of the ocean. He saw what lived in the light nature of the sun, borne up as it were by the watery atmosphere as we can see to this day, the sunlight approaching the trees and the spaces between the trees quite differently than in other regions, glittering back from between the trees, and playing often as in rainbow colours. Such a knight there was among them, one who had a peculiarly penetrating vision of these things. I was much concerned to follow his life into later time to see the individuality again. For just in this case something would needs enter into a later incarnation of a Christian life that was almost primitive and pagan, that was Christian only to the extent that I have just described. And this in fact was what appeared, for that Knight of the Round Table of King Arthur was born again as Arnold Böcklin. This riddle which had followed me for an immensely long time, can only be solved in connection with the Round Table of King Arthur. Thus you see that we have a Christianity tangible with spiritual touch to this very day, a Christianity before the Mystery of Golgotha which shed its light even into the time that I have just outlined ~Karmic Relationships, Volume IV: Lecture III

1834 – Much of the ancient structure of the Palace of Westminster in London burns to the ground

1846 – William T. G. Morton first demonstrated ether anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the Ether Dome

1854 – Birthday of Oscar Wilde, Irish author, poet, & playwright

esoteric-lessons-cover

1922 – The founding of the Esoteric Youth Circle by Rudolf Steiner. Notes from the various preparatory discussions for the founding of the Group:

If I am to go into what I understand with the term “esoteric group” then let me say that if you want to take the esoteric earnestly, you must say to yourself that it is an action out of the impulses from the spiritual world. One can strive toward this. Anthroposophy is a path to this end. To build such a community would constitute a decision to set upon this path.

The spiritual is a living element & so such a group must not be something dead. The group must be a force-group. The health of each part is the health of the whole. It is the mutual taking on of karma that is created in such a community. There is then mutual suffering to live through, but also mutual joy. People must be treated like fellow human beings, with all their imperfections.

What you seek is to find a friend in the spiritual world. The important thing is to remain spiritually true to the friend once found. Therefore, the 1st requirement is that you learn quite precisely what spiritual loyalty is.

Your community will have in it something of the primordial mystery of all human community. This mystery is that, what we ourselves do within the community bears no fruit for us ourselves, but for others, & that the fruits for us come from others.

We must work for the progress of humanity – Just as the physical social life consists of deeds done together, so too we strive for common deeds in the spirit – thus actually, for a social working in the suprasensible.

We must endeavor to carry spirit into the furthest consequences of our actions. This alone – that we bring spirit & love into our will – can make it possible to stand firmly against being overrun by the cultural machine. Too few people today develop real initiative. There is a lot of willfulness, but little will.

The true meditation is a fulfilling of the spiritual will that the Time Spirit bears with itself. Where such meditation is practiced, a spiritual force is able to work into the earthly events. Spiritual worlds want to work in to earthly events today, but they can do this only when, through human meditation, space is created for it. Through meditation, something like an empty space comes about. Into this space, the spiritual beings can enter with their effects. And the power of meditating such a meditation in common increases by potentization.

When we do this community-meditation, it will bring about a deeper connection of the core of our being with our sheaths.

These meditations, when used correctly, could become something like windows into the spiritual world. The words & pictures given, form only half of what is to be entrusted to us. The other half we are to find ourselves through spiritual activity.

Each of you must feel joy for the success of the other. You must avoid every feeling of rivalry & have the awareness that what each of you accomplishes, you accomplish through the power of all of the others.

Uniting yourself through a mutual promise to strive toward a common spiritual goal – & leaving one another completely free in actions & judgements in life – such a community based on this is something completely new in the evolution of humanity. And it is what is most necessary today.

For someone who comes to specific results on the esoteric path, there is always the danger of delusions of grandeur. Such a community as yours can be a protection against this. For in it, you strive together to cross the threshold of the spiritual world. And there each of you has to say that you have the efforts of all the others to thank for what you have achieved personally.

Effects will arise in the destiny between human beings who are connected with us in the community physically & spiritually. The community will never die out. With the 1st community members who reincarnate, the community returns to Earth.

By persevering with the exercises we have a chance to stand up to Ahrimanic powers that no one person can withstand.

Through the reading of the oath given by Rudolf Steiner on 16 October 1922, in the presence of the others, the admittance into the community was effected.

And now consider your community as having been founded by the spiritual world itself…Now get to know each other well.

This gave us the idea to tell each other our biography at the mutual acceptance into membership.

What has taken place now is a 1st in the post-Christian era: human beings themselves chose, out of freedom before the spiritual world, to join together esoterically’.

The 12 founding members:

Daniel van Bemmelen, co-founder of the 1st Dutch Waldorf School

Georg Groot MD, 3-fold social order, co-worker in the Berlin Group of the College Association

Herbert Hahn, called by Steiner to teach at the Independent Waldorf School in Stuttgart

Ernst Lehrs, teacher at the Waldorf school in Stuttgart, served on the committee for the Independent Anthroposophical Society founded for the youth. Later taught in The Hague, London, & Aberdeen. Also taught with his wife Maria Roeschl in the Rudolf Steiner Seminar.

Rene Maikowski, business manager of the Association for Anthroposophical College Studies, also a Waldorf teacher.

Wilhelm Rath, bookseller, man of letters, farmer, was on the committee of the Independent Anthroposophical Society.

Wilhelm Selling, mechanical engineer, colonial officer in Africa, in charge of the Theosophical library, mentor of the youth work in Berlin

Karin Selling, part of the Scandinavian Theosophical Society, teacher at the Waldorf School in Stockholm

Emma Smit, teacher & organizer of the Independent school in The Hague

Maria Spira, came from the Zionist Youth Movement, married Wilhelm Rath

Albrecht Strohschein, business man, 1st co-worker in the Der Kommenden (The Coming Day) in Stuttgart, student of psychology in Jena, co-founder of the therapeutic pedagogical movement

Kurt Walther, postal officer, lecturer, & leader of many courses, the successor of Marie Steiner in the Executive Council of the Anthroposophical Socety,married Wilhelm Sellings sister Clara Selling, who was part of Steiner’s household

The Nuremberg Trials — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

1946 – Nuremberg trials: Execution of the convicted Nazi leaders of the Main Trial

1964 – China detonates its first nuclear weapon

1968 – United States athletes Tommie Smith & John Carlos are kicked off the US team for participating in the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute

1984 – Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

***

Calendar of the Soul Thirtieth Week [October 16, 2016 – October 22, 2016]

There flourish in the sunlight of my soul

  The ripened fruits of thinking;

  To conscious self-assurance

  The flow of feeling is transformed.

  I can perceive now joyfully

  The autumn’s spirit-waking:

  The winter will arouse in me

  The summer of the soul

~Rudolf Steiner

***

heartwomanblurfun

Libra continued:

Perceive the white mist, which spreads across the fields of brown stubble like a soft cloth. Nature is resting, & conceals in her womb the seeds of future growth. So rests in our souls the seed of future life. What the future will bring us seems covered by these mists, & the darkening. But now the time has come when in the longer nights the spiritual seed wants to be cherished & nurtured. We can belong to ourselves again igniting our inner light. If we foster this calm self-contemplation in our busy lives, even if only for a few minutes every day, we can live with a deep serenity, thru this dark season, & also into the future, which is shrouded in the darkness of time.

We must remember that all human life must fluctuate, like the scales between two poles, it cannot be fixed. Day & night, life & death, activity & quietness, the out-breath & the in-breath, are the swings of the pendulum, the rhythms which bear us thru the cycle of the year, & enable us to mature into our true being, when we have found the inner observer at the fulcrum of the scales.

From this mood is prepared the soil from which the future fruits of the soul will ripen.

Blessings on our ever striving journey

 ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

The crisis of the “I”

15 October 2016 – Astro-Weather:

full-moon-clouds-danelion

Full Moon officially arrives at 11:23 pm CDT TONIGHT. You can find it rising in the east around sunset & peaking in the south around 1 am. It dips low in the west by the time morning twilight starts to paint the sky. The Moon lies in southern Pisces near that constellation’s border with Cetus. October’s Full Moon goes by the name “Hunter’s Moon,” or the “Blood Moon”, as this is the time of the harvest of livestock in some cultures. In early autumn, the Full Moon rises about half an hour later each night compared with a normal lag close to 50 minutes. The added early evening illumination helps hunters & farmers bring in the last of the crops

Uranus reaches opposition & peak visibility today. Opposition officially arrived at 6 am CDT, when the outer planet lies opposite the Sun in our sky. This means it rises at sunset, climbs highest in the south around 1 am, & sets at sunrise. The planet lies in southern Pisces northwest of Piscium. Although Uranus normally shines brightly enough to glimpse with the naked eye under a dark sky, you won’t see it tonight because the Full Moon lies to its south

***

Looking at the past to see the present, co-creating the future: “History, historical life, will only be seen in the right light when a true consciousness of the connection of the so-called living with the so-called dead can be developed” ~The Living and the Dead by Rudolf Steiner, Berlin, 1918

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

virgil-quotes-5

70 BC – Birthday of Virgil, an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, & the epic Aeneid, considered the national epic of ancient Rome. Modeled after Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey, the Aeneid follows the Trojan refugee Aeneas as he struggles to fulfill his destiny & arrive on the shores of Italy—in Roman mythology the founding act of Rome. Virgil’s work has had wide & deep influence on Western literature, most notably Dante’s Divine Comedy, in which Virgil appears as Dante’s guide through hell & purgatory

1764 – Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

1783 – The Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloon makes the first human ascent

1793 – Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried & convicted in a swift, pre-determined trial in the Palais de Justice, Paris, & condemned to death

1815 – Napoleon I of France begins his exile on Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean

rs-nietzsche

1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German composer, poet, & philosopher. Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom written by Rudolf Steiner. Nietzsche was seen by Steiner, but was lying in a coma near death. Rudolf Steiner brought out an edition of some of Nietzsche’s writings. In seeing that Nietzsche’s ideas received a public exposure, Steiner was not identifying himself as one of Nietzsche’s disciples, but rather assuring philosophical readers that this important link in the spiritual development of occidental thought should not be ignored.

WHEN I BECAME acquainted with the works of Friedrich Nietzsche six years ago, ideas had already formed within me which were similar to his. Independently, and from completely different directions, I came to concepts which were in harmony with those Nietzsche expressed in his writings: Zarathustra, Jenseits von Gut and Böse, Beyond Good and Evil, Genealogie der Moral, Genealogy of Morals, and Götzendämmerung, Twilight of Idols. In my little book which appeared in 1886, Erkenntnistheorie der Goetheschen Weltanschauung, The Theory of Knowledge in Goethe’s World Conception, this same way of implicit thinking is expressed as one finds in the works of Nietzsche mentioned above.

This is why I feel myself impelled to draw a picture of Nietzsche’s life of reflection and feeling. I believe that such a picture will be most like Nietzsche when it is created according to his last writings. This I have done. The earlier writings of Nietzsche show him as a searcher. He presents himself to us as a restless striver toward the heights. In his last writings we see him when he has reached the summit, and at a height commensurate with his very own spiritual quality. In most of the writings which have appeared about Nietzsche up to now, this development is represented as if in the various periods of his writing he had more or less contradictory opinions. I have tried to show that there is no question of a change of opinion in Nietzsche, but rather of a movement upward, of a development of a personality in a manner fitting to it, which had not yet found a form of expression in accord with his innate points of view in those first works.

The final goal of Nietzsche’s creativity is the description of the “superman.” I considered my chief task in this writing to be the characterization of this type. My characterization of the superman is exactly the opposite of the caricature developed in the currently popular book about Nietzsche by Frau Lou Andreas Salomé. One cannot put into the world anything more contrary to Nietzsche’s spirit than the mystical monster she has made out of the superman. My book shows that in Nietzsche’s ideas nowhere is the least trace of mysticism to be found. I did not allow myself to be drawn into the refutation of Frau Salomé’s opinion that Nietzsche’s thoughts in Menschliches, All-zumenschliches, Human, All Too Human, were influenced by the works of Paul Rée, the editor of Psychological Observations, and The Origin of Moral Feelings, etc. Such an average brain as that of Paul Rée could make no important impression on Nietzsche. Even now I would not touch upon these things at all if the book of Frau Salomé had not contributed so much toward the spreading of downright disagreeable judgments about Nietzsche. Fritz Koegel, the excellent publisher of Nietzsche’s works, bestowed upon this bungled piece of work its deserved treatment in the Magazine for Literature.

I cannot conclude this short preface without giving hearty thanks to Nietzsche’s sister, Frau Foerster-Nietzsche, for the many friendly deeds I experienced from her during the period in which this book developed. I owe to her the hours spent in the Nietzsche Archives, and the mood out of which the following thoughts were written. ~RUDOLF STEINER, Weimar, April 1895.

1863 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks during a test, killing its inventor, Horace L. Hunley

1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation

1894 – The Dreyfus affair: Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying -a political scandal that divided France, often seen as a modern & universal symbol of injustice, & remains one of the most striking examples of a complex miscarriage of justice, where a major role was played by the press & public opinion.

The scandal began with the treason conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian & Jewish descent. Sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly communicating French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris, Dreyfus was imprisoned on Devil’s Island in French Guiana, where he spent nearly five years.

Evidence came to light identifying a French Army major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy as the real culprit. After high-ranking military officials suppressed the new evidence, a military court unanimously acquitted Esterhazy after a trial lasting only two days. The Army then accused Dreyfus of additional charges based on falsified documents. Word of the military court’s framing of Dreyfus & of an attempted cover-up began to spread, chiefly owing to J’accuse, a vehement open letter published in a Paris newspaper by famed writer Émile Zola. Activists put pressure on the government to reopen the case.

Dreyfus was returned to France for another trial. The intense political & judicial scandal that ensued divided French society between those who supported Dreyfus (now called “dreyfusards”), & those who condemned him (the anti-dreyfusards), such as Édouard Drumont, the director and publisher of the antisemitic newspaper La Libre Parole. The new trial resulted in another conviction &a 10-year sentence but Dreyfus was given a pardon & set free.

Eventually all the accusations against Dreyfus were demonstrated to be baseless.

The conviction was a miscarriage of justice based upon faulty espionage & blatant antisemitism, as well as a hatred of the German Empire following its annexation of Alsace& part of Lorraine in 1871

mata-hari

1917 – World War I: At Vincennes outside Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for the German Empire

1934 – The Soviet Republic of China collapses when Chiang Kai-shek‘s National Revolutionary Army successfully encircles Ruijin, forcing the fleeing Communists to begin the Long March

1940 – The President of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, is executed by the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco

1944 – The Arrow Cross Party (very similar to Hitler’s NSDAP (Nazi party)) takes power in Hungary

1945 – World War II: The former premier of Vichy France Pierre Laval is shot by a firing squad for treason

1946 – Deathday of Hermann Göring, a German politician, military leader, & leading member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Göring was wounded during the failed coup known as the Beer Hall Putsch. He became addicted to morphine after being treated with the drug for his injuries. After helping Adolf Hitler take power in 1933, he became the second-most powerful man in Germany. He founded the Gestapo in 1933, & later gave command of it to Heinrich Himmler. Göring was appointed commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (air force) in 1935, a position he held until the final days of World War II. By 1940, he was at the peak of his power & influence; as minister in charge of the Four Year Plan, he was responsible for much of the functioning of the German economy in the build-up to World War II. Hitler promoted him to the rank of Reichsmarschall, a rank senior to all other Wehrmacht commanders, & in 1941 Hitler designated him as his successor & deputy in all his offices.

Göring focused on the acquisition of property & artwork, much of which was taken from Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Informed on 22 April 1945 that Hitler intended to commit suicide, Göring sent a telegram to Hitler requesting permission to assume control of the Reich. Considering it an act of treason, Hitler removed Göring from all his positions, expelled him from the party, & ordered his arrest.

After World War II, Göring was convicted of war crimes & crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials. He was sentenced to death by hanging, but committed suicide by ingesting cyanide the night before the sentence was to be carried out

1953 – British nuclear test Totem 1 is detonated at Emu Field, South Australia.

1954 – Hurricane Hazel devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, killing 395 & causing massive floods as far north as Toronto, as far south as North Carolina

1956 – Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time

1965 – Vietnam War: The Catholic Worker Movement stages an anti-war rally in Manhattan including a public burning of a draft card; the first such act to result in arrest under a new amendment to the Selective Service Act

black-panther-bobby-seale-huey-newton

1966 – The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton & Bobby Seale

1969 – Vietnam War; The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam is held in Washington D.C. & across the US. Over two million demonstrate nationally; about 250,000 in Washington D.C.

1990 – Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation

1997 – The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn

2001 – NASA’s Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter’s moon Io

2003 – China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission

2013 – A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes the Philippines, resulting in more than 1215 deaths

st-teresa-of-avila

Feast Day of Saint Teresa of Ávila, who lived in the 16th century, an age of exploration as well as political, social & religious upheaval. She was a woman; she was a contemplative; she was an active reformer.

As a woman, Teresa stood on her own two feet, even in the man’s world of her time. She was “her own woman,” entering the Carmelites despite strong opposition from her father. She is a person wrapped not so much in silence as in mystery. Beautiful, talented, outgoing, adaptable, affectionate, courageous, enthusiastic, she was totally human. Like Jesus, she was a mystery of paradoxes: wise, yet practical; intelligent, yet much in tune with her experience; a mystic, yet an energetic reformer. A holy woman, a womanly woman.

Teresa was a woman “for Christ,” a woman of prayer, discipline & compassion. Her heart belonged to God. Her ongoing conversion was an arduous lifelong struggle, involving ongoing purification & suffering. She was misunderstood, misjudged, opposed in her efforts at reform. Yet she struggled on, courageous & faithful; she struggled with her own mediocrity, her illness, her opposition. And in the midst of all this she clung to God in life & in prayer. Her writings on prayer & contemplation are drawn from her experience: powerful, practical & graceful. A woman of prayer; a woman for God.

Teresa was a woman “for others.” Though a contemplative, she spent much of her time & energy seeking to reform herself & the Carmelites, to lead them back to the full observance of the primitive Rule. She founded over a half-dozen new monasteries. She traveled, wrote, fought—always to renew, to reform. In her self, in her prayer, in her life, in her efforts to reform, in all the people she touched, she was a woman for others, a woman who inspired & gave life.

Her writings, especially the Way of Perfection & The Interior Castle, have helped generations of believers.

In 1970, the Church gave her the title she had long held in the popular mind: Doctor of the Church. She & St. Catherine of Siena were the first women so honored.

Ours is a time of turmoil, a time of reform & a time of liberation. Modern women have in Teresa a challenging example. Promoters of renewal, promoters of prayer, all have in Teresa a woman to reckon with, one whom they can admire & imitate.

***

darkmorningglory

MY POD (Poem Of the Day)

~I have held the striped pebble of love

Lightly in my palm

Tightly in my heart-whole

I have smelled truth in the autumn rain

& I remember how to go

Beyond the horizon

Where light knows

Where no darkness grows –

Meet me there if dare…

~hag

***

libra-cots

Every evening the Sun sets earlier & rises later every morning. Darkness takes the light, slowing into its somber realm. The sign of the scales, Libra, is the only zodiac that is not a living creature; it owes its origin to the realm of created things, of mechanics. According to Rudolf Steiner it was only incorporated into the imagery of the Zodiac later in order to delineate the world of light in the upper signs more clearly from the 5 lower “nightly” signs. It is entirely dependent on the outer world, best expressed in its function of “deliberation”.

persephone-pom

In ancient Greece the descent of the Sun into the autumn region of the dark zodiac signs was seen in the image of the abduction of Persephone, stole away from her mother Demeter, by Pluto, lord of the underworld. The Greeks hid their faces in fear from the powers of darkness & waited longingly for the return of Persephone who would awaken to new life in the Spring.

michael-scales-dragon-liane-collot-dherboisLiane Collot d Herbois

But since Christ’s descent into the shadow realm of death, in order to reconquer it for the realm of light, human beings have looked at the descent into the realm of darkness in a different way – thru the image of the mighty Archangel Michael bearing the balance of the world in his hands – carrying the resurrection into the dark in order to realize our true human potential in the confrontation with the forces of evil. This individuation process can only be fulfilled in the realm of earth & death. But here the human being of the present time is threatened with the danger of giving in to the lower driving forces which powerfully press in from our unconscious sense perceptions. Here the scale, as the sign of the human archetype, appears before the human soul pointing the way forward, to balance us between the grain-bearing Virgin & the death-dealing Scorpion. There is a separation of the “wheat from the chaff’ – the weighing, in the “Scales of Judgement.” Will Michael be able to maintain the balance of the world? That is the most earnest question which is spoken by his gaze. In the realm of the spirit his victory is assured, But on earth???

This question touches on our human contribution to the Michael Imagination – it has to do with the crisis of the “I”, which exists for everyone today. Is the average human being awake to this aspect? Ready & able to work to overcome this crisis of humankind on earth? If we take this into our soul-life we can feel called to take up this struggle, knowing that the outcome depends on our behavior, with even the smallest matters, as well as the great tests of our times. Thru this commitment we can rise to become a spiritual comrade, a co-creator of the divine world. we are called in the Age of Michael to rise from being a ‘servant of God’ to being a ‘friend & brother/sister of Christ’ as promised in the Gospel of St. John 15:15.

In looking up to this world destiny of the human being in the dark time of the year which is now setting in, we find the inner emphasis that is so easily lost today, because we lose our balance to the swings of the pendulum in our soul-life. The approaching winter can invoke (in some) the hum-bug that is open to greed, like an old man seeking to dispel the fear of death thru selfish pleasure or grabby possession. The balance of the soul swings back & forth between melancholy & self-satisfied control, until it can find its center in the true “I”.

libra

The image of the scales can become for us the means to orient our soul & spirit at this turning point in the year.

More on this tomorrow

Until soon

 ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg