Category Archives: Quote

2nd Holy Night: Christmas Day

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

25 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: This year provides a stunning “Christmas Star” for early evening viewers. Head outside during the deepening twilight & look to the southwest for the brilliant light of Venus, the planet of Love. She shows up nicely from half an hour past sundown until it sets after 8 pm CST.

Jim Zinanti

The Moon reaches apogee, the farthest point in its orbit around Earth, at 11:55 am CST. It is then 252,196 miles from Earth’s center

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

“With Christmas there should pour into our hearts the fundamental human feeling of love — the fundamental feeling that says: compared with all other forces and powers and treasures of the world, the treasures and the power and the force of love are the greatest, the most intense, the most powerful.” ~Rudolf Steiner

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The birth of the Luke Jesus

 

The 2nd night of Hanukkah

304 – Deathday of Saint Anastasia – “Anastasia the Deliverer from Potions”, “Anastasia the Healer” or “Anastasia of Sirmium – venerated as a healer & exorcist. Her relics lie in the Cathedral of St. Anastasia in Zadar, Croatia. She is one of seven women, who along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass

336 – 1st documented celebration of Christmas in Rome

1156 – Death day of Peter the Venerable, French abbot of Cluny. Despite his active life & important role in European history, Peter’s greatest achievement is his contribution to the reappraisal of the Church’s relations with the religion of Islam. He was well known for collecting original sources on & writing about Islam & also as the author of vast amounts of correspondence, reflecting his almost encyclopedic knowledge of theological questions. His writings are counted as some of the most important documents of the 12th century. He took a long sabbatical journey to Spain to study with Islamic scholars of all ranks & published the first Latin edition of the Koran

1642 – Birthday of Isaac Newton, English physicist & mathematician

1923 – Laying of the Foundation Stone in the hearts of the General Anthroposophical Society

1977 – Deathday of Charlie Chaplin

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2nd Holy Night: Christmas Day

Constellation of Aquarius, (Ruling the calves, & ankles of the human body)

Symbol: The Water-Bearer

The Sphere of the Angeloi, also called ‘Sons of Life’ or ‘Sons of Twilight’

Just as the constellation of Pisces is connected with the physical realm, the region of the Water-Bearer is linked with the etheric or Life-body, & with the Hierarchy of the Angels. In Occult Science they are referred to as the ‘Sons of Life’, as the etheric body is the lowest member of their being. They can find form in water. This goes back to Old Moon when they had their human stage. At that time the task of the angels was to pour into humanity (then in the animal stage) the fluid substances of blood & lymph. On earth Angels are entrusted with the mission of guiding individual human beings during their successive earthly lives. They preserve the memory of former incarnations, until we can do this for ourselves. In the future time of the ‘Jupiter epoch’ when humans will be as Angels, water will be the densest element.

The etheric body has 2 major qualities: Life or formative forces & Memory. We encounter these qualities in stories, legends, & in the image of ‘the living water’ or ‘the water of life’ – a symbol of the life giving forces of the cosmic ether. We find this in Dante’s Divine Comedy, when crossing from the Soul-world to the Spirt-land, Dante has to bathe in the waters of Remembrance & Forgetfulness – in Lethe (goddess of water) & Eunoe (a river nymph). In the book ‘How To Know Higher Worlds’ Rudolf Steiner speaks about these waters as 2 draughts that the pupil must take to be initiated.

In the circle of the zodiac the sign of the Water-Bearer represents the image of the ideal, spiritualized human being -humanity when it reaches the stage of the Angelic Being.

Paul Kiritsis

For now, the angels, our role-models, work to reveal to us this spiritual ideal, hoping to stimulate our highest strivings. We can look up to & learn from their ability to govern their astral body. We see this pictured in the symbol of the Water-Bearer, pouring forth pure water in perfect peace & harmony. This will be us – especially in the 6th cultural epoch when we are under the sign of Aquarius. Then we will be completely imbued with Manas-substance, which the Angelic beings will send down as a gift from the heavenly world.

John the Baptist had a special initiation connected to the spiritual teachers in the Moon-Sphere, which relates to the cosmic realm of Aquarius. At night he could look thru the earth, to this constellation, to see the ‘Midnight Sun’ (something we will contemplate further on the 13th hidden Holy Night) And as a consequence of this exceptional initiation, a spiritual being from the Hierarchy of the Angels was able to work thru him when he baptized.  This power loosened their etheric body when dunked in the waters of the Jordan, giving them a direct experience of their guardian angel, who could then direct them to the Christ-Being as He approached Earth. (Mark 1-11)

Our job tonight (& every night), is to develop a direct, intimate relationship to our Angel, stating now in this age, to prepare for this.  Thru inner study & the spiritualizing of our thinking, working to make our Heart-Thinking alive & fluid, we can grasp the Angelic impulses that can lead us into the world of imaginative cognition, giving us the password into the etheric surroundings of the earth (the moon-sphere) & like the Water-Bearer, pour forth Christened good will & peace

Herbert Witzenmann

Virtue: Discretion Becomes the Power of Meditation

May you drink freely from the Waters of Life & never thirst

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Susan Seddon Beulet

Current Festival & Program Events

 

1st Holy Night: Christmas Eve, Adam & Eve’s Day

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

24 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: The Pleiades & Hyades star clusters climb highest in the south during mid-evening & remain visible nearly the whole night. The Pleiades, also known at the Seven Sisters, appears like a small dipper. The larger Hyades forms the V-shaped head of Taurus the Bull

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“To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.” Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The Feast of the Seven Fishes (Italian: Festa dei sette pesci), also known as The Vigil (Italian: La Vigilia), an Italian-American celebration of Christmas Eve with meals of fish & other seafood

1st Night of Hanukkah 

1914 – The marriage of Rudolf Steiner to Marie von Sivers

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 1st Holy Night: Christmas Eve, Adam & Eve’s Day

Constellation of Pisces, Fishes

The Sphere of the Human Being (ruling the feet)

‘From the light, thru the darkness, to the light’ – this is the path of human evolution symbolized by the region of the 2 Fishes. One fish swims down into the physical, where we are graced with 2 feet to walk upright upon the earth, until we are ready to swim back up to spirit.

It’s thought-provoking to remember that each epoch is ruled by a prevailing constellation, guided by a particular Time Spirit. Right now we are in the age of Pisces, guided by Michael. For our contemplation of the Holy Nights, it is interesting to think back to the last time the forces from this region of the Zodiac were raying down their influence. Rudolf Steiner’s research tells us it was when the Sun separated from the earth. The Christ-Being left the Earth with the Sun. The light that was within, began to shine from outside us.

And this constellation will be active again when the Inner Spiritual Sun, won thru individual freedom, begins to rise out of the darkness in the human soul. This is possible because Christ made the descent & united Himself with earthly evolution thru the mystery of Golgotha, gradually awakening the higher Sun-Self in humanity, making us worthy to become the 10th Hierarchy.

This has been the work of the Mystery schools since Lemurian times, referred to as the initiation of the Fishes. We see this reflected in many cultural legends: The great Manu learns of the impending flood from the Fishes. While in the Gilgamesh epic Enkidu is called ‘Son of the Fish’. The Guardian of the Grail receives the name the Fisher-King…etc…

John the Baptist had the task of preparing Jesus of Nazareth for the Fish-initiation which he performed at the Baptism in the Jordan.  And of course the closest disciples of Christ-Jesus were fishermen (Luke 5:10). Later the ancient symbol of the Fishes came to be associated with those that could be called the Bearer of the Christ.

David Newbatt

How striking it is to think that at the 1st Christmas, the symbol of the Fishes pointed, not only back, to the epoch when Christ left the Earth together with the Sun; but also prophetically, to our time now, (since 1930) where humanity has the possibility to experience the ‘Second Coming’ of Christ in the etheric; & then to the future time, when Christ will shine fully once again within the free & conscious human soul.

So here on the 1st Holy Night, in the constellation of Pisces, we find the Alpha & Omega of human evolution, expressing the very essence of Anthropos.

On this night what would it be like to hold a picture of our past selves, informing our present & future selves?

Mary Nichols

Virtue:  Magnanimity Becomes Love

Blessings & Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Preparing for the Journey

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

23 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: Head outside in the early evening & you can see the Big Dipper scraping the northern horizon. This conspicuous asterism never rises or sets (“circumpolar” in astronomical parlance), though December evenings find it at its lowest ebb. This means that the constellation on the opposite side of the North Celestial Pole, the familiar W-shaped Cassiopeia, currently rides highest in the sky.

Sirius, the Dog Star, sparkles low in the east-southeast after dinnertime. Procyon, the Little Dog Star, shines in the east about two fist-widths at arm’s length to Sirius’s left. The two canine stars will be at the same height above your horizon soon after they rise.

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“Study the past if you would define the future.”  ~Confucius

160  – Saints Victor & Corona are two Christian martyrs. They were killed in Roman Syria during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Their legend states that Victor was a Roman soldier of Italian ancestry, serving in the city of Damascus. He was tortured -including having his eyes gouged out- by a commander named Sebastian. While he was suffering from these tortures, the sixteen-year-old spouse of one of his brothers-in-arms, named Corona, comforted & encouraged him. For this, she was arrested & interrogated. Corona was bound to two bent palm trees & torn apart as the trunks were released

562 – Hagia Sophia in Constantinople reopened with a rebuilt dome after a series of earthquakes caused the original to collapse

605 – Deathday of Dagobert, murdered while hunting. The last Frankish king of the Merovingian dynasty . The prosperity of Dagobert’s reign, & the revival of the arts during this period, can be judged from the rich contents of the tombs of the period & from the goldsmiths’ work for the churches. Dagobert revised Frankish law, encouraged learning, patronized the arts, & founded the first great abbey of Saint-Denis

1539 – 1st mention of a Christmas tree at the Strasbourg Minster

1805 – Birthday of Joseph Smith, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1888 – Deathday of Laurence Oliphant, occultist. Rudolf Steiner speaks of him: In the early years of this century I was several times in London. On the occasion of one of these visits I was prompted to make myself acquainted with an extraordinarily significant personality — to begin with, simply in his writings. And as in those days there were rather longer intervals between the journeys than there are now, I obtained from the Theosophical Library the books he had written — the books that is to say, of Laurence Oliphant.

Laurence Oliphant is a remarkably interesting and significant personality: he strikes you in this way directly you begin to study his writings. These books deal with the similarities to be found in different religions, with spiritual religions, and so forth; and all of them bear evidence of a deep understanding of how in the various processes of his body and soul, man is connected with the secrets of the universe. When you read Oliphant’s writings you have the impression: Here is a picture of man in his earth-life that owes its inspiration to deep cosmic instincts. The processes of the earthly life of man that are connected with birth, embryonic life, descent and so forth, are described in such a way as to show how man, as microcosm, is wondrously rooted in the macrocosm.

Now I was very soon led in this study to a point where the figure of the dead Laurence Oliphant stood before me, but not in a form which suggested that I had here to do with the individuality as he was then living after death; it was rather that what was contained in these writings (which may be described as setting forth a kind of cosmic physiology, a cosmic anatomy) began to come alive, began to spiritualise; and a figure appeared, not all at once entirely clear, but unquestionably there before me on many different occasions. I was able to make occult investigations into the matter and I could never do otherwise than bring the figure into connection with what came to me from reading Oliphant. It was very often there before me. At first I was often unable to satisfy myself as to what this figure wanted, what its manifestations meant. The whole manner of its appearance however, left me in no doubt whatever that it was none other than the individuality of Laurence Oliphant; and it was likewise clear to me that this figure had had a long life in the time between death and a new birth — that is to say, the birth as Laurence Oliphant — probably only broken by one earth-life that was not very significant for the rest of the world. What might not then be hidden in the personality of Laurence Oliphant! In short, this appearance of the figure of Laurence Oliphant suggested significant questions of karma.

When I entered on an investigation of the karma, a spiritual Being became manifest who is engaged in the elaboration of human karma, in the same way as the Mars Being of whom I told you in connection with Voltaire and with Ignatius Loyola.~ Cosmic Christianity: Lecture V

One of the most important guidelines that the masters of wisdom and of the harmony of feelings communicate to pupils through a teacher is: Learn to be silent and you’ll get power; give up power and you’ll get will; give up will and you’ll get feeling; give up feeling and you’ll get knowledge. An esoteric must place these occult propositions before his soul in all work and action, and then some day he’ll experience that the four verses are true. One should note that the various forces can only be attained in sequence, so that one can never attain knowledge first and maybe then feeling and then will, and then power. For will arises from the renunciation of power, etc. We’ll give an example from the life of a very rich Briton, Laurence Oliphant, who lived in the middle of the last century. He and his wife had a noble love for their poorer neighbors and moved by this feeling they gave most of what they had to them; and then they migrated to New York. There they made enough money to go to Mt Tabor near Haifa. Here a strange phenomena arose. Oliphant began to write some very interesting and strange books about Genesis that were some of the strangest things that were written about the Bible at the time. But he could only have these thoughts with the help of his wife. After she died Oliphant could only keep on working for a short time, and then the inspiration of his deceased wife no longer reached the physical plane.~ From the Contents of Esoteric Classes, EL, Koeln, 12-1-’06

1913 – The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System

1972 – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000

1986 – Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan & Jeana Yeager -the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without refueling

2002 – A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone & conventional aircraft

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Connor Zendejas

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~We are gods in the body of god…
Truth & Love Our Destiny…
Go then & make of the world something beautiful…
Set up a light in the darkness..
~hag

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Mieke Filmich

Tomorrow we begin our annual journey thru the HOLY NIGHTS, so I wanted to connect with you today, on this eve of the eve, to prepare the way, in the hopes that we can take this powerful initiatory passage together.

Each of the 12 days & 13 nights – From the Eve of the Sacred Birth, to the Eve of Epiphany, can be seen as a micro-cosmic experience of the macro-cosm, allowing us to approach the sublime gesture of the divine spiritual beings, whose outer vestments are the constellations of the zodiac – while simultaneously contemplating the events in our own lives, in order to uncover the golden threads connecting us to each other, as well as to the goals of Earth evolution, & to the divine spiritual nature that comes to birth again & again at this darkest time of year.

This sacred ‘Time out of Time’ provides an opportunity to contemplate, not only the great journey of the Cosmic Christ thru the zodiac into the body of Jesus; but also the path of Jesus to Christ; as well the evolution of every Human Being as a Star unfolding in an Earthly biography – for we as human beings are following both paths.

Lucas Cranach the younger

On Christmas Eve, we begin the contemplation with Adam & Eve, remembering that the fall was the reason The Christ Being made the sacrificial journey from the Godhead to become the Son of Man. The Holy Nights are completed on Epiphany, also recognized as the Baptism -when the Son of God – The Christ – entered human form.

So, when we look at the circle of the Zodiac during the Holy Nights we can find imprinted there a memory of that significant track from spiritual heights to human depths. The 12 apostles formed an outer version of these constellations around Jesus Christ. And we all incarnate into these various signs on our way to becoming spirit once again.

On December 25th, we are invited to consider the historical events behind the first Christmas. A thoughtful way to approach the birthday of Jesus is through the two Nativity stories in the Gospels, each very different from the other.  St. Matthew’s Gospel points to the Solomon Jesus, a re-incarnation of the great sage Zarathustra, actually born earlier in Bethlehem, in the time of Herod, when he is visited by Magi & then fled to Egypt. The Gospel of St. Luke points to the Nathan Jesus, born in Nazareth, a pure divine soul never incarnated before, that part of Adam that stayed in the spiritual world & prepared the way for the Christ.

The two Jesus children unite when the Luke child is twelve & the Matthew child is 14. We find this story in Luke 2:41-52 when his parents find him teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem. As Rudolf Steiner explained in the ‘Fifth Gospel’, the Luke Nathan Jesus takes on the soul forces (Ego) of the wise Matthew Jesus who sacrifices his life on the physical plane.

Di Vinci

Shortly before the Baptism in the Jordan, when Jesus was 30 years old, the Ego of the Solomon soul leaves Jesus & enters Mary, to make room for the Christ at the Baptism by John.

During the Renaissance, some artists knew of these profound secrets, & painted this occult theme showing 3 sacred children: the Luke Nathan Jesus as a boy & a second older boy, The Jesus form the Matthew Gospel, along with John the Baptist (cousin of the Luke Jesus)

 David Newbatt

Of course the mystery schools of old prepared their pupils for this journey even before the birth of Jesus. And any one familiar with the Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson knows that the legend speaks well to this:

“Come listen to me and hear my song
The song of a wonderful youth,
I’ll sing you of Olaf Åsteson
Who slept many days — ’tis the truth.

‘Twas Christmas Eve when down he lay
And slept so long all unknowing,
He never woke till the thirteenth day
When to Church the people were going.
Yes, it was Olaf Åsteson
Who lay so long a-sleeping… ”

Take these ideas into your thoughts, into your sleep – for tomorrow we begin to traverse the return path that leads thru the 12 constellations of the zodiac to a conscious union with the whole world of the Hierarchies.

Until soon –

Xox ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Current Festival & Program Events

The dark space between the stars

Insight, Meditation, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

22 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: This is the time of year when Orion shines in the east-southeast after dinnertime. He’s well up now, but his three-star Belt is still nearly vertical. The Belt points up toward Aldebaran &, even higher, the 7 Sisters: the Pleiades. In the other direction, it points down to where bright Sirius is about to rise twinkling in the bright colors of the rainbow

The waning crescent Moon appears just above Jupiter in this morning’s sky. The benevolent king rises about a half-hour after our satellite bella Luna, & both are clear of the horizon by 2 am CST. They remain conspicuous until twilight is well underway. If you look carefully, you also should see Spica in their vicinity. Virgo the Maiden’s luminary lies about the same distance below Jupiter as the Moon stands above it.

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O Rex Gentium – Prince of Peace

O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.

O King of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.

Isaiah had prophesied: “For a child has been born for us, a son given us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 – “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2:4

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” ~Aldous Huxley

304 – Deathday of Saint Florian a Christian holy man, and the patron saint of Linz, Austria; chimney sweeps; soapmakers, & firefighters. The “Florian Principle” (known in German language areas as “Sankt-Florians-Prinzip”) is named after a somewhat ironic prayer to Saint Florian: “O heiliger Sankt Florian, verschon’ mein Haus, zünd’ and’re an”, equivalent to “O Holy St. Florian, please spare my house, set fire to another one”. This saying is used in German much like the English “not in my back yard“, when the speaker wants to point out that some person tries to get out of an unpleasant situation by an action that will put others in that very same situation. The name Florian is considered synonymous with fireman in the German speaking world. In some cases call for a fireman will actually be spoken as calls for Florian.

856 – Damghan earthquake kills an estimated 200,000 people, the sixth deadliest earthquake in recorded history

1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts & performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) & Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano)

1851 – India’s first freight train is operated in Roorkee, India

1890 – Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kentville &Kingsport, Nova Scotia.

1891 – Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography

1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City

1942 –Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon

1989 – Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East & West Germany

1989 – Deathday of Samuel Beckett, Irish author, poet, & playwright, Nobel Prize laureate

2008 – An ash dike ruptured at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing 1.1 billion US gallons of coal fly ash slurry

2010 – The repeal of the Don’t ask, don’t tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Darkness gives
Way to light…
Confusion to understanding…
My green heart
Witch was pitched into the fire
Sizzles like fresh kill…
& the stars fade like memory
The instant before dawn…
High in the East, Bella Luna rounds space
Opening like a laughing eye…
That which can be named must exist…
That which is named can be written…
That which is written is remembered…
What is remembered lives…
Let the rest
Rest…
~hag

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…’The wine dark sea’…
…The active dark womb…
…The dark space between the stars…
Wrap this darkness gently about you like a comfortable blanket…Float gently now in its depths…Grow here, nourished by an invisible cord that connects you to the Source of all life…Floating gently in the dark…Softly rocking in the dark…And although it is dark, we realize that what surrounds us is not empty, but – like the womb – full of life. Take a moment now to sense the swirling, nurturing energy of the dark.

And now, as the energy increases, there is a spark…& the  dark gives birth…See that spark now as it glows, watch that spark now, watch it as it grows. Glowing brighter & brighter, it grows into a flame. And as you look at this flame, its light fills you with warmth…the light fills you with love. And as you feel the increased love & warmth within you, the visible intensity of the flame slowly diminishes & as it does, in its place, slowly coming to light, is the outline of a present. A gift…becoming more solid, until you can see its form clearly. Look how it is wrapped in a glistening filament of light.

This gift has your name on it, inscribed in the glimmering material. Is your name written in a special color? Is the inscription special in any other way? Approach your wrapped present now more closely. What shape is it? How big is it? What color is its wrapping? Pick it up: is it light? heavy?

And now you unwrap your gift. How easy or difficult is it to unwrap?

You finish opening your present….now receive your gift. What is it? Look at it carefully. Experience it fully. Accept it. Accept your gift with joy. Feel your heart warm with the love with which this gift is given to you.

And now, from your heart, send out gratitude for this gift, send out thanks for this gift, send it out like light, like a beacon back to the Great Mother, back to the Father Ground, out to the Universe- both the dark & the light. Send out your thanks for this gift.

Now, if you wish, find a place for this gift, a safe place where you can access this gift, a place to put this gift to work, that it may bless the world & give you the strength you need during the whole of the New Year.

Lighting a candle:
Deep in the ground of the human soul
Of victory assured
The Spirit-Sun is living
All through the winter of the inner life
The faithful heart divines it

See you in the dark
Find you in the light
Xox ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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Current Festival & Program Events

SOL INVICTA

Celestial Event, Insight, Meditation, Poetry, Quote, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

21 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: The Ursid meteor shower peaks tonight. The shower’s radiant — the point from which the meteors appear to originate — lies in the constellation Ursa Minor, near the Little Dipper’s bowl. The radiant is visible in the north all night, but it climbs higher as dawn approaches. The waning crescent Moon won’t interfere much after it rises around 2 am tomorrow morning, though your best views likely will come between 11 pm & 1am. Observers with clear skies should be able to see 5 to 10 Ursid meteors per hour.

Earth’s Winter Solstice occurs at 6:44 am CST. At that moment, the Sun reaches its farthest point south in the sky. The solstice marks the official beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, & tonight has more hours of darkness than any other. From mid-northern latitudes, however, the earliest sunset occurred about two weeks ago & the latest sunrise won’t happen until early January.

Step out at the beginning of dawn Thursday morning the 22nd, & high in the south you’ll find Jupiter, fainter Spica, & the waning crescent Moon in a line.

“When we look up to the wonder of the starry world, when we contemplate the whole process of the universe with its glories and marvels, then we are led at last to the feeling that all the glory that lies open to our view in the whole universe that surrounds us only has meaning when it is reflected in an admiring human soul.” ~Goethe

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

Triumphant in man’s deepest soul
Lives the Spirit of the Sun;
Quickened forces, set astir,
Awake the feelings to His presence
In the inner winter life.
Hope, impulse of the heart,
Beholds the Spirit victory of the Sun
In the blessed Light of Christmas,
The sign of highest life
In the winter’s deepest night. ~Rudolf Steiner

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“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” December, 1917

Winter Solstice or Yule

The O Antiphons, also known as The great Os are Magnificat antiphons used at Vespers of the last seven days of Advent in Western Christian traditions. The importance of the “O Antiphons” is twofold. First, each one is a title for the Messiah. Secondly, each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah.

O Oriens – The Dawn Breaking, the Light of the World (A literal translation of the Latin yields “O Rising Sun”, but the poetic “O Morning Star” or “O Dayspring” is often preferred)

O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Morning Star,
splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Isaiah had prophesied: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.” ~Isaiah 9:2

Blue Christmas, also called the Longest Night in the Western Christian tradition, is a day in the Advent season marking the longest night of the year. On this day, some churches hold a church service that honors people who have lost loved ones in that year. There is an interesting convergence for this day as it is also the traditional feast day for Saint Thomas the Apostle. This linkage invites making some connections between Thomas’s struggle to believe the tale of Jesus’ resurrection, the long nights just before Christmas, & the struggle with darkness & grief faced by those living with loss

Caravaggio

72 – Deathday of Thomas the Apostle, called Didymus which means “the twin” one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, according to the New Testament. He is informally called doubting Thomas because he doubted Jesus’ resurrection when first told (in the Gospel of John account), followed later by his confession of faith, “My Lord and my God“, on seeing Jesus’ wounds.

Traditional legend written centuries later claim he travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, travelling as far as Tamil Nadu & Kerala in present-day India. According to tradition, he baptized many people, founding what today is known as Saint Thomas Christians or Nasranis. After his death, the relics of Saint Thomas the Apostle were enshrined as far as Mesopotamia in the 3rd century. In 1258, some of the relics were brought to Abruzzo in Ortona, Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle. He is often regarded as the Patron Saint of India, & the name Thoma remains quite popular among Christians in India

1804 – Birthday of Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1907 – The Chilean Army commits a massacre of at least 2,000 striking saltpeter miners in Iquique, Chile.

1910 – An underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery No. 3 Pit in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, England, kills 344 miners.

1913 – Arthur Wynne’s “word-cross“, the first crossword puzzle, is published

1919 – American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia

1940 – Deathday of F. Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist & short story writer

1945 – Deathday of George S. Patton, American general

1946 – An 8.1 Mw earthquake & subsequent tsunami in Nankaidō, Japan, kills over 1,300 people & destroys over 38,000 homes

1963 –”Bloody Christmas” begins in Cyprus, resulting in the displacement of 25,000-30,000 Turkish Cypriots & destruction of more than 100 villages

1967 – Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, having lived for 18 days after the transplant

1968 –Apollo 8 is launched placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans

1973 – The Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict opens

1988 – A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270

1992 – A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport, killing 156

1994 – Mexican volcano Popocatépetl, dormant for 47 years, erupts

2004 – Iraq War: A suicide bomber killed 22 at the base next to the main U.S. military airfield, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers

***

SOL INVICTA { THE FEAST OF THE UNCONQUERED SUN }

THE BREATH OF NATURE IS SUSPENDED
IN THE VAST & HOLY NIGHT
WE WAIT WHILE WITHIN
THE DARK KING IS TRANSFORMED
INTO THE INFANT LIGHT

THE MOTHER
SLUMBERING THRU THE WINTER OF HER LABOR ABIDES…
HER COLD VELVET CHAOS
INDUCING THE IMMACULATE PROMISE OF LIGHT

HER BODY IS SALT
SAVOR ITS PATIENT SONG OF DEATH IN LIFE
PLUNGE INTO HER DORMANT SERUM
& RISE WITH THE MIDNIGHT SUN

PAY YOUR PENNY –
RECONCILED PROCEED –
COMMENCE THE JOURNEY STEEP
OF THE CARDINAL EARTH
FROM SOUTH TO NORTH
IN ADVENT DEEP
WE ARE AWAKE IN THE NIGHT
TO FEAST ON CAKES OF CARAWAY SOAKED IN CIDER…
PASS THE SPARK TO THE NEW WISHING LOG
FOR THE ALL NIGHT VIGIL
FIRE OAK ROOTS IN A CIRCLE
LET THEM BURN UNTIL DAWN

THE HUSHED CENTER THICK AS FRUITCAKE
& THE EVERGREEN CIRCUMFERENCE
A LIGHTED WREATH – ARE ONE – FOR ALL

A STATE VAST ENOUGH & STILL ENOUGH
TO ALLOW THE POWER OF LOVE
TO RETURN AT LAST

LET THE TANG OF JUNIPER & HOLLY
SHOUT WITH INCENSE TO THE COMFORTER
& THE BELLS RING OUT THE WORD –

‘THE KING IS DEAD LONG LIVE THE KING’
WE CALL OUT EMMANUEL –
SHEPHERDS QUAKE & SERAPHIM SING
FOLLOWING THE STAR THAT SHOWS US THE HOMELESS AVATAR
OUR WINTER BORN KING

EAT PHOSPHORUS WITH THE IVY GIRLS –
AMULET SPRIGS ABOVE THE PORTALS –
TRANSMIT THE RIDDLE OF MISTLETOE WITH WASSAIL KISSES –
& PASS THRU THE GATE OF YULE-TIDE
TO SUCCEED THE ZENITH & CALL THE SUN RISE
IN CRIMSON SASH & CANDLED CROWN
WITH LUCY BRIDE
SHE DANCES THE SILENT SPACE
WITH OPEN HANDS
TO SPIN THE WHEEL THROUGHOUT THE LONGEST NIGHT
SINGING ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ SWEET SUN KING
SOON TO REVEAL LOVES PURE LIGHT

IN THE VAST & HOLY DARK
THE VAST & HOLY DARK
THE VAST & HOLY DARK
SOON TO REVEAL
LOVES PURE LIGHT

IN THE VAST & HOLY DARK
THE VAST & HOLY DARK
THE VAST
& HOLY
NIGHT
~hag

***

Entering into the Longest Night
Entering into the Birth of Light
Consecrating the expected Nativity
Of a New Solar Year
In Yule-Tide Exultation
In the light of Transformation…

The battle between old & new – Dark & Light…The winter solstice is the dark before the dawn, a time of renewal, giving us the most primordial myths of humankind: In Old Norse mythology, the Sun goddess was swallowed up by the wolf of darkness, but was reborn as her daughter, the maiden goddess of the underworld, who rose again to illumine the world. In Greece & Rome, midwinter marked the birth of gods, such as Mithras & Dionysus, who died & journeyed into the underworld, winning gifts for humankind before their miraculous rebirth. We must honor the dark before calling in the light.

The esoteric meaning of this time of year can be gleaned from the ancient mystery schools. In the Hellenistic world, initiates into the Mysteries of Isis had to undergo a ceremony of death & rebirth in which they entered the underworld to gaze upon the “sun at midnight.” This ceremony, which had its origins in ancient Egypt, speaks of the journey of the soul into the fecund depths of the subconscious mind, where we meet the Guardian at the gate, which opens to the dark sea of spirit from which all creation comes forth, purified & born anew.

To this day people gather at sacred sites as far apart as Newgrange in Ireland & the temple of Karnak in Egypt, to celebrate the miracle of the sun’s return at the darkest time of the year – In the pitch-black sanctuaries of caves & earth chambers, to wait for the birth of new light & life.

Of course when we strive to walk the modern path of initiation, working the 6 basic exercises every day, we don’t wait for the outward sun to shine, we must labor to give birth to the light within, for ourselves.

At a time when the fate of our planet & all her creatures hangs in the balance, let each of us journey down into the cave of the soul to drink from the secret well of wisdom & find the hidden flame within the dark — then return bearing our own unique gift of Light for the world.

The gift of the light (Gesture: Both hands scoop up light & bring it to your heart)
We thankfully take, But nothing may be, Just alone for our sake.
The more we give light (Hands move outward) The one to the other
It shines & spreads life (Arms move out horizontally, spreading light)
Growing still further,
Till every spark is set aflame. (Right hand in front of chest shows the proof of a flame.)
Till every heart, Joy shall proclaim. (Eurythmy Ah — arms up, palms upward)

May the cave of your heart be ever bright –

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg