“When we look out into the world today we see something that has already been there for many years: a tremendous amount of destructiveness. There are forces at work that give us an inkling of the abysses into which western civilization is still to plunge. Looking at those individuals who externally are the cultural leaders in the various fields of life, we notice how they are enmeshed in a terrible cosmic sleep. They think, and until recently most people thought, that until the nineteenth century humankind was childlike and primitive in its insights and views, and that now that modern science has entered into all the various fields, truth has at last arrived, truth that must be upheld forever. People who think like this are, without knowing it, are living in a state of tremendous arrogance. On the other hand, here and there amongst humankind today there are some inklings that things are perhaps not as the majority would like to imagine.”~ Rudolf Steiner – GA 260 – The Christmas Conference- Part Two: The Procedings of the Conference – Dornach, 1st January 1924
Kate Delroswe
The past is a foundational memory. The future calls. This moment is the birth place of time- the forever we are ever making – the wellspring that we draw from. This moment is expansive, elastic, a point & periphery breathing us. The span of now depends on our consciousness. For someone who is drowning or has some other out of body experience, a second can contain a person’s entire life tableau. What about the consciousness of spiritual beings like our guardian angel? Perhaps this moment may be the length of one earthly life, or it may be stretched out over many incarnations at once.
The Christ impulse is the embodiment of the moment. Born in eternity – eternally born in all time, all the time. Everything about the rhythmic system where the Christ principle expands & contracts in us, is of today, not yesterday or tomorrow, but now. The Christ is the embodiment of the Cosmic Today, of the Cosmic Moment. And this eternity reaches down into the earthly now. Every moment we are asked to live wakefully in the Cosmic twinkling of today. I am not yesterday, I am not tomorrow, I am now. And to live into today, to be wide awake now, to act out of the I in the present moment, is to be aligned with the eternal, while living in the temporal, in full consciousness, aligned with love & light.
~hag
11 April 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: One very easy pattern to find at this time of year is the magnificent constellation Orion the Hunter, now descending in the west after sunset. Orion is easy to find because it contains a very noticeable pattern of three medium-bright stars in a short straight row. These stars represent Orion’s Belt. If you can find Orion, you can use it to star hop to Sirius, the sky’s brightest star, in the constellation Canis Major.
~I pulled down the stylus of fire & a tablet of crystal ‘Write it all down’ She said… So I wrote; not what I saw, but what I knew… Then She parted the bones of my chest & buried the words in my drumming heart… Now messages course thru my veins Etching themselves in the lines of my palms… ~hag
Like to listen to podcasts? Let ‘I Think Speech’ tickle your earbuds
Living into the spheres of cosmic Life and cosmic Light: Easter, Ascension, Whitsun in the Calendar of the Soul with Luigi Morelli, Hazel Archer & Geoff Norris
13 May 2021 Ascension Thursday 5- 6:30pm PT / 6-7:30 pm MT / 7 pm – 8:30 pm CT / 8-9:30 pm ET / 1 am – 2:30 am GMT / 2 am – 3:30 am CET
Ascension: The ‘secret teachings’, the Elementals, & The Etheric Christ w/ Hazel Archer
Calendar of the Soul – Luigi Morelli : For those who are familiar with the Calendar of the Soul we could say that during spring and summer we follow the ascent of cosmic life, cosmic light, cosmic warmth and cosmic Word as gifts bestowed upon the human being by the cosmos. By being receptive to them we strengthen our connection to cosmos and Self.
We will briefly explore the dynamics of the year, then look at what qualities of soul we need to develop as we move into spring and summer, most particularly from Easter to Ascension and Whitsun. We will look at the verses of the calendar in conjunction with the artistic renditions of Anne Stockton and Karl König, drawn for each of the verses.
We will ask ourselves: How can we live into and grow from this time of the year? How can we deepen our inner relationship to the event of Ascension? What can we receive and what can we give?
Luigi Morelli – Cultures have been a great part of my upbringing, since I’m American born, part Italian, part Peruvian, mostly grew up in Belgium, and have lived the longest in the US. I have long had a passion for social change from a cultural perspective. Professionally this has brought me to working with the developmentally disabled in the intentional, holistic, communities of Camphill International and L’Arche International, and also in the mainstream. Being a founding member of the Wavecrest L’Arche Community in Los Angeles was a memorable experience. I have lived in intentional cohousing for the last ten years; first in Ecovillage Ithaca, now at Headwaters Cohousing in Cabot, in both places actively involved in community building and process facilitation.
Since 1999 I have found a vocation in researching/writing both about American history and/or about cultural/spiritual change, which you can find at www.millenniumculmination.net. Only of late have I started writing on meditative material I have used for years, publishing an essay on the Foundation Stone Meditation (also onsite) and one upcoming on the Calendar of the Soul. I love outdoors in many forms, gardening, hiking, skiing, love singing and playing flute, and enjoy most kinds of social events.
Geoffrey Norris was born in Durban, South Africa on 07/09/1951. After extensive performing with the Rock Musical “Hair “in Southern Africa, Portugal and Spain in the early 70’s he continued his theatrical training at the London School of Speech Formation and Dramatic Art, graduating in 1978. He is an actor, storyteller and teacher of voice, movement and drama and has given courses and workshops worldwide integrating the approaches of Rudolf Steiner, Michael Chekhov, Viola Spolin (and others, his own included).and has performed extensively throughout Britain, Eire, Continental Europe, Scandinavia, Israel, Southern Africa, The United States, Canada, China, Taiwan, Japan, and New Zealand. He is a master teacher of Steiner Speech Drama and Movement, with over 46 years of experience in the field. www.speechanddramastudio.com
Norris’s “Noble Art of the Word” puts to shame our modern actors, who fear to bring colour to poetic, rhythmic language, making it monochromatic dull prose. May they learn from one of the best examples. Theatre Critic – Olsztyn
Ok, so this is extremely personal, & may be triggering & traumatic, as real life often is. It has been cathartic for me to open up this last year in sharing some biographical insights in light of anthroposophy. Look away if you must…
A few days before Holy Week while indulging in some delicious dried mango I noticed my front tooth was loose. Having had a hellish history with teeth issues throughout my life, I was concerned it would fall out just when I was about to embark on a very public Holy Week initiative. Not able to get a dentist appointment, I drank shakes & soup & hoped for the best. I actually felt it enhanced the experience to be on a semi-fast during that sacred time.
I finally got to go in for an emergency checkup with a new dentist, & while she was prodding around in my mouth, a suppressed memory came up like a slap in the face. When I was a young woman in my early 20’s I had a toothache; the wife of a dentist who I knew in passing gave me the number of her husband who she said would treat me on a sliding scale. Having no money & no dentist I called & got in right away. It must have been off hours because there was no one else in the office, no receptionist or other patients. It didn’t really register, I was in pain & he was so nice & said ‘O don’t worry Doctor Smile will take care of you no charge’. That’s what he called himself, Doctor Smile. He insisted on giving me sleeping gas right away ‘to help with the pain’ & as he was administering it he began to try & rape me. I struggled & he became quite stern telling me I needed a root canal which he proceeded to do in a hurried & gruff way, all the time saying ‘I need to give you more gas to help the pain’. This part is still blurry, I think he did indeed put me under & when I awoke I was very groggy & threw up. He said the root canal went fine & that I should go with him to get some tea to help my stomach, & then he would give me a ride to the train station. Like a sleep walker I went with him to a diner down the street where 3 of his dentist buddies were sitting at a table. We joined them & it was like he was making a point of showing me off to them. I sat there in a daze while they talked about how root canals were the new wave of the future. He told them he had just experimented by doing his 1st root canal on a front tooth, & I got the feeling that I probably didn’t really even need a root canal! I got sick to my stomach again & just ran out of there.
This all came up yesterday as I sat in the dentist’s chair some 35 or so years later. She took an ex-ray & said she didn’t know for sure if the tooth with the root canal was cracked or decayed or if the cement came loose or what, but that she didn’t have time to take off the cap as it was a whole procedure, so I’d have to come back next month. I went home in a daze with that old memory & my head throbbing.
Baron Krinsky
So now I am asking myself, what is this tooth karma that I am battling with in this life? From buck teeth, to braces, to gum disease, to multiple extractions & implants etc…Of all the horror stories, this experience, which has laid dormant for all these years, is up there with the worst, & part of a pattern of sexual abuse I have had to endure as well…I see now why I have such a problem with authority figures. I have never had a good doctor or dentist or even a cherished teacher; abused by the minister at Sunday school & at home…As a child & as a young woman it is all so confusing when it is happening.
Gregory Packt
I often wonder why I would sign up for this? Am I working something off? I never seem to be able to get to the other side of the trauma. What am I supposed to learn from these painful experiences? How can I forgive the abusers, & how can I forgive myself? What do I do with it all?
~Ever living into the questions, now as the potentially toothless hag
“Where do the Dead come from? The Living. Where do the Living come from? The Dead.” ~ Plato
The Feast Day of St. Magdalen of Canossa. Born in northern Italy in 1774, Magdalen knew her mind—and spoke it. At age 15 she announced she wished to become a nun. After trying out her vocation with the cloistered Carmelites, she realized her desire was to serve the needy without restriction. For years she worked among the poor & sick, & with delinquent or abandoned girls. In her mid-twenties Magdalen began offering lodging to poor girls in her own home. In time she opened a school, which offered practical training & religious instruction. As other women joined her in the work, the new Congregation of the Daughters of Charity emerged. Over time, houses were opened throughout Italy. They focused on the educational & spiritual needs of women, which continues to this day.
Feast Day of Fulbert of Chartres, Bishop of Chartres from 1006 to 1028. A highly esteemed teacher – his pupils called him “venerable Socrates”. He was a strong opponent of the rationalistic tendencies which had infected some dialecticians of his time. Letters he wrote from 1004–1028 gave much insight into life in his day. He also wrote poetry & many sermons on the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was responsible for the advancement of the Nativity of the Virgin’s feast day on September 8. When, in about 1020, the cathedral of Chartres burned down, Fulbert at once began to rebuild it in greater splendor.
According to Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul, this is the Birth Day of the prophets Daniel & Ezekiel. As well as the day Wagner received the inspiration for Parsifal in Zurich, 1857.
Daniel – Hebrew “God is my Judge” hero of the Book of Daniel who interprets dreams & receives apocalyptic visions. Daniel & his friends Hananiah, Mishael, & Azariah were among the young Jewish nobility carried off to Babylon following the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The four are chosen for their intellect & beauty to be trained in the Babylonian court, & are given new names. Daniel is given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar, while his companions are given the Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego. Daniel & his friends refuse the food & wine provided by the king of Babylon to avoid becoming defiled. They receive wisdom from God & surpass “all the magicians & enchanters of the kingdom.” Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a giant statue made of four metals with feet of mingled iron & clay, smashed by a stone from heaven. Only Daniel is able to interpret it: the dream signifies four kingdoms, of which Babylon is the first, but God will destroy them & replace them with his own kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a great tree that shelters all the world & of a heavenly figure who decrees that the tree will be destroyed; again, only Daniel can interpret the dream, which concerns the sovereignty of God over the kings of the earth.
When Nebuchadnezzar’s son King Belshazzar uses the vessels from the Jewish temple for his feast, a hand appears & writes a mysterious message on the wall, which only Daniel can interpret; it tells the king that his kingdom will be given to the Medes & Persians, because Belshazzar, unlike Nebuchadnezzar, has not acknowledged the sovereignty of the God of Daniel. They overthrow Nebuchadnezzar & the new king, Darius the Mede, appoints Daniel to high authority. Jealous rivals attempt to destroy Daniel with an accusation that he worships God instead of the king, & Daniel is thrown into a den of lions, but an angel saves him, his accusers are destroyed, & Daniel is restored to his position.
In the third year of Darius, Daniel has a series of visions. In the first, four beasts come out of the sea, the last with ten horns, & an eleventh horn grows & achieves dominion over the Earth & the “Ancient of Days” (God) gives dominion to “one like a son of man”. An angel interprets the vision.
In the second, a ram with two horns is attacked by a goat with one horn; the one horn breaks & is replaced by four. A little horn arises & attacks the people of God & the temple, & Daniel is informed how long the little horn’s dominion will endure.
In the third, Daniel is troubled to read in holy scripture (the book is not named but appears to be Jeremiah) that Jerusalem would be desolate for 70 years. Daniel repents on behalf of the Jews & requests that Jerusalem & its people be restored. An angel refers to a period of 70 sevens (or weeks) of years.
In the final vision, Daniel sees a period of history culminating in a struggle between the “king of the north” & the “king of the south” in which God’s people suffer terribly; an angel explains that in the end the righteous will be vindicated & God’s kingdom will be established on Earth.
The Prophet Ezekiel describes his calling to be a prophet by going into great detail about his encounter with God & 4 living creatures or Cherubim with four wheels that stayed beside the creatures. For the next five years he incessantly prophesied & acted out the destruction of Jerusalem & its temple, which was met with opposition.
According to the midrash Canticles Rabbah, Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego asked for his advice as to whether they should resist Nebuchadnezzar’s command & choose death by fire rather than worship his idol. At first God revealed to the prophet that they could not hope for a miraculous rescue; whereupon the prophet was greatly grieved, since these 3 men constituted the “remnant of Judah”. But after they had left the house of the prophet, fully determined to sacrifice their lives to God, Ezekiel received this revelation: “Thou dost believe indeed that I will abandon them. That shall not happen; but do thou let them carry out their intention according to their pious dictates, & tell them nothing”
Ezekiel’s statement about the “closed gate” (Ezekiel 44:2–3) is understood as another prophecy of the coming Incarnation of Christ : the “gate” signifying the Virgin Mary & the “prince” referring to Jesus. This is one of the readings at Vespers on Great Feasts of the Theotokos in the Eastern Orthodox & Byzantine Catholic Churches. “No one can enter Heaven unless by Mary, as though through a door.” The imagery provides the basis for the concept that God gave Mary to mankind as the “Gate of Heaven” (thence the dedication of churches & convents to the Porta Coeli), an idea also laid out in the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) prayer.
837 – Halley’s Comet makes its closest approach to Earth
***
Loveday Funck
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~At dawn the thread of Time unfurls – Sunlight streams across Space – Time reaches in both directions Knotted in the golden orb of the moment. The Eye opens, the Heart unlocks, the Navel yawns & takes the World in its belly ~hag
***
Living into the spheres of cosmic Life and cosmic Light: Easter, Ascension, Whitsun in the Calendar of the Soul with Luigi Morelli, Hazel Archer & Geoff Norris
13 May 2021 Ascension Thursday 5- 6:30pm PT / 6-7:30 pm MT / 7 pm – 8:30 pm CT / 8-9:30 pm ET / 1 am – 2:30 am GMT / 2 am – 3:30 am CET
Ascension: The ‘secret teachings’, the Elementals, & The Etheric Christ w/ Hazel Archer
Calendar of the Soul – Luigi Morelli : For those who are familiar with the Calendar of the Soul we could say that during spring and summer we follow the ascent of cosmic life, cosmic light, cosmic warmth and cosmic Word as gifts bestowed upon the human being by the cosmos. By being receptive to them we strengthen our connection to cosmos and Self.
We will briefly explore the dynamics of the year, then look at what qualities of soul we need to develop as we move into spring and summer, most particularly from Easter to Ascension and Whitsun. We will look at the verses of the calendar in conjunction with the artistic renditions of Anne Stockton and Karl König, drawn for each of the verses.
We will ask ourselves: How can we live into and grow from this time of the year? How can we deepen our inner relationship to the event of Ascension? What can we receive and what can we give?
Luigi Morelli – Cultures have been a great part of my upbringing, since I’m American born, part Italian, part Peruvian, mostly grew up in Belgium, and have lived the longest in the US. I have long had a passion for social change from a cultural perspective. Professionally this has brought me to working with the developmentally disabled in the intentional, holistic, communities of Camphill International and L’Arche International, and also in the mainstream. Being a founding member of the Wavecrest L’Arche Community in Los Angeles was a memorable experience. I have lived in intentional cohousing for the last ten years; first in Ecovillage Ithaca, now at Headwaters Cohousing in Cabot, in both places actively involved in community building and process facilitation.
Since 1999 I have found a vocation in researching/writing both about American history and/or about cultural/spiritual change, which you can find at www.millenniumculmination.net. Only of late have I started writing on meditative material I have used for years, publishing an essay on the Foundation Stone Meditation (also onsite) and one upcoming on the Calendar of the Soul. I love outdoors in many forms, gardening, hiking, skiing, love singing and playing flute, and enjoy most kinds of social events.
Geoffrey Norris was born in Durban, South Africa on 07/09/1951. After extensive performing with the Rock Musical “Hair “in Southern Africa, Portugal and Spain in the early 70’s he continued his theatrical training at the London School of Speech Formation and Dramatic Art, graduating in 1978. He is an actor, storyteller and teacher of voice, movement and drama and has given courses and workshops worldwide integrating the approaches of Rudolf Steiner, Michael Chekhov, Viola Spolin (and others, his own included).and has performed extensively throughout Britain, Eire, Continental Europe, Scandinavia, Israel, Southern Africa, The United States, Canada, China, Taiwan, Japan, and New Zealand. He is a master teacher of Steiner Speech Drama and Movement, with over 46 years of experience in the field. www.speechanddramastudio.com
Norris’s “Noble Art of the Word” puts to shame our modern actors, who fear to bring colour to poetic, rhythmic language, making it monochromatic dull prose. May they learn from one of the best examples. Theatre Critic – Olsztyn
Thoughts from night-school: What is thinking? It is a death. Yes, we must 1st let old habitual thoughts die, & transform into new elements of supersensible perception. Thoughts can then be reborn as a seed. This we can plant in our dark dome, to light up as little stars – islands of knowing in the vast unknown – unlocking the path to the heart. The thought knows itself in the seed & longs to live. The seed tastes & discovers all that it is not, all that is new to it. At first groping – but the mother of it touches the thought-seed from within to afar. The mother has a wisdom which she activates in the seed. The seed gains imagination, inspiration & intuition. As the thought eats the darkness around it & becomes illumined & shines in the soul, it is born into the feeling will.
~I stand before myself A thought that curls into a mothers song Like the aroma of bread – a prayer anchoring the world A porous layer of skin, a drop of water, a reality… ~hag
Earthsky.prg
9 April 2021 – “Speaking with the stars”: The Greek-Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy, and others, considered these stars as the tuft at the end of Leo’s tail. Coma Berenices remained part of Leo until a few hundred years ago, when it was first listed as a separate constellation with its own distinct legend in the lore of the sky.
The story goes that an ancient Egyptian queen, Berenice, feared for her husband’s life as he went into battle. She prayed to Aphrodite, promising to cut off her long, luxurious curls if the king returned safely. He did, and Berenice kept her promise and cut off her hair, placing it as a sacrifice on Aphrodite’s altar. But the next day the hair was gone!
The king was enraged that the temple priests had not protected the precious hair of the queen. A quick-thinking astronomer saved the day, by pointing to the cascading stars at the end of Leo’s tail. It’s said that he told the king that these were the queen’s tresses, placed in the sky by Aphrodite – goddess of love – to honor the queen’s sacrifice.
The king and queen were appeased, and no priests were beheaded. And, today, Coma Berenices – or Berenice’s Hair – is one of the 88 official constellations.
Feast Day of of Mary Cleophas, who was at the crucifixion with Mary Magdalen & Mary-Sophia the Mother of Jesus
1241 –The Templars were called in to help defeat the Mongol Invasions. The Templars worked hard to preserve the integrity of Europe. 73 years later – a little over the span of a human life – they were exterminated by the same forces that worked in the Mongols Ghengis Kahn & Kublai Kahn.
1626 – The death day of Francis Bacon. In Karmic Relationships Steiner indicates that in a former life he was, Harun al Rashid.
“I have already spoken, here at Dornach too, of Lord Bacon of Verulam as the reincarnated Haroun al Raschid. We know how intense and determining an influence Bacon’s conceptions had on the whole succeeding evolution of the spiritual life, notably in its finer impulses and movements. Now the remarkable thing is this, that in Lord Bacon himself something took place which we may describe as a morbid elimination of old spirituality. For such spirituality he had after all possessed when he was Haroun al Raschid.
And thus we see, proceeding from the impulse of Lord Bacon, a whole world of daemonic beings. The world was literally filled supersensibly and sensibly with daemonic beings. (When I say “sensibly” I meant not, of course, visibly, but within the world of sense.)
Now it chiefly fell to the individuality of Alexander to wage war against these daemonic idols of Lord Bacon, Francis Bacon of Verulam. And similar activities, exceedingly important ones, were taking place on earth below. For otherwise the materialism of the 19th century would have broken in upon the world in a far more devastating way even than it did. Similar activities, taking place in the spiritual and in the physical world together, were allotted to the stream of Michael, until at length at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century there took place in super-sensible regions what I have already described as the enactment of a great and sublime super-sensible ritual and ceremony”.
Living into the spheres of cosmic Life and cosmic Light: Easter, Ascension, Whitsun in the Calendar of the Soul with Luigi Morelli, Hazel Archer & Geoff Norris
13 May 2021 Ascension Thursday 5- 6:30pm PT / 6-7:30 pm MT / 7 pm – 8:30 pm CT / 8-9:30 pm ET / 1 am – 2:30 am GMT / 2 am – 3:30 am CET
Ascension: The secret teachings, the Elementals, & The Etheric Christ, Hazel Archer
Calendar of the Soul – Luigi Morelli : For those who are familiar with the Calendar of the Soul we could say that during spring and summer we follow the ascent of cosmic life, cosmic light, cosmic warmth and cosmic Word as gifts bestowed upon the human being by the cosmos. By being receptive to them we strengthen our connection to cosmos and Self.
We will briefly explore the dynamics of the year, then look at what qualities of soul we need to develop as we move into spring and summer, most particularly from Easter to Ascension and Whitsun. We will look at the verses of the calendar in conjunction with the artistic renditions of Anne Stockton and Karl König, drawn for each of the verses.
We will ask ourselves: How can we live into and grow from this time of the year? How can we deepen our inner relationship to the event of Ascension? What can we receive and what can we give?
Luigi Morelli – Cultures have been a great part of my upbringing, since I’m American born, part Italian, part Peruvian, mostly grew up in Belgium, and have lived the longest in the US. I have long had a passion for social change from a cultural perspective. Professionally this has brought me to working with the developmentally disabled in the intentional, holistic, communities of Camphill International and L’Arche International, and also in the mainstream. Being a founding member of the Wavecrest L’Arche Community in Los Angeles was a memorable experience. I have lived in intentional cohousing for the last ten years; first in Ecovillage Ithaca, now at Headwaters Cohousing in Cabot, in both places actively involved in community building and process facilitation.
Since 1999 I have found a vocation in researching/writing both about American history and/or about cultural/spiritual change, which you can find at www.millenniumculmination.net. Only of late have I started writing on meditative material I have used for years, publishing an essay on the Foundation Stone Meditation (also onsite) and one upcoming on the Calendar of the Soul. I love outdoors in many forms, gardening, hiking, skiing, love singing and playing flute, and enjoy most kinds of social events.
Geoffrey Norris was born in Durban, South Africa on 07/09/1951. After extensive performing with the Rock Musical “Hair “in Southern Africa, Portugal and Spain in the early 70’s he continued his theatrical training at the London School of Speech Formation and Dramatic Art, graduating in 1978. He is an actor, storyteller and teacher of voice, movement and drama and has given courses and workshops worldwide integrating the approaches of Rudolf Steiner, Michael Chekhov, Viola Spolin (and others, his own included).and has performed extensively throughout Britain, Eire, Continental Europe, Scandinavia, Israel, Southern Africa, The United States, Canada, China, Taiwan, Japan, and New Zealand. He is a master teacher of Steiner Speech Drama and Movement, with over 46 years of experience in the field www.speechanddramastudio.com
Norris’s “Noble Art of the Word” puts to shame our modern actors, who fear to bring colour to poetic, rhythmic language, making it monochromatic dull prose. May they learn from one of the best examples. Theatre Critic – Olsztyn
We Are One Silver Moon, Beyond incarnation, Future’s balance Remembers tomorrow’s Child, Whose cry ignites the cosmos’ Birth. In Black Night Our Child drinks the Milky Day. The Father Receives The Lord in Love’s Freedom As the Star coughs Light who beholds Amen. I Freely bless Happiness Through Having A Child. Witness Our Humanity When God is Freedom Born. I Am all Sin and Virtue When Christmas Love’s God’s Flame. A Child Births Now; His Heart Has Humanity Birthed. We are Sophia in Wisdom’s I, Mary’s Resurrection. Christ Mother, Water birth, The Father of Our Heart Cradles Freedom’s Joy As The Bethlehem of The Holy Spirit. Amen. ~Lucien Dante Lazar, 4-3-21, For Easter Sunday
Yes, friends we are working the Buddha’s Noble 8-fold path – Rudolf Steiner’s ‘Weekly Excercises’ -Jump in – eyes & hearts & hands wide open!
From the Contents of Esoteric Classes “Anyone who undertakes an esoteric training must be clear about what he is doing thereby. We’re karmically connected with what we are and do; we’re placed into the whole of earth existence by leading divine beings. Everything that we think, feel and will in the way of the most sublime beauty and the highest morality is always still connected with general evolution. But by deciding to begin an esoteric training we step out of this general development that’s guided by higher beings. Thereby we begin something absolutely new. In an esoteric training we stop being led by spiritual, divine beings and we become independent companions of these creator spirits.
Man on earth consists of the tetralogy: physical body, etheric body, astral body and ego, which are kept in harmony by higher beings. If we carry out the resolve to begin an esoteric training we then begin to work independently at the transformation of these individual bodies. This takes place through the exercises that are given to us. They gradually work on our etheric body in such a way that it becomes loosened from the firm structure of the physical body. This influence is not directly on the etheric body but on the astral body or soul which we work on through the regular daily or weekly repetition of exercises and pictures.
Every sound, word and sequence of sounds and concepts in the meditation verses is of some significance; they have an effect through the regular repetition while one completely forgets oneself.
When we wake up in the morning we sometimes have a dim memory of the spiritual world, of the world from which strength flows to us through our exercises, and some of an esoteric student’s nicest experiences are these faint memories of the world where we were at the sources of strength. If someone had to leave a friend who was dear to him, it could be that something about this person will flow into the esoteric pupil together with his memory of the spiritual world. Someone who’s given something like this should look upon it as grace.
After meditating for some times we notice that we’ve changed; we no longer say some of the unkind things that we used to and we acquire a much finer logic. We feel that we’ve improved. We get better.
But because we place ourselves outside of the customary framework we lose the support that’s given by convention. We become inwardly freer but thereby your bad sides come out more; then we notice how bad we are. We’re really a lot worse than we usually think.
Difficult, unpleasant hours come to every esoteric striver, and then it’s good to have some support. We find this support in the New Testament; we find advice and support for every case and situation and in every weakness; we only have to look for it. And if we don’t find it, we can comfort ourselves with the conviction that it’s our own weakness that keeps us from finding the right thing but that it’s nevertheless in the Bible.
Deceptions in clairvoyance can easily occur at first. One thinks that one is seeing something outside, and it’s one’s own interior that’s reflected there. It’s even worse with sounds that one thinks one hears; beings who want to pull a meditator down deceive him thereby.
An esoteric striver not only has to do his meditations, to pray in the best sense of the word, but also to watch, to be on the lookout for bad influences that want to interfere when an independent transformation of bodies is undertaken. An occult sentence against all deception is: Every path into the spiritual world goes through the heart. During the meditation one can feel that lines go from every point of the outer physical body towards a center, which is the heart. These lines then go on in the opposite direction and into the spiritual world. This is like a feeling that Christ is in one, and it’s a sign that there’s no deception.
Each of our members is connected with one sign of the Zodiac; forces from Leo flow down into our heart. Forces from the sun also stream into our heart. Likewise, fire spirits work on our heart. Leo, sun, and flame are often used as symbols for the heart. Like the heart every part of us is related to outside forces; we’ve grown out of the whole world and are imbedded in it.
If we really let this fact live in our soul we then rightly understand the verse:
In the spirit lay the germ of my body. And the spirit has imprinted in my body The eyes of sense, That through them I may see The lights of bodies. And the spirit has imprinted in my body Reason and sensation And feeling and will, That through them I may perceive bodies And act upon them. In the spirit lay the germ of my body. In my body lies the germ of the spirit. And I will incorporate into my spirit The super-sensible eyes That through them I may behold the light of spirits. And I will imprint in my spirit Wisdom and power and love, So that through me the spirits may act And I become a self-conscious organ Of their deeds. In my body lies the germ of the spirit.” ~Rudolf Steiner
EarthSky.org
6 April2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Let the waning crescent moon help guide your eye to the largest and second-largest planets of the solar system: Jupiter and Saturn, respectively. Because day by day the moon always travels eastward (in the direction of sunrise) relative to the backdrop stars (and planets) of the zodiac, watch for the moon to sweep past Saturn and then Jupiter in the days ahead.
At present, the king planet Jupiter and the ringed planet Saturn both reside in front of the constellation Capricornus the Seagoat. Bella Luna takes some 27 1/3 days to go full circle in front of the constellations of the zodiac, it takes Jupiter nearly 12 years and Saturn nearly 30 years.
The moon will pass out of the constellation Capricornus and into the constellation Aquarius after several days. But Jupiter won’t pass into the constellation Aquarius until April 25, 2021. Saturn, the most distant world that you can easily see with the eye alone, will remain in front of the constellation Capricornus for the rest of the year. In short, Jupiter stays in front of a constellation for about one year, while Saturn does so for about 2 1/2 years.
Gloria Ssaili
“What is to be the starting force & impulse for events in social & ethical life must come out of the spiritual world.” ~Rudolf Steiner, New Spiritual Impulses in History” Dornach 16 December, 1917
582- Death & Feast Day of Eutychius of Constantinople, Toward the end of his life, Eutychius maintained an opinion that after the resurrection the body will be “more subtle than air” & no longer a tangible thing. This was considered heretical, because it was taken as a denial of the doctrine of physical, corporeal resurrection.
TODAY in 1483 – Good Friday – Birthday of Raphael
TODAY in 1520 – Good Friday – Deathday of Raphael
“It must seem strange that Raphael was the same person as a thorny character like John the Baptist.How could it happen that this thorny man, who had to pave the way for the Mystery of Golgotha in such a violent way, reappeared as the gentle, pliable, charming Raphael? But look at this. Raphael’s father, Giovanni Santi, died when Raphael was eleven. He was a painter. He was not a great painter so far as external achievements go, but he had great ideas in his head, although he could not put them on camas because he had no technical skill. He was also a poet. There was a great deal of fantasy in him, but the physical capacities simply were not there. He went early through the portal of death, and then his forces worked into his son. In Raphael’s hands and imagination worked all that his father could send into the physical world. One can say that the old Giovanni Santi was a painter without hands in the supersensible world, for in a wonderful karmic relationship he supplied, in combination with the Christ-filled individuality of the Baptist, what came to expression in Raphael. The supersensible world had to work with the physical world to achieve this result. It shows how the so-called dead are able to influence those who have been left behind…” ~ Rudolf Steiner, On the Relationship with the Dead, 23 April 1913
Raphael, as we know from was an Italian painter & architect of the High Renaissance. Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop &, despite his death at 37, leaving a large body of work. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace. From 1517 until his death, Raphael lived in the Palazzo Caprini in the Borgo, in rather grand style in a palace designed by Bramante. He never married, & was thought to be bi-sexual. He is said to have had many affairs, but a permanent fixture in his life in Rome was “La Fornarina”, Margherita Luti, the daughter of a baker (fornaro) named Francesco Luti from Siena.
The story goes that Raphael’s premature death on Good Friday, which was also his 37th birthday, was caused by a night of excessive sex with Luti, after which he fell into a fever &, not telling his doctors that this was its cause, was given the wrong cure, which killed him. At his request, Raphael was buried in the Pantheon.
His funeral was extremely grand, attended by large crowds. The inscription in his marble sarcophagus, an elegiac distich written by Pietro Bembo, reads: “Ille hic est Raffael, timuit quo sospite vinci, rerum magna parens et moriente mori”, meaning: “Here lies that famous Raphael by whom Nature feared to be conquered while he lived, and when he was dying, feared herself to die.”
1472 –Birthday of Lucas Cranach the Elder, a German Renaissance painter & printmaker
1520 – Good Friday – Deathday of Raphael
1869 – Celluloid is patented
1930 – Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire,” beginning the Salt Satyagraha
1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit
1971 – Deathday of Igor Stravinsky, Russian-American pianist, composer, & conductor
Ratt Rana
1992 – Deathday of Isaac Asimov, American science fiction writer
2015 – Deathday of Ray Charles
The Karma Project Manifestations of Karma Study Group April 7, 2021 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)View this email in your browser
“We can enjoy a great deal more in nature than that which immediately appeals to us, for we will discover, the more deeply we grasp what it is that has thus condensed into outer matter, that this world of nature in which we delight contains powerful healing substance: the right healing substance for every illness man may succumb to is hidden somewhere in nature. And once we recognize nature as a healer we must try to understand its language, obey what it tells us and act accordingly.“~Rudolf Steiner, Manifestations of Karma, Chapter 10, “Free Will and Karma in the Future of Human Evolution”, Hamburg, 27 May, 1910 … focus of the April 7 meeting.
The lecture can be found online at the RS Archive (eLib) by clicking this link: https://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA120/English/RSP1984/19100527p01.htmlThe Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among three volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “Manifestations of Karma.” This book is a translation from German of Die Offenbarung des Karma (Ga 120), published in English by Rudolf Steiner Press in 1996.
This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference: Video Conference Details: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88475518473 Meeting ID: 884 7551 8473
Agenda for our Study Call 7:15 Welcome and Introductions 7:18 Verse 7:25 Study led by three volunteers Note: CRC team will ID volunteers Laura – pg. 183 to 188 Stefano – pg. 189 to 195 Deb – pg. 195 to end 8:05 Conversation 8:28 Close with verse: Destiny I bear within me what has Been I feel within me what is Becoming In willing, I carry both toward the Future Faith looks upon what has Been And is founded upon Truth Trust looks upon what will be And is founded upon Hope Love Embraces Here and Now Eternal Becoming Eternal Being ~Rudolf Steiner
Living into the spheres of cosmic Life and cosmic Light: from Easter Whitsun in the Calendar of the Soul with Lugi Morelli, Hazel Archer & Geoff Norris
Calendar of the Soul – Luigi Morelli : For those who are familiar with the Calendar of the Soul we could say that during spring and summer we follow the ascent of cosmic life, cosmic light, cosmic warmth and cosmic Word as gifts bestowed upon the human being by the cosmos. By being receptive to them we strengthen our connection to cosmos and Self.
We will briefly explore the dynamics of the year, then look at what qualities of soul we need to develop as we move into spring and summer, most particularly from Easter to Ascension and Whitsun. We will look at the verses of the calendar in conjunction with the artistic renditions of Anne Stockton and Karl König, drawn for each of the verses.
We will ask ourselves: How can we live into and grow from this time of the year? How can we deepen our inner relationship to the event of Ascension? What can we receive and what can we give?
Luigi Morelli – Cultures have been a great part of my upbringing, since I’m American born, part Italian, part Peruvian, mostly grew up in Belgium, and have lived the longest in the US. I have long had a passion for social change from a cultural perspective. Professionally this has brought me to working with the developmentally disabled in the intentional, holistic, communities of Camphill International and L’Arche International, and also in the mainstream. Being a founding member of the Wavecrest L’Arche Community in Los Angeles was a memorable experience. I have lived in intentional cohousing for the last ten years; first in Ecovillage Ithaca, now at Headwaters Cohousing in Cabot, in both places actively involved in community building and process facilitation.
Since 1999 I have found a vocation in researching/writing both about American history and/or about cultural/spiritual change, which you can find at www.millenniumculmination.net. Only of late have I started writing on meditative material I have used for years, publishing an essay on the Foundation Stone Meditation (also onsite) and one upcoming on the Calendar of the Soul. I love outdoors in many forms, gardening, hiking, skiing, love singing and playing flute, and enjoy most kinds of social events.
Dear Friends – What a body of work we have manifested together! Here are all the recordings of our 8-Fold Path to Easter. As always, feel free to share.
And here are all the podcasts based on indications from Emil Bock’s ‘The Three Years’ as rendered by ~hag
Dear Friends – I feel as though I have been washed up on the shore of a Shamballa that is yet to be. Swirling & blinded by the light – whispers of unredeemed shadows mixing with the golden glow of the New Easter Sun.
Maxie Debalene
My 6 BE buddy, Rose Reis-Jackson sent me an e-card that actually moved me to tears this morning, which surprised me to see that I am so tender & raw. Our powerful working thru this year’s Holy Week has cracked me wide open. Has the stone been rolled away for good? Ha, probably not, just rockin & rolling as stones are meant to do. I appreciate all the friends who have reached out to me during this time, I hope to let is all sink in now that the tide is able to reveal the shore as it pulls back the ocean depths from the edge.
And so here we are on Easter Monday with ‘Right Word.’ Besides my work with the 10:10 Thought-Seed, The Circle work, The 6 BE, The FSM Rhythms, & the COTS, I will start this new cycle of the year with earnestly taking up the Buddha’s Noble 8-Fold Path which we touched into during our journey to Easter.
Let me know if you feel called to do this work too, then not only will we be enlivening our own chakras, but we can support each other & build an energy into the social realm.
Martee Seuss
During our Holy Week gatherings we were promoted to ponder & artistically create. If you would like to share what you have worked with please send me an email & I will include your impressions or offerings here.
Liane Collot d’Herbois, shared by Lelan Harris for Nancy Poer
I am so grateful for our dear presenters: Marianne Fieber, Geoff Norris, Christine Burke, Deborah Rogers, Lelan Harris, Sally Greenberg, Anne Dale, Mary Lynn Channer, Nancy Poer, Lucien Dante Lazar, Dottie Zold, Ines Katharina Kinchen, Mary Ruud, our zoom leader Lisa Dalton & ALL OF YOU – What a grand community effort!
Andrew Mazorol and Tynan Kerr
All I can really say is thank you & Blessings dear friends
~hag
Mary Lynn Channer was inspired to add to the Thought-Seed by writing verses for Willing & Feeling based on the Hahn verse centered on Thinking!
5 April 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Shortly after the end of twilight around this time of year, Arcturus, the bright Spring Star climbing in the east, stands just as high as Sirius, the brighter Winter Star descending in the southwest. Early in Tuesday’s dawn the crescent Moon shines under Saturn. Then in Wednesday’s dawn, the Moon shines under Jupiter.
Signe Sheriden
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Drink the cup of heaven – She told me Let grace roll down your head like the blessings of baptism Drink in the Earth to let the young sprouts unfurl within According to their purpose… Drink in the light & praise the spectrum That spills out the threads of eternity… …Then you may Be The fire feed with breath Begotten… ~hag
Miwa Rouertons
SAVE THE DATE: 13 May 2021 – ASCENSION THURSDAY – Exploring the Calendar of the Soul with Luigi Morelli Details TBA
ON-GOINGWAYS TO ENGAGE:
The ARC (Anthroposophical Resorce Center in Atlanta) is inviting you to a Six Basic Exercise Practice Group
Time: weekdays 9 am PT / 11am CT / 12:00 PM ET
Each weekday you are invited to join in a 15 minute practice group focusing on Rudolf Steiner’s foundational exercises. We begin the time each day with a 5 minute leading thought focusing one aspect of the practice. We will follow that with a 5 minute period in which we turn off our cameras and practice on our own. After the five minute bell, we take 1-2 minutes to journal about our experience and the end the call with a 3 minute closing thought. Come when you can, and leave when you must.
Wednesdays 9:30-11:00am CT – True and False Paths in Spiritual Investigation, by Rudolf Steiner. We incorporate ‘The Calendar of the Soul’, eurythmy, focused discussion and seasonal artistic explorations in our study. All are Welcome. Contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg. Hazel@ReverseRitual.comWe meet in person in the Branch Library or join via Zoom Meetinghttps://zoom.us/j/98689103462’Meeting ID: 986 8910 3462
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(CLOSED) Fridays 12noon – 1:30pm CT. The Esoteric Path Through the Nineteen Class Lessons by Sergei O. Prokofieff. A serious study for Members of the School of Spiritual Science. Contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg. Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
