Thank you for
making our CRC Easter Festival ‘The Three Days’ such a powerful event, with folks from
all over the world sharing & adding to this joyful community gathering.
And now dear friends we enter the most esoteric time of year; when the secret teachings of the meaning of our human evolution are revealed, in the time between the Resurrection & the Ascension, 40 days later, leading to Pentecost-when The Sophia brings her gifts on Whitsunday at 50 Days.
The Connection between Epidemics, the souls of the Dead, and the Spiritual World on Saturday 18 April 10:45 am – 12:15 am CDT (11:45 am-1:15 pm EDT, 8:45 am – 10:45 am PDT)
And then god-willing, join us in person (or look for an online SOPHIA event)
***
Lifting the Veil of The New Isis -Sophia, a Telling of the New Isis Myth, with Leading Thoughts, on the Being of Anthroposophia, w/ Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Friday, 29 May 2020, 7:30 – 9:30 pm at Groh Farm, 135 Temple Rd, Wilton, NH
$10 suggesteddonation – RSVP deb@anthroposophy.org – Sponsored by the Anthoposophical Society in NH
Our dear Dr. Steiner said: ‘It is not the Christ we lack, but the knowledge of Christ, the Sophia of Christ, the Isis of Christ we are lacking.’ In ‘Ancient Myths and the New Isis Mystery: Their Meaning and Connection with Evolution’ Lecture 3; given in Dornach, 6 January 1918, by Rudolf Steiner; we hear how the power of ‘The Word, the power of The Logos’, must be resurrected through our striving to activate the Wisdom of Anthroposophia within each of us. Join Hazel Archer-Ginsberg for a powerful presentation Lifting the Veil of the New Isis-Sophia, to bring Light to Love.
Jo Jayson
~Vitae Sophia~A Whitsun Festival of United Soul Endeavor with Hazel Archer-GinsbergSaturday, 30 May, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm Groh Farm, 135 Temple Rd, Wilton, NH
Eurythmy: AUM = A – I stand for myself, U- I stand for humanity, M – I stand for Life
Social Sculpture: Steiner’s ‘Blue Dot Exercise’– Through Art, the bridge between science & spirit, we warm the ‘I’, to open the heart, in support of healthy community.
What are my gifts-What are my tools? How can I place them in right relationship within the social realm? How can I hone them to strengthen and enhance the world?
Living into the Foundation Stone of Love – How can we take our individual Inner Whitsun & expand it, into what Steiner calls the “World Festival of Knowledge” a path leading from ‘Sprit Recollection’, to ‘Sprit Sensing’, to ‘Sprit Beholding’?
Enter the Labyrinth of ‘Vitae Sophia’ – Human hearts, once warmed, can rise up to meet the source of wisdom, like flowers turning toward the sun.
$30 suggested donation at the door, with potluck lunch to follow (please bring a dish to share) RSVP deb@anthroposophy.org Sponsored by the Anthroposophical Society in New Hampshire
3 June 2020 – a Round Table Discussion 7 pm – 9 pm on ‘The Sophia’ with John Bloom, Joan Sleigh, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg & Carrie Schuchardt at The House of Peace in Ipswich, MA.
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year.Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Trans-denominational Minister, ‘Anthroposopher’, working as the Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, The Traveling Speakers Program, & the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society.
January 6th is The Feast of Epiphany, In Greek: epi-phanos which means shining forth, manifestation, striking appearance or vision of The Divine.
This day is also called: 12th night, with ‘The Lord of Misrule’, Three Kings Day, The feast of La Bafana The Feast of Recognition, The Adoration of the Magi, The Manifestation of God.
In ancient Egypt the 6th of January was celebrated as the Festival of Osiris – revealing the mystery of the re-membering of the Sun-god. As you know, Osiris was overcome by his enemy Typhon or Set, & the Goddess Isis, his beloved, seeks & eventually finds the 14 pieces of him buried all around the world. This notion of finding Osiris is a prefiguring of the Festival of The Three Kings, who also went looking for their representative of the Sun god. This ‘Epiphany’ was also celebrated by the Assyrians, the Armenians & the Phoenicians. Everywhere it is a Festival connected with a kind of universal baptism — a rebirth from out of the water.
suzie addicks
In the Act of Consecration, in the Epistle at Epiphany, a word shines out like a star: Grace. 6 times it shines thru: ‘Star of Grace’, ‘Light of Grace’, ‘Grace appearance of the world’s light’…Proclaiming that the shining forth of the Grace of Christ is our Epiphany.
Epiphany, like Easter & Pentecost are holy days traditionally set aside for initiation rites, emphasizing the mysterious relationship between the elements of fire & water, which invokes the ability to see into the formative forces of the etheric realm.
In both the Eastern & Western churches the feast of Epiphany additionally commemorates the marriage at Cana (see John 2:1-11), at which Christ performed his first miracle, an allegory for the mixing of water & wine=liquid fire, changing water into fire, which the ancients called The Alchemical Marriage, or the Great Work…
Epiphany, has been observed since before AD 194, so it is much older than our Christmas celebrations. It has always been a profoundly esoteric festival of the highest rank.
da vinci
At one time the Nativity & Epiphany were celebrated together & were referred to as the 1st & 2nd nativity; the 1st as the birth of the physical vessel prepared thru many generations from Adam down thru the House of King David; & the 2nd being Christ’s manifestation into that vessel, linked with the cosmic event of Christ’s baptism by John in the Jordan; & then moving with the blood into the earth in the death & resurrection of Easter.
William Henry
The Three Kings from the East: Kaspar, Melchior & Balthazar, were wise men initiated into the mysteries of the stars by Zarathustra. They followed the starry script written in the heavens that was foretold by the ancient prophets, to Bethlehem, where they paid homage to the Christ-child & presented him with gold, frankincense & myrrh.
Gold reflects the kingship of The Christ as a ‘Solar King’. Frankincense, the incense of worship, for meditative & invocational purposes, symbolizes his priestly role, & myrrh, a purifying substance used in burial embalming, points to the crucifixion & resurrection.
El Greco
“…K. M. B…. these letters represent the names of the Three Holy Kings: Kaspar, Melchior, Balthasar…these three wise men of the East who brought offerings of three human virtues: with the gold – self-knowledge; with the frankincense – self-piety, calling forth the higher “I”; & in the myrrh, self- development & surrender, & the preservation of the eternal in the self.
The 3 kings represent the evolution of humanity, & show in their inclusiveness that The Christ Impulse is for all of humankind.
The twelve days of Christmas ends with the Feast of Epiphany which comes with its own traditions, rituals & symbols for the common folk. Carolers go from house to house; & in many homes the Christmas Tree is taken down & burnt in a big bonfire.
For the children this is an especially joyous occasion because, when the tree is taken down they get to “plündern” (raid) the tree of the sweets – the chocolate ornaments wrapped in foil or cookies, which have replaced the sugar plums, & become the raiders’ rewards.
Another tradition is to sprinkle the doorways with holy water; & the mistress of the house would write with chalk K + M + B with the number of the year above the house or barn door & say: “Kaspar, Melchior, “Balthasar, behütet uns auch für dieses Jahr, vor Feuer und. ‘Protect our home from the perils of fire & water’.
The Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg home
20+K+M+B+20…Our modern family does this every year…
You may have seen it, especially if you’ve been to Germany or other parts of Europe – a mysterious series of letters & numbers, looking to all the world like an equation, inscribed in chalk over a doorway.
The letters are also an abbreviate of the Latin phrase,Christus mansionem benedicat: “May Christ bless the house.” The “+” signs represent the cross.
I remember the days when I would go to the Epiphany Mass with my grandma, & they gave out satchels of blessed chalk, incense, & containers of holy water blessed especially for Epiphany. Another common practice, that my Straga-ma always observed was to save a few grains of the Epiphany incense until Easter, so that it could be burned along with the Easter candle.
Practicing traditions like the chalking of the doors helps us to awaken to the mysteries behind the Holidays. It is a practical concrete way to observe & it serves as an outward sign of our dedication to being more conscious in our thinking, feeling & willing. To consciously take the time to bless our homes – the place where many of us will make the greatest strides in our spiritual growth, through observance of daily meditation, spiritual reading to the dead, & work offered freely with love – is vital.
It also serves as a reminder of the wise welcoming that the Magi gave to the Christ Child. We can also strive to be as welcoming to all who come to our homes. To greet the Christ within every body that crosses the threshold.
TODAY – According to the original Calendar of the Soul:
The Feast of Epiphany
THE MYSTERIES (Die Geheimnisse) A Lecture by Rudolf Steiner given Cologne 1907
“…K. M. B…. these letters represent the names of the Three Holy
Kings: Kaspar, Melchior, Balthasar…these three wise men of the East who brought
offerings of three human virtues which are symbolized…self-knowledge in the
gold; self-piety, that is the piety of the innermost self — which we can call
self-surrender — in the frankincense; and in the myrrh self-consummation and
self-development, or the preservation of the eternal in the self.
The first king was the representative of the Asiatic races; the
second, the representative of the European peoples; and the third, the
representative of the African races. Wherever people wanted to understand
Christianity as the religion of earthly harmony they saw in the three kings and
their homage a union of the different lines of thought and religious movements
in the world into the One principle, the Christian principle…Those who had
penetrated into the principles of esoteric Christianity saw in Christianity not
only a force which had affected the course of human development, but they saw
in the Being embodied in Jesus of Nazareth a cosmic world-force — a force far
transcending the merely human that prevails in this present age. They saw in
the Christ-principle a force that indeed represents for mankind a human ideal
lying in a far distant future, an ideal which can only be approached by our
understanding the whole world more and more in the spirit.
The esoteric Christian looks on the universe as he looks on the
human body. When he looks on the human body he sees it as consisting of
different limbs: the head, arms, hands, and so on. When he looks on the human
body and sees the movements of hand, eye, etc., these are for him the
expression of the inner spiritual and psychic experiences. In the same way as
he looked through the human limbs, and their movements, into that which is
eternal, spiritual in man, the esoteric Christian regarded the movements of the
stars, the light that streams down from the stars to humanity, the rising and
setting of the sun, the rising and setting of the moon, as the external
expression of divine-spiritual Beings pervading all space. All these natural
phenomena were to him deeds of the gods, gestures of the gods, expressions in mime
of those divine-spiritual Beings, as also was everything that occurs among
mankind, when people establish social communities…
In the long Christmas winter night the novice was far enough
advanced to have a vision at midnight. The earth was then no longer a veil for
the sun, which stood behind the earth. It became transparent for him. Through
the transparent earth he saw the spiritual light of the sun, the Christ-light.
This fact, which marks a profound experience for the mystery-novice, was
recorded in the expression: To see the sun at midnight.
The esoteric Christian felt that through absorption in Christian Esotericism he approached more and more that power of inward vision through which he could imbue his feeling, thinking and his will-impulses in gazing into this spiritual sun. Then the Mystery-novice was led to a vision of the greatest importance: As long as the earth is opaque the separate parts appear inhabited by people of different confessions, but the unifying bond is not there. Human races are as scattered as the climates. Human opinions are scattered all over the earth and there is no connecting link. But in the degree in which men begin to look through the earth into the sun by their inner power of vision, in the degree in which the “star” appears to them through the earth, their confessions will flow together to one great united Brotherhood. And those who guided the great separated human masses in the truth of the higher planes, towards their initiation into the higher worlds, were known as “Magi.” They were three in number, as in the various parts of the earth various powers express themselves. Humanity had, therefore, to be led in different ways. But as a unifying power there appears the star, rising beyond the earth. It leads the scattered individuals together, and then they bring offerings to the physical embodiment of the solar star, appearing as the star of peace. Thus was the religion of peace, of harmony, of universal peace, of human brotherhood, connected cosmically and humanly with the ancient Magi, who laid the best gifts that they had in store for humanity before the cradle of the Son of Man incarnate. http://wn.rsarchive.org/Le…/19071225p01.html;mark=167,29,40…
33 – Three Kings Day – The Baptism in the Jordan: The Incarnation of the Christ in Jesus of Nazareth.
Eugene Thirion
1412 – The Birthday of Joan of Arc
1828 – Birthday of Herman Grimm – Grimm’s father was Wilhelm Grimm, & his uncle Jakob Grimm, the philologist compilers of indigenous folk tales (“Brothers Grimm”). His other uncle was the painter engraver Ludwig Emil Grimm. Grimm’s reputation is that of the arch-Romantic, Gründerzeit art historian. He viewed himself as the intellectual successor of Goethe. His approach to art history was through the “Great Masters”, & arranging significance of art through a biographical account of art history. His tastes both typified & led German & continental taste. Homer, Dante & Shakespeare were the great writers of their age; in art, only Raphael & Michelangelo could compare. The nineteenth century’s adoration of Raphael is in large part Grimm’s doing.
POD (Poem Of the Day)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
~Reveling in gratitude
Thinking the Angel of Joan
Opening the gifts of the Magi
Chalking doors for Epiphany
Blessing brooms with La Bafana
Getting baptized by John
Standing with the Christ
Singing with the Spheres…
~hag
***
FYI: 1st of all, I want to thank everyone who took on the task of being part of Our ‘May Human Beings Hear it’ online Holy Nights Journey. Your encouragement, support & insights made the path deep & wide & full of light. I feel so blessed. And I look forward to our co-creation thru-out the Seasonal Round, which always gives us opportunity for connection & growth.
Secondly – I will be taking a bit of a break from the daily offerings to work on some upcoming Lectures, Workshops & Festivals, which I hope you will attend:
The Christian Community in North America
Winter Youth Conference 2020
THE COURAGE TO LOVE THE WORLD THAT WE’RE IN
For young people ages 14-19 – January 17
– 20, 2020
MLK weekend in Washington DC
WHAT DO YOU LOVE? -WHAT IS IN NEED OF YOUR
LOVE?
Rev. Carol Kelly, Rev. Paul Newton, Anna Silber, Samuel Parker, Special Workshop: ‘Calling Columbia-Wisdom of America’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, singing with Ultra-Violet Archer.
$300 (Financial assistance available) contact Rev. Carol Kelly carolkelly.cc@gmail.com
30 Jan. – 2 Feb. 2020 Prep-makers conference at Michael Fields Institute
Fellowship of Preparation Makers Gathering
BD 501 and 508 – Tools to bring the cosmic light into the earth.
January 30th – February 2nd, 2020
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, N8030 Townline Rd, East Troy, WI
The mission of the Fellowship of Preparation Makers is to ensure that good quality biodynamic preparations are available now and into the future throughout North America.
Schedule:Thursday, January 30th
10—10:30 am Registration for Chromatogram Intensive
10:30am Chromatogram Intensive – All levels welcome. Presenter: Ryann Herring
12 —1pm Lunch on your own
1-3pm Chromatogram Intensive
3—5pm Registration and Social Time
5-6:30pm Supper
7-8:30pm Welcome from Perry Brown, and Candlemas Festival with Hazel Archer Ginsberg
Friday, January 31st 7:30-8:30am Registration, Breakfast and Social Time
8:30– 10 am History of Fellowship of Prep Makers, and Introductions.
10-10:30am Morning Break
10:30–12:30pm Why Biodynamics? Presenter: Mac Mead
12:30-1:45pm Lunch
2-3:30pm How the cosmic works in the earth? Presenter: Hugh Courtney
3:30-4pm Afternoon Break
4-6pm Different ways to make and use BD501 & BD508. Practical hands on session with Marjory House and Lloyd Nelson
6-7:30 pm Supper
7:30-9pm The Journey of a Prep Maker, A history circle, Facilitator: Brian Wickert
Saturday, February 1st 7:30-8:30 Registration, Breakfast and Social Time
8:30-10am History of Silica on Man’s Evolution (Lamuria to today) Presenter: Mac Mead
10-10:30am Morning break
10:30– 12pm Silica and the Human Presenter: Dr. Mark Kamsler
12-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-3pm Interpretation of Chromatograms Presenter: Ryann Herring
3-3:30pm Afternoon Break
3:30-5pm Kolisko Institute Presenter: Dr. Mark Kamsler
5-7pm Supper
7-8:30pm Quality Comparison of BD501 & 508 Show and tell how you make and use the preps. Facilitator: Wali Via
8:30 pm Evening Social/Brew City Drifters
Sunday, February 2nd 7:30-8:30 am Breakfast & Social Time
8:30-10am Round Table Discussion: Peppering for Pests and Weeds Panel: Mac Mead and Hugh Courtney
10-1-:30 Morning Break
10:30– Noon Fellowship presentations, evaluations and closing circle.
Noon Lunch
Registration and Lodging Full Conference Fee $250, Single Day $125, Single Talk $25, Single Meal $15, Chromatogram Intensive $25, Homestays Available, Airport pickup from MKE available
Home stay and airport transportation arrangements will be handled by: Petra Zinniker petrazinniker@gmail.com 262-581-7574
We will work to provide home stays for everyone who requests one. Some homes will be free and others may have a cost. Please contact Petra with your requests. Home stays will be reserved on a first come first served basis.
Local accommodations are also listed below: Quality Inn & Suites (1.8 miles away) 2921 O’Leary Ln, East Troy, WI 53120•(262) 684-2183
Alpine Valley Resort (1.6 miles away) W2501 Co Rd D, Elkhorn, WI 53121•(262) 642-7374
BD 501 and 508 preps for quality comparison: If you have them, please bring or send BD 501 and BD 508 preps for quality comparison and closing ceremony. Preps can be mailed to Petra Zinniker, N 7399 Bowers Rd, Elkhorn, WI 53121
Presenters:Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Mac Mead, Hugh Courtney, Marjory House, Lloyd Nelson, Dr Kamsler, Ryan Herring, Wali Via
Sponsors: Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, Demeter, Biodynamic Association
Karma and Anthroposophic Psychology — an Easter-Tide RetreatMaundy Thursday 9 April 2020 Noon thru Easter Sunday at 3 pm Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, ILAAP:James A. Dyson, M.D., Roberta Nelson, Ph.D., and David Tresemer, Ph.D. with Susan Overhauser, Ph.D.CRC:Marianne Fieber, Alberto Loya, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, David Howerton, Lisa DaltonEurythmist: Mary RuudActivities:Art-ActsStar WisdomThe Karma ExercisesExperiential PAGEANT on Holy Saturday: ‘Know Thyself’Easter Sunrise SongtrailOptional service at the Christian CommunityCommunal meals and time for ConversationLectures:‘Living into Karma through the Senses’‘How to find the Self in a Sea of Karma’‘Unfolding the Enigma of the Saturn Path’‘The Gesture of Karma’‘Christ as Lord of Karma — how do I access this in terms of my personal psychology?’(Program subject to change) $125 Conference fee includes 1 meal a dayFor more information and to register, contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@peoplepc.com
***
Festivals for the Dead. Then & Now. Renew, or Create Your Own Tradition.
with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year. Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Trans-denominational Minister, ‘Anthroposopher’, working as the Festivals Coordinator & Council Member of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, The Traveling Speakers Program, & the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society.
***
Annael A. Pavlova
~Vitae Sophia~A Whitsun Festival of United Soul Endeavor
Northeastern Tour May 2020For more info. Contact Deb Abrahams-Dematte deb@anthroposophy.org
Eurythmy: AUM = A – I stand for myself, U- I stand for humanity, M – I stand
for Life
Social Sculpture: Steiner’s ‘Blue Dot
Exercise’- Through Art, the bridge between
science & spirit, we warm the ‘I’, to open the heart, in support of healthy
community.
What are my gifts-What are my
tools? How can I place them in right relationship within
the social realm? How can I hone them to strengthen and enhance the world?
Enter the Labyrinth of Vitae Sophia – Human hearts, once warmed, can rise up to
meet the source of wisdom, like flowers turning toward the sun.
Living into the Foundation Stone of Love – How
can we take our individual Inner Whitsun & expand it, into what Steiner
calls the “World Festival of Knowledge” a path leading from ‘Sprit
Recollection’, to ‘Sprit Sensing’, to ‘Sprit Beholding’?
Hazel
Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the
Year. Essayist,
Lecturer, Poet, Trans-denominational Minister, ‘Anthroposopher’, working as the
Festivals Coordinator & Council Member of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, The Traveling
Speakers Program, & the Central Regional Council of the
Anthroposophical Society.
9 November 2019 – “Speaking with the Stars”: In early evening, look high above Bella Luna for the Great Square of Pegasus through the moonlight. It’s standing on one corner. The line from its top star through its bottom star points to the Moon.
Happy
85th birthday, Carl Sagan (November
9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) We miss you!
***
Today
is the 5th installment of: ‘Mercury Dances across the Face of
the Sun’ – Read the 1st, 2nd , 3rd
& 4th chapters.
Dear Friends – Interesting to note that when Rudolf Steiner performed the ceremony to bury & consecrate the Foundation Stone of the 1st Goetheanum, on the evening of September 20th 1913, during a fearsome thunderstorm with all the elements wildly participating, the only Planetary Being he invoked was Mercury; writing in the document laid with the stone, that this deed was performed while “Mercury, as evening star, stood in the sign of Libra, the balance.”
The lamb skin parchment (depicted above) was signed by the attendees, & read out by Steiner; & then interred within the submerged double copper dodecahedra. The short-hand notes from the time, record Steiner reading the various inscriptions on the document, which included the all-important references to the angelic hierarchies & the Rosicrucian dictum E.D.N.; J.C.M.; P.S.S.R., followed by this statement:
“This Stone we lower into the kingdom of the condensed elements as symbol of the force for which we endeavor to strive through 3, 5, 7, 12, laid by the Johannes-Bau Verein, Dornach, on the 20th day of September 1,880 years after the Mystery of Golgotha, that is 1913 after the birth of Christ, when Mercury as the evening star stood in Libra”.
The term ‘condensed elements‘ is reminiscent of Schiller from his essay ‘Letters On the Aesthetic Education of Man’, a short work that Steiner describes as being of the highest philosophical significance. The importance that Steiner placed on the laying of this foundation stone, as well as the significance of the document & each part of its content, cannot be underestimated. It is also of high significance that here Steiner refers to Mercury as the evening star – again an indication (which I am still investigating) as to the so-called ‘interchange’ between Venus & Mercury.
Rudolf Steiner described the laying of the Foundation Stone as an act of descending the microcosm into the macrocosm. As god of communication, Mercury was invoked to witness what Steiner later christened as an example of: the Reverse Ritual – a new mystery; in this case calling for balanced communication, calling for us as human beings to step up, & speak up, in our conversation with the cosmos – Calling for us to build a firm foundation within ourselves –
A foundation strong enough to withstand the fires of sacrifice when the corner stone was transformed into The Foundation Stone Meditation, becoming the living word, The Logos, the foundation Stone of Love, at the Christmas Conference, after the Johannes-Bau had burned to ash. Then we see how Mercury steps in as psycho-pomp, escorting a Persephone renewed, as representative of All Souls who journey in the underworld – the 1st spark of the fires of Isis redeemed.
Rudolf Steiner demonstrated this great mystery of reversing the ritual in our call to speak once more to the stars, a gift to Marie Steiner on the Christmas Eve the year before.
And so it was, 1 solar cycle later, this time with Ita Wegman by his side, after a lecture to the Christian Community priests on NYE, Steiner stood with her on the Dornach hill & watched the Goetheanum go up in flames, opening a vision of the burning of Ephesus, an opening into the spiritual world allowing Ita Wegman to see into her past incarnations & for Steiner, to truly begin his core mission of bringing karma & reincarnation to the Western world.
And then after another solar cycle, the Foundation Stone that was planted in 1913 blossomed thru the blood of sacrifice into the foundation stone of love, which our beloved teacher selflessly poured into our hearts – as the Logos renewed.
In 1913, before the events of the 1st World War had begun, Mercury witnessed the stone as it was laid into earth, calling for balance. And Venus as the New Isis is calling from the future, to be reclaimed, & named as sacred witness, as we endeavor to understand thru our own free will forces, what it means to participate in the renewal of the Foundation Stone, laying it into the heart of the World as the Sacred Word. On 11.11.19, with the 100 year anniversary of the Christmas Conference looming, as Mercury makes his retrograde journey across the face of the Sun,
we are called to heal our wounded hearts, moving from a community of the “11” which suffered a “betrayal”, to a unity in community which resonates with the “11” who thru the empowerment of inner development, acknowledges & accepts one another as fellow Michaelites.
My friends, we are called today to join our voices together in our ‘Speaking with the Stars’, in full consciousness. Enabling us to redeem the wisdom of the Sophia & wed it with the Christ within.
Tomorrow we touch on Rudolf Steiner’s involvement with WW1 & Armistice Day
In the Original Calendar of the Soul, Steiner speaks about today being when ‘Faust makes his descent to the Mothers’ (more about that on 11.11.19)
1888 – Rudolf Steiner’s ‘Aquinas experience’ –
after giving a lecture on ‘Goethe as father of a new aesthetics’ the Cistercian
priest Wilhelm Neumann, Steiner’s friend made this remark: “The seeds of this
lecture you gave today are to be found already in Thomas Aquinas”. This opened
Steiner to his earlier incarnation.
1918 – The second German Empire ends – Kaiser
Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, & Germany is proclaimed a Republic.
1923 – Hitler’s attempted coup in Munich
9–10 November 1938 – Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany, carried out by SA paramilitary forces and German civilians. The German authorities looked on without intervening. Jewish homes, hospitals, & schools were ransacked, as the attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers. The rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria, & the Sudetenland, & over 7,000 Jewish businesses were either destroyed or damaged. Kristallnacht was followed by additional economic & political persecution of Jews, it is viewed by historians as part of Nazi Germany’s broader racial policy, & the beginning of the Final Solution & The Holocaust.
1989 –Fall of the Berlin Wall: East Germany
opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to travel to West
Berlin
***
POD (Poem Of the Day)
As I prepare to meet the Baba Yaga The thought of snow angles oblique – A fat half cracked frozen seed Staring at the cut corn. As husks rustle & blink bare White spider legs dance on a web of grey While I warm the cold with my breath. ~hag
***
How about a Road-Trip?
THE ALL SOUL’S SOUTHERN TOUR! Take the Journey of the Soul in the Life Between Death & Rebirth in the warm hospitality of our Branch Buddies in the South:
Quick overview of the week:
Nov 10, 1st Class Lesson at the ARC in Atlanta GA
11.11.19 – Martinmas / Mercury Transit Gathering 4:11 pm – 6:11 pm at the Martin Clinic
Nov 12, Hazel and Deb Abrahams-Dematte will be in Atlanta, send any thoughts for must-see spots before we head out on the road trip
Nov 13, Gathering at Helene Burkarts’ ALL SOULS’ FESTIVAL 10 am-2 pm (see below)
Nov 14, Tuscumbia site visit, Helen Keller’s birth place
Nov 15, Memphis, death place of MLK, home of Elvis Presley
Nov 16, Nashville program ALL SOULS’ FESTIVAL 10 am – 2 pm
Nov 17 Knoxville program ALL SOULS’ FESTIVAL 1 pm – 5 pm
Nov 18 return to ATL
11/11/19, at the Martin Clinic – Humanizing Medicine – in Atlanta GA, 4:11 pm – 6:11 pm with a community potluck to follow
On this auspicious day we will gather to look at the mystery of 11:11, & the connections between, Martinmas, MLK, The Journey of the Soul, Armistice Day, The laying of the Foundation Stone, & a Rare Cosmic Alignment – The Transit of Mercury across the Sun.
‘Speaking with the Stars’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Storytelling with Enid Hancock
Leading thoughts with Mark Hancock, Angela Foster
Votive Art with Angela Foster
Biography work with Jolie Luba
Together we will sprinkle the BD preps around the Clinic
ALL SOULS JOURNEY – Exploring the Life between Death & Rebirth
10 am – 2 pm, Wednesday 13 November 2019, Auburn, Alabama, Community Potluck lunch – Please Bring a dish to Share – Suggested Donation $20-$50 or pay what you will – for more info. contact Helena Burkhart
***
10 am – 2 pm, Saturday 16 November 2019 in Nashville TN Community Potluck lunch – Please Bring a dish to Share – Suggested Donation $20-$50 or pay what you will – For more info. contact Cathy Green Or Barbara Bittles
***
1 pm – 5 pm, Sunday 17 November 2019 Knoxville TN Community Potluck Dinner – Please Bring a dish to Share – Suggested Donation $20-$50 or pay what you will – For more info. contact Bill Rogers
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg is a spiritual midwife and trans-denominational minister working in an eclectic style that inspires connections, initiating us into the magic waiting to be revealed in the cycle of the seasons. She is also the festivals coordinator of the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society, a lecturer, promoter, blogger, poet and performance artist. Learn more at www.ReverseRitual.com
8 November 2019 – “Speaking with the Stars”: High above the gibbous Moon, pointing down is the eastern edge of the Great Square of Pegasus. This week, wintry Orion is clearing the eastern horizon by about 8 pm CDT. High above Orion shines orange Aldebaran. Above Aldebaran is the little Pleiades cluster, the size of your fingertip at arm’s length. And far left of Aldebaran & the Pleiades is bright Capella.
Dear Friends – The transit of Mercury (occult Venus) is coming up in three days! Are you ready!?!
Today is the 4th installment of: ‘Mercury Dances across the Face of the Sun’ – Read the 1st, 2nd & 3rd chapters.
~hag
On 11/11, 2019, there is plenty of conversation to be had in our “Speaking with the Stars”. It of is the Eve of the Full Moon. The November Moon is called the Mourning Moon in acknowledgement of the Festival of All Souls; The Native Americans also called it the Beaver Moon, as this is the time when they actively build their huts for the winter.
~hag
And we are still receiving the strength of Michael – the gift of Cosmic Iron from The Taurid Meteor Shower, which Peaks 11/11-12.
~hag
And (drum roll please) the big event we have been leading up to & preparing for: a rare cosmic & earthly event: Mercury in his retrograde dance, parades across the face of the Sun. As messenger & god of divine communications, what does it mean to have that energy eclipsing the Sun? Mercury can be a trickster, & as the god of commerce, fickle; he is quick like quicksilver, & just as slippery, Mercurial, talkative, clever.
At his best, Mercury has also been known as Hermes Trismegistus, or Mercurius ter Maximus which in ancient Roman signifies ‘Thrice Born Intelligence’, because he communicated celestial & divine knowledge to humankind by writing. In ancient Egypt he was known as Thoth, also a god of writing, magic, & wisdom; who was ‘self-created’, born of the seed of Horus from the forehead of Set – two deities, who represented order & chaos. As the god of equilibrium & balance, Thoth presides over the judgment of the dead with Osiris in the Hall of Truth. Souls who feared they might not pass safely were encouraged to call upon Thoth for help.
What is interesting to think about with this transit, is that Mercury is indeed counted as one of the Roman psycho-pomps – escort to the souls of the dead, a guide leading them, as some legends tell us, to a volcano in Italy at sunset, which was known to be the entrance to the underworld. As psycho-pomp Mercury performs a kind of retro-reversal to his job as messenger of the gods, for now he returns the package back to the sender.
So this image of Mercury in his winged sandals, with all his many attributes, is eclipsing the Sun; of course since the planet Mercury is so much smaller than the Sun we call it a ‘transit’, a celestial journey across the face of our Day Star.
This dance only happens about 13 times a century. But as tiny as this Being is compared to the Sun, it is still an eclipse. What does this mean to us here on earth experiencing this eclipse? We can see this, as with all celestial alignments, as an opportunity for a cosmic communication? What can we add to this ‘Speaking to the Stars’?
Rudolf Steiner tells us that on a normal day the unbridged astral forces of will that stream forth from human beings is mediated by the rays of the Sun, ‘so that they can injure only man himself, but can do no universal harm’. So on the average day the Sun acts as the cosmic balancer, keeping those forces from raying out into space, which affects the harmony of the spheres, as well as the souls of the dead on the other side. But, when there is an eclipse, even a small one as in a Mercury transit, these forces flow unhindered into cosmic space.
In this case instead of wisdom & clear communication, instead of a commerce of brotherhood, we get more of the trickster, the thief, the negative attributes of Mercury, sent out into the cosmos by human beings, & Rudolf Steiner says: ‘opportunity is given for the evil which is willed on earth to spread over the cosmos. An eclipse is a physical event behind which there lies a significant spiritual reality’. So my friends, can we use our ‘Speaking with the Stars’ to counterbalance these forces, to bring positive, clear communication, acting as a true psycho-pomp, to protect our beloved dead, escorts leading dead thinking into the light; taking in that cosmic iron from the region of the Bull to help us lift our Michaelic Sword & Shield to uphold the message of harmony?
When the Copernican revolution brought human thinking into a materialistic modern science, changing from Aristotle’s idea of the universe, the earth centered Geocentric conception; to a Heliocentric model; some say Mercury & Venus were switched, so we can call Mercury, ‘Occult Venus’.
This is a lot to contemplate, but we can see that since they are the 2 closest planets to the earth & to the Sun, they certainly have a mystical connection. Can we imagine blending their powers to embody a loving communication, a clear heart-thinking?
Here we see the Motion of the Sun, Mercury, & Venus from the Earth. This geocentric diagram shows, the sun’s annual orbit, the orbit of Mercury for 7 years, & the orbit of Venus for 8 years, after which Venus returns to the same position in relation to the earth & sun. ~from the ‘Astronomy’ article of Encyclopædia Britannica 1771
There have been 11 Mercury Transits (Occult Venus) since the midpoint of the 20th century, the Transit of 11/11/19 makes 12
“Mercury, as evening star, stood in the sign of Libra, the balance.”
Tomorrow we contemplate the connection of this transit
& the laying of the 1st Foundation Stone by Rudolf Steiner.
1308 – Deathday of Duns Scotus, Scottish priest, Scholastic philosopher, & academic, considered to be one of the three most important philosopher-theologians of the High Middle Ages (together with Thomas Aquinas & William of Ockham)
1674 – Deathday of John
Milton, English poet & philosopher. He wrote at a time of religious
flux & political upheaval, & is best known for his epic poem Paradise
Lost (1667), written in blank verse.
1892 – The New Orleans
general strike begins, uniting black & white American trade unionists in a
successful four-day general strike action for the first time.
1895 – While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray.
1901 – Gospel riots: Bloody
clashes take place in Athens following the translation of the Gospels into
demotic Greek.
1917 – The first Council of
People’s Commissars is formed, including Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky &
Joseph Stalin.
1923 – Beer Hall Putsch:
In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the
Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government.
1933 –New Deal: US
President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an
organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million unemployed.
***
James Christensen
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Now I seize Darkness by its arms & shake it… The souls of ancient swallowed women fall out From the belly of obscurity… The old She, the few, the many, the forgotten Walk back into being With me… ~hag
***
How about a Road-Trip?
THE ALL SOUL’S SOUTHERN TOUR! Take the Journey of the Soul in the Life Between Death & Rebirth in the warm hospitality of our Branch Buddies in the South:
Quick overview of the week:
Nov 10, 1st Class Lesson at the ARC in Atlanta GA
11.11.19 – Martinmas / Mercury Transit Gathering 4:11 pm – 6:11 pm at the Martin Clinic
Nov 12, Hazel and Deb Abrahams-Dematte will be in Atlanta, send any thoughts for must-see spots before we head out on the road trip
Nov 13, Gathering at Helene Burkarts’ ALL SOULS’ FESTIVAL 10 am-2 pm (see below)
Nov 14, Tuscumbia site visit, Helen Keller’s birth place
Nov 15, Memphis, death place of MLK, home of Elvis Presley
Nov 16, Nashville program ALL SOULS’ FESTIVAL 10 am – 2 pm
Nov 17 Knoxville program ALL SOULS’ FESTIVAL 1 pm – 5 pm
Nov 18 return to ATL
11/11/19, at the Martin Clinic – Humanizing Medicine – in Atlanta GA, 4:11 pm – 6:11 pm with a community potluck to follow
On this auspicious day we will gather to look at the mystery of 11:11, & the connections between, Martinmas, MLK, The Journey of the Soul, Armistice Day, The laying of the Foundation Stone, & a Rare Cosmic Alignment – The Transit of Mercury across the Sun.
‘Speaking with the Stars’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Storytelling with Enid Hancock
Leading thoughts with Mark Hancock, Angela Foster
Votive Art with Angela Foster
Biography work with Jolie Luba
Together we will sprinkle the BD preps around the Clinic
ALL SOULS JOURNEY – Exploring the Life between Death & Rebirth
10 am – 2 pm, Wednesday 13 November 2019, Auburn, Alabama, Community Potluck lunch – Please Bring a dish to Share – Suggested Donation $20-$50 or pay what you will – for more info. contact Helena Burkhart
***
10 am – 2 pm, Saturday 16 November 2019 in Nashville TN Community Potluck lunch – Please Bring a dish to Share – Suggested Donation $20-$50 or pay what you will – For more info. contact Cathy Green Or Barbara Bittles
***
1 pm – 5 pm, Sunday 17 November 2019 Knoxville TN Community Potluck Dinner – Please Bring a dish to Share – Suggested Donation $20-$50 or pay what you will – For more info. contact Bill Rogers
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg is a spiritual midwife and trans-denominational minister working in an eclectic style that inspires connections, initiating us into the magic waiting to be revealed in the cycle of the seasons. She is also the festivals coordinator of the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society, a lecturer, promoter, blogger, poet and performance artist. Learn more at www.ReverseRitual.com
7 November 2019 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The annual Leonid meteor shower ramps up this week. With Bella Luna currently waxing toward Full, the best views will come in the couple of hours after the Moon sets & before twilight starts to paint the sky. The shower will peak the morning of November 18, unfortunately under the watchful eye of a waning gibbous Moon.
The Moon reaches apogee,
the farthest point in its orbit around Earth, at 4:36 am CDT.
***
Today’s 3rd installment of 11.11.19 is dedicated to the Christian Community Priests here in Chicago attending the Synod. ( read the 1st & 2nd )
~hag
11/11 is also Martinmas. St. Martin of tours, like Martin Luther King Jr, recognized that he had the capacity to bring healing out of his own resources by sharing his cloak (etheric body) with the shivering beggar (humanity).
Celebrating this Feast Day serves as a reminder that each of us has a connection in the etheric world, where the Christ is calling to be recognized & that each of us has a divine spark that we must ferry out into the world & share with others.
John Singer Sargent – Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose
On Martinmas the children hear the story of St. Martin, sing songs; & as darkness falls, venture out into the night with their lanterns, walking along a path lit with glowing luminaries, carefully carrying their glowing light in a mood of quiet reverence – An innocent prefiguring of the human soul in the life between death & rebirth.
This symbolic act also brings home the deeper truth heard in the gospel song “This little light of mine.”
~hag
Interesting to note that
MLK Sr. after visiting Germany, changed his name & his son’s name from
Michael to Martin Luther. & MLK Jr. also named his 1st son Martin Luther.
So powerful to feel the sword & shield of Michael under the wings of these powerful human beings.
~Rudolf Steiner designed Apocalyptic seal
I love the story below, I don’t know
who wrote it, it is not the typical Martinmas story, but one I thought to share
as we make our way thru the dark in anticipation for the powerful events of
11.11.19
SAINT MARTIN’S LIGHT
A stranger once knocked on Martin’s
door, and said: “I met an old woman living high in the hills. She is ill and
needs your help. She asked for you.”
Martin wrapped bread and wine in a
blanket, tied the bundle to his back and set off with his walking staff.
It was late in the day as Martin
hurried along. At first he followed the highway and the going was smooth, but,
at the foot of the hills, the road turned away to the south and Martin had to
climb up into the woods. As he went along, storm clouds gathered and blocked
the setting sun. A cold north wind began to blow, and he buttoned up his coat
to keep warm. Soon the woods became as black as ink and Martin was forced to
feel his way forward with his staff like a blind man.
Rain and sleet began to beat down on Martin’s head as he climbed and great rocks and boulders blocked his way. At last Marin tripped and fell. He looked around and saw nothing. It was too dark and the rain and sleet too fierce. He realized he was lost and no longer knew which way to go. So Martin did the only sensible thing a man can do when he cannot see the way and is completely lost: he prayed- and this was his simple prayer.
“Dear Lord, I have done my best,
But I can’t lay down to rest-
I am lost and cannot see,
Please send a light to comfort me.”
Martin looked up and saw a small
light hovering in the air before him. He got to his feet, picked up his staff
and followed it. The light lit the ground before him and even though he did not
know where he was, he knew the light was leading him truly and that he would
never stumble.
Higher and higher into the hills he
climbed, the little light never wavering, until at last it stopped before a hut
made of mud and sticks. It was the poorest hovel Martin had ever seen. He had
to bend right over to get in the low doorway and when he was inside he saw and
old, old, old woman lying on a bed of fir branches and moss.
Martin immediately untied the bundle from his back and spread the blanket over the woman’s thin body. He took out the loaf of bread, broke it into small pieces, and gave her one to eat. Then he opened the flask of wine, still warm from the heat of his body and put it to her lips.
But, as soon as the wine touched her
lips, the old woman stood up before Martin. All age fell from her and she
looked both young and timeless. She became so bright that he thought the sun
itself had risen into the sky behind her. Martin fell down on the ground and as
he did so he saw in a vision the moon at her feet and a crown of stars on her
head.
“Look up, Martin,” she said. “Do not be
afraid.”
Martin raised his head and saw the little light, which had led him resting on the palm of her hand.
“This is my gift to you,” she said.
“It is the light of faithful knowing that lights your way. From now on, whenever
you walk in darkness, this light will shine before you and lead the way.”
And so it was. From that day forth,
as soon as darkness fell, the little light hovered before Martin and lit his
way. The local people were amazed to see such a thing and called it Martin’s
Lantern.
After he died, Martin was buried in the church where he worked and every year in early November, all the townsfolk gathered at dusk and each of them carried a lantern. Some carried theirs by hand and others, remembering how Martin always used a walking staff, tied theirs to a stick to swing before them. Out into the meadows and fields the townsfolk wandered, singing songs and winding though the darkness.
Lynet McDonald
May we all find our way thru the darkness, enkindling & holding the wisdom of the true light within.
680 – The 6th Ecumenical Council commences in Constantinople
1492 – The Ensisheim meteorite, the oldest meteorite with a known date of impact, strikes the Earth around noon in a wheat field outside the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France
1665 – The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published
1775 – Goethe arrives in Weimar
1775 – John Murray, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, starts the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by issuing Lord Dunmore’s Offer of Emancipation, which offers freedom to slaves who abandoned their colonial masters to fight with Murray and the British
1837 – Death-day of Elijah Parish Lovejoy an American Presbyterian minister, journalist, newspaper editor & abolitionist. He was murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois.
1867 – Birthday of Marie Curie, Polish chemist & physicist, Nobel Prize laureate winner
1870- Papal Infallibility is proclaimed by Pius IX
1879 – Birthday of Leon Trotsky, Russian theorist & politician, founded the Red Army. Trotsky joined the Bolsheviks just before the 1917 October Revolution, immediately becoming a leader within the Communist Party. He would go on to become one of the seven members of the first Politburo, founded in 1917 to manage the Bolshevik Revolution
1893 – Women in the U.S. state of Colorado are granted the right to vote, the second state to do so
1913 – Birthday of Albert Camus, a French philosopher, author, & journalist. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. He wrote in his essay The Rebel that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957
1922 – The Order of the Freemason’s official ‘condemnation’ of Rudolf Steiner
1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt elected for a record fourth term as President of the United States of America
1962 – Death-day of Eleanor
Roosevelt, American humanitarian 39th First Lady of the United States
***
Jade Leyva.
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~I rise above the waxing moon Gentling the horns with peat moss & beeswax, Rounding up to the stars Reaching Beyond numbers that bind minds into boxes – Let the vultures gobble the sin with the flesh… Thru me the past flows like blood Renewed in the heart convulsing – A formula forthcoming A blueprint unfolding gold ~hag
***
How about a Road-Trip?
THE ALL SOUL’S SOUTHERN TOUR! Take the Journey of the Soul in the Life Between Death & Rebirth in the warm hospitality of our Branch Buddies in the South:
Quick overview of the week:
Nov 10, 1st Class Lesson at the ARC in Atlanta GA
11.11.19 – Martinmas / Mercury Transit Gathering 4:11 pm – 6:11 pm at the Martin Clinic
Nov 12, Hazel and Deb Abrahams-Dematte will be in Atlanta, send any thoughts for must-see spots before we head out on the road trip
Nov 13, Gathering at Helene Burkarts’ ALL SOULS’ FESTIVAL 10 am-2 pm (see below)
Nov 14, Tuscumbia site visit, Helen Keller’s birth place
Nov 15, Memphis, death place of MLK, home of Elvis Presley
Nov 16, Nashville program ALL SOULS’ FESTIVAL 10 am – 2 pm
Nov 17 Knoxville program ALL SOULS’ FESTIVAL 1 pm – 5 pm
Nov 18 return to ATL
11/11/19, at the Martin Clinic – Humanizing Medicine – in Atlanta GA, 4:11 pm – 6:11 pm with a community potluck to follow
On this auspicious day we will gather to look at the mystery of 11:11, & the connections between, Martinmas, MLK, The Journey of the Soul, Armistice Day, The laying of the Foundation Stone, & a Rare Cosmic Alignment – The Transit of Mercury across the Sun.
‘Speaking with the Stars’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Storytelling with Enid Hancock
Leading thoughts with Mark Hancock, Angela Foster
Votive Art with Angela Foster
Biography work with Jolie Luba
Together we will sprinkle the BD preps around the Clinic
ALL SOULS JOURNEY – Exploring the Life between Death & Rebirth
10 am – 2 pm, Wednesday 13 November 2019, Auburn, Alabama, Community Potluck lunch – Please Bring a dish to Share – Suggested Donation $20-$50 or pay what you will – for more info. contact Helena Burkhart
***
10 am – 2 pm, Saturday 16 November 2019 in Nashville TN Community Potluck lunch – Please Bring a dish to Share – Suggested Donation $20-$50 or pay what you will – For more info. contact Cathy Green Or Barbara Bittles
***
1 pm – 5 pm, Sunday 17 November 2019 Knoxville TN Community Potluck Dinner – Please Bring a dish to Share – Suggested Donation $20-$50 or pay what you will – For more info. contact Bill Rogers
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg is a spiritual midwife and trans-denominational minister working in an eclectic style that inspires connections, initiating us into the magic waiting to be revealed in the cycle of the seasons. She is also the festivals coordinator of the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society, a lecturer, promoter, blogger, poet and performance artist. Learn more at www.ReverseRitual.com
.png?resize=390%2C242&ssl=1)
