Category Archives: Quote

Blood Moon

24 October 2018 – “Speaking with the Stars”: October’s Full Moon is called the “Blood Moon or Hunter’s Moon.” Bella Luna officially arrives at opposition to the Sun (which is what makes a full moon) at 11:45 pm CDT. You can find her rising in the east around sunset, residing in the northern part of the constellation Cetus, peaking in the south around 1 am. Look left of her shining face by two or three fists for the little Pleiades cluster on the rise. Whenever we see the Pleiades climbing the eastern sky, their tiny dipper shape is standing on its handle. Bella Luna dips low in the west by the time morning twilight starts to paint the sky.

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1260 – Chartres Cathedral is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France

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1601 – Death day of Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer & alchemist. Rudolf Steiner speaks about him here in Karmic Relationships, Volume IV: Lecture VI: “We were tracing the thread of evolution which enters into the spiritual life of the present time, and we left off with the individuality of Julian the Apostate. I told you that this individuality was next incarnated in one who is only known by legendary accounts, whose secret is contained in the Parsifal legend, in the name of Herzeleide. In this life as Herzeleide, the soul of Julian the Apostate entered into a far deeper inner life. The soul-life of the individuality was deepened, as was indeed necessary after the many storms and inner moods of opposition which he had undergone in his life as Julian the Apostate.

But this later life of which I told you — this life as Herzeleide — spread itself out over the former life as Julian the Apostate like a warm embalming cloud. Thus the soul grew more intense and deep and inward, and grew richer, too, in manifold impulses of the inner life.

Now this soul was among those who had carried over something of the ancient Mysteries. Julian had lived within the substance of the ancient Mysteries at a time when their light was still radiant in many ways. Thus he had received into himself much spirituality of the cosmos. All this had been as it were pressed back during the incarnation as Herzeleide; but it was none the less pressing forth in the soul, and thus we find the same individuality again in the 16th century; we find arising in him once more, in a Christianised form, what he had undergone as Julian the Apostate. For the same individuality reappears in the 16th century as Tycho de Brahe, and stands face to face with the Copernican world-conception which emerges within Western civilisation at that time.”

1911 – Orville Wright remains in the air nine minutes and 45 seconds in a Wright Glider at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

1926 – Harry Houdini’s last performance takes place at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit. Harry Houdini was born Ehrich Weisz on 24 March 1874 in Budapest, Hungary. The son of a Rabbi, he relocated with his family to America in 1876.  By the age of 17 he was known as Harry Houdini & left his family to pursue his career in magic. Booked for a two-week engagement in Detroit at The Garrick Theatre, he arrived in pain, but decided to perform the opening show on October 24th.  With much difficulty he performed, but cut the show short & was admitted to Grace Hospital.  It had been determined that he had a ruptured appendix. Surgery was not enough to spare Houdini’s life & he died on 31 October 1926 from peritonitis.

1945 – Founding of the United Nations.

1946 – Deathday of Emil Grosheintz – dentist who had a practice in Basel, was an early anthroposopher, when the society was still connected to the theosophical movement. Rudolf Steiner loved him because of his sacrificial & conscientious work. His professional career as a dentist allowed him to accompany Steiner on many of his lectures. Like a leitmotiv, his life runs through the fact that he was always present as a witness in important moments of anthroposophy.

In 1906, Emil Grosheintz co-founded the Paracelsus branch in Basel. In 1907 he took part in the Munich Congress & became a member of the German section of the Theosophical Society in 1908.

In 1912, during a visit of Rudolf Steiner to his estate in Dornach, Grosheintz decided to make his land on the Dornach hill available for the construction of the first Goetheanum, & organized the purchase & donation of some further eastern plots.

In 1913 he became chairman of the Johannesbauverein. Because of his excellent organizational abilities & his experience, Emil Grosheintz became co-founder of the anthroposophical branch at the Goetheanum on September 12, 1920, & until May 9, 1943, he served as its first chairman &remained honorary chairman until his death

On 24 December 1914, Emil & Nelly Grosheintz-Laval were witnesses at the wedding ceremony of Marie & Rudolf Steiner.

On September 20, 1913, Emil Grosheintz & his wife Nelly Grosheintz-Laval took part in the laying of the foundation stone for the first Goetheanum. In the same year he moved with his wife & the two sons Hansi & Pierre into the Duldeck house designed for him by Rudolf Steiner on the Dornach hill near the Goetheanum.

1929 – “Black Thursday” stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.

Image result for 1975 – In Iceland, 90% of women take part in a national strike

1975 – In Iceland, 90% of women take part in a national strike, refusing to work in protest of gaps in gender equality.

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1980 – The government of Poland legalizes the Solidarity trade union

2008 – “Bloody Friday” saw many of the world’s stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

A Haiku for Lori Kulik’s Birthday

Between Michael
& All Souls, green becomes gold
Your fire a bell
Calling in the Full Blood Moon
Your bright gifts so bold
In the cosmic Iron Swell
~hag

***


From Occult History: Lecture 4 
by Rudolf Steiner

During the 16th century, in the year 1546, a remarkable man was born of a noble house of Northern Europe, and in his very cradle, so to speak, everything was laid — including family wealth — that could have led him to positions of great honour in the traditional life of that time. Because, in line with his family traditions, it was intended that he should occupy some eminent political or other high position, he was marked out for the legal profession and sent with a tutor to the University of Leipzig to study jurisprudence. The tutor tormented the boy — for he was still a boy when he was forced to study law — all day long. But at night, while the tutor was sleeping the sleep of the just and dreaming of legal theories, the boy stole out of bed and observed the stars with the very simple instruments he had himself devised. And very soon he knew not only more than any of the teachers about the secrets of the stars but more than was to be found at that time in any book. For example, he very soon noticed a definite position of Saturn and Jupiter in the constellation of Leo, turned to the books and found that they recorded it quite erroneously. The longing then arose in him to acquire as exact a knowledge as possible of this star-script, to record as accurately as possible the course of the stars. No wonder that in spite of all his family’s resistance he soon extracted the permission to become a natural philosopher and astronomer, instead of dreaming his life away over legal books and doctrines. And having considerable means at his disposal, he was able to set up a whole establishment.

This was arranged in a remarkable way. In the upper storeys were instruments designed for observing the secrets of the stars; in the cellars there was equipment for bringing about different combinations and dissolutions of substances. And there he worked, dividing his time between observations carried out on the upper floors of the building and the boiling, fermenting, mixing and weighing which went on in the cellars below. There he worked, in Order to show, little by little, how the laws that are written in the stars, the laws of the planets and fixed stars, the macrocosmic laws, are to be found again microcosmically in the mathematical numbers underlying the combinations and dissolutions of substances. And what he discovered as a living connection between the heavenly and the earthly he applied to the art of medicine, producing medicaments which were the cause of bitter animosity around him because he gave them freely to those he wanted to help. The doctors at that time, intent upon extorting high fees, raged against this man who was accused of perpetrating all sorts of “horrors” with what he endeavoured to bring down from the heavens to the earth.

Fortunately, as the result of a certain happening, he found favour with the Danish King, Frederick the Second, and as long as he retained this favour, all went well: tremendous insight was gained into the spiritual working of cosmic laws in the sense I have just described. This man did indeed know something about the spiritual course of cosmic laws. He dumbfounded the world with things which admittedly would no longer find the same credence to-day. On one Occasion, when he was at Rostock, he prophesied, from the constellation of the stars, the death of the Sultan Soliman, which came true within a few days of the date he had foretold. The news of this made the name of Tycho Brahe famous in Europe. To-day the world at large knows hardly anything more of Tycho Brahe, whose life lies such a short time behind us, than that he was somewhat of a crank and never quite reached the lofty standpoint of modern materialism. He recorded a thousand stars for the first time in the maps of the heavens and also made the epoch-making discovery of a type of star, the “Nova,” which flares up and vanishes again, and described it. But these things are mostly passed over in silence. The world really knows nothing about him except that he was still “stupid” enough to devise a plan of the cosmos in which the earth stands still and the sun together with the planets revolve around it. That is what the world in general knows to-day. The fact that we have to do here with a significant personality of the 16th century, with one who accomplished an infinite amount that even to-day is still useful to astronomy, that untold depths of wisdom are contained in what he gave — none of this is usually recorded, for the simple reason that in presenting the system in detail, out of his own deep knowledge, Tycho Brahe saw difficulties which Copernicus did not see. If such a thing dare be said — for it does indeed seem paradoxical — even with the Copernican cosmic system the last word has not yet been uttered. And the conflict between the two Systems will still occupy the minds of a later humanity. — That, however, only by the way; it is too paradoxical for the present age.

It was only under the successor of the King who had been well-disposed towards him that the enemies of Tycho Brahe arose an all sides. They were doctors and professors at the University of Copenhagen, and they succeeded in inciting the successor of his patron against him. Tycho Brahe was driven from his fatherland and was obliged to go south again. It was in Augsburg that he had originally set up his first great planisphere and the gilded globe on which he always marked the new stars he discovered — finally amounting to a thousand. This man was destined to die in exile in Prague. To this very day, if we turn, not to the usual textbooks, but to the actual sources, and study Kepler, let us say, we can still see that Kepler was able to arrive at his laws because of the meticulous astronomical observations made by Tycho Brahe before him. Here indeed was a personality who again bore the stamp, in a grand style, of what had been great and significant wisdom before his time; one who could not reconcile himself to the kind of knowledge that became popular immediately afterwards in the shape of the materialistic view of the world. Truly it is a strange destiny, this destiny of Tycho Brahe!

And now, placing both personal destinies side by side, think how endlessly instructive it is when we learn from the Akasha Chronicle that the individuality of Julian the Apostate appears again in Tycho Brahe, that Tycho Brahe is, so to say, a reincarnation of Julian the Apostate. Thus strangely and paradoxically does the law of reincarnation take effect when the karmic connection of the single individual are modified by world-historic karma; when the cosmic Powers themselves use the human individuality as their instrument.”

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~ALL SOULS FESTIVAL~

Come Experience the Journey of the Soul in the Life between Death & Rebirth

 6:45 pm – 9:30 pm Friday 2 November 2018 at theRudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618

Cello by Martin Brenman, Guitar by Philp Armetta, Didgeridoo by CG

The Descent of Inanna – An archetype of the soul in the spirit world with Hazel Archer Ginsberg

We cross the threshold for the Leminscate Journey thru the Planetary Spheres & the Zodiac – Eurythmy with Mary Ruud

an Artistic Exploration with Nancy Melvin during the Circle of Remembrance

$10 Donation & Snacks to Share Encouraged

For more info. contact Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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‘The Festival Life’

with Hazel Archer Ginsberg for WITH = Waldorf in the Home

Monday 5 November 2018 from 8:15 am – 9:30 am

at the Chicago Waldorf School Andersonville Campus, 5200 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL · (773) 465-2662

In the cafe (on far north east side of first floor) after the Day of the Dead assembly

For more info. contact Judy Shaver jlshaver9832@gmail.com

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 2018 Fall Youth Conference in Chicago Nov 1-4th, 2018 

Our Ideas – Our Ideals – Working together to create together

Tamarack Waldorf School will stay as a group though Friday evening- the rest of us will carry on through Sunday at 1PM.

Sponsored by the Christian Community in Coordination with Tamarack Waldorf School, Bart Eddy and Detroit Community School, Elderberries Chicago and musician Jen Zimberg.

High School students that want to come together to work- build- paint- create – in conversation and singing – Our Ideas – Our Ideals – Working together to create together

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Friday 30 November 2018 – 7 – 9 pm

 HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT:  THE MYSTERY OF THE APOCALYPSE with Margaret Shipman

 ‘Apocalypse’ today almost always means war, but its primary definition is REVELATION.  The Book of Revelations seems warlike until we begin to delve into the messages, seals, trumpets and bowls as stages of initiation!  We will explore the complexities of this amazing book of the Bible by taking a journey through the 7-pointed star and the Apocalyptic Seals of the 1907 Munich Conference.

$15 or pay what you can, Snacks to Share Encouraged

AND:

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Saturday 1 December 2018 – 10 am – noon

 THE CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE with Margaret Shipman

 How can we begin to understand the importance of The Christmas Conference of 1923/24?  Can it be understood as so profound to consider it a second turning point of time?

We will take a journey with the foundation stone, beginning with the laying of the first stone, a physical one, for the first Goetheanum, in 1913.  Then — through the phoenix experience of the 1922/23 fire, and its journey back to earth a year later—we find it again, as a foundation stone meditation planted into our hearts.  The introduction of The Foundation Stone Meditation was a central focus of the Christmas Conference week.  It was one of three great gifts which Rudolf Steiner brought at this time as powerful spiritual tools for human evolution.

 $15 or pay what you can, Snacks to Share Encouraged

 Margaret Shipman has been a member of the Anthroposophical Society for 30 years and considers the work of Rudolf Steiner to be the core of her life.  In 2002 she started a national study group for anthroposophy – ‘Geographically Engaged Members Studygroup’, or G.E.M.S.  She is also a cellist and pianist and spent 36 years repairing and making instruments of the violin family.  She co-authored the book titled Violin Restoration with her mentor, Hans Weisshaar, who was in the second-ever Waldorf class and met Rudolf Steiner as a child.

For more info. contact coordinator Hazel Archer Ginsberg hag@rschicago.org

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Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

 The Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

To bear myself in me

29 September 2018 – “Speaking with the Stars”: There’s roughly a two-hour window of darkness now between twilight’s end & moonrise The window gets longer every night this week. Late tonight when the Moon does rise, it’s in company with Aldebaran. By Sunday morning the 30th, the Moon and Aldebaran are shining very high toward the south.

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“In the karma of every single Anthroposophist is written: Become a person of initiative; observe whether out of the hindrances of your body or any other hindrances that thwart you, you do not discover initiative to be the center of your being. Suffering and joy for you will actually depend on whether or not you can discover personal initiative. As if in letters of gold, there should always stand before the soul of the Anthroposophist: ‘Initiative is part of your karma; much of what meets you in life will depend on whether you can bring this initiative to consciousness’. ~Rudolf Steiner.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

The Feast Day of St. Michael All the Heavenly Hosts, also called MICHAELMAS

1227 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the Crusades. A man of extraordinary culture, energy, & ability Frederick II was called stupor mundi (the wonder of the world), by Nietzsche, also the first European, the first modern ruler – by many historians, Frederick established in Sicily & southern Italy a modern, centrally governed kingdom with an efficient bureaucracy.

He was a King of Germany, of Italy, & Burgundy. His other royal title was King of Jerusalem by virtue of marriage & his connection with the Sixth Crusade.

He was frequently at war with the Papacy, hemmed in between Frederick’s lands in northern Italy & his Kingdom of Sicily (the Regno) to the south. Pope Gregory IX went so far as to call him an Antichrist.

Speaking six languages (Latin, Sicilian, German, French, Greek & Arabic, Frederick was an avid patron of science & the arts. He played a major role in promoting literature through the Sicilian School of poetry. His Sicilian royal court in Palermo, saw the first use of a literary form of an Italo-Romance language, Sicilian. The poetry that emanated from the school had a significant influence on literature & on what was to become the modern Italian language.

He was also the first king who explicitly outlawed trials by ordeal as they were considered irrational.

Related imageCaravaggio

1571 – Birthday of Caravaggio, Italian painter

1717 – An earthquake strikes Antigua Guatemala, destroying much of the city’s architecture & making authorities consider moving the capital to a different city

1812- Birthday of Caspar Hauser, grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. Theories link  him with the grand ducal House of BadenThese claims, & his subsequent death by stabbing, sparked much debate & controversy.

“…It was the case of that human being, so enigmatic for many people, who was once placed into this city in a mysterious way, and who in just as mysterious a way met his death in Ansbach. An author, in order to indicate the mystery of his life, wrote that as he was carried out to burial the sun was setting on the one horizon and the moon was rising on the other. I speak, as you know, of Caspar Hauser. If you disregard all the pros and cons that have been asserted, if you look only at what has been fully verified, you will know that this foundling — who was one day simply there in the street, and who since he did not know whence he came, was called the Child of Europe — could neither read nor write when he was found. At an age of twenty years he possessed nothing of what is gained through the intellect but he had a remarkable memory. As they began to instruct him, as logic entered his soul, his memory disappeared. This transition in consciousness was accompanied by something else. He possessed at first an incredible, an entirely inborn truthfulness and it was precisely in this truthfulness that he went more and more astray. The more he nibbled, so to say, at intellectuality, the more it vanished. There would be many things to study were we to enter deeply into this human soul which had been artificially held back. It is not difficult for the student of Spiritual Science to credit the popular tradition, so unacceptable to the learned people of to-day, which relates that while Caspar Hauser still knew nothing, while he still had no idea that there were beings besides himself of different form, he exercised a remarkable effect upon quite savage creatures. Savage animals humbled themselves and became mild, something streamed from him that made such beasts gentle, although they savagely attacked anyone else. We could in fact penetrate deeply into the soul of this remarkable personality, so enigmatic to many, and you would see how things that cannot be explained from ordinary life are led back through Spiritual Science to spiritual facts. Such facts cannot be learnt by speculation but only by spiritual observation, though they are comprehensible to an unbiased and logical thinking.

All this has only been said in order to show you that the modern consciousness has evolved from another, an age-old-state when man was not in direct touch with outer objects in the modern sense, but on the other hand was in connection with facts and beings of the spiritual world.” ~Rudolf SteinerThe Apocalypse of St. John, Spiritual Science — The Gospel — The Future of Mankind

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1885 – The first public electric tramway in the world is opened in Blackpool, England

1902 – Deathday of Émile Zola a French novelist, playwright, journalist, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, & an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France & in the exoneration of the falsely accused & convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in the renowned newspaper headline J’accuse. Zola was nominated for the first & second Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901 & 1902. His death from carbon monoxide poisoning is suspected to have been murder

1924 – Ludwig Polzer holds his 1st First Class Lesson

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1954 – The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed

Image result for 1957 – Twenty MCi of radioactive material is released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at Chelyabinsk

1957 – Twenty MCi of radioactive material is released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at Chelyabinsk

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1981 – Deathday of Adolf Arenson, German composer & Anthroposopher. Arenson editied many of Rudolf Steiner’s works, & composed the music for many of the plays & productions. Steiner mentions him at the end of Wonders of the World lecture 1

Image result for 2008 – Following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers & Washington Mutual, The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points,

2008 – Following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers & Washington Mutual, The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history

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2009 – The 8.1 Mw Samoa earthquake strikes with a maximum Mercalli intensity.  A destructive tsunami follows, leaving 1189 dead & hundreds injured.

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

~my hives shimmer with grace
golden in the grey day
the ever busy bees work at home today
cleaning house
singing appeasements to the undines…
the sukkah waits
as the countenance of Michael
radiates
the power of Divine Will
in Love
~hag

***

A deep holiness broods over the dying light. Now, in ourselves we must find our own power of bestowing warmth; that we may shine from within. In the realm of the senses the plant world sinks down into death. Inwardly the fire-spirits, offspring of the lofty Beings of the Sun, bearing the Archetypal pictures of the plant kingdom, stream down into the womb of Mother Earth. All around us we see withering, the color leaving to reveal the essence. As human beings we must not allow the death of nature to draw us into sleep. In autumn we must discover the force of resurrection within, so that we can pass with full consciousness thru the gate of death with a wakened soul, in our time. This is possible by what Michael bestows as the Fire of Will. We can come into communion with the most hidden secrets of existence now, whispering: Feel yourself as bearer of the Motherhood of Nature, to conceive in love the fiery germ of Self.

Blessings of Michaelmas dear friends.

~hag

see you in NOLA

AGM of the ASA Friday, Oct 5 – Sunday, Oct 7 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE!

First Grace United Methodist Church 3401 Canal Street, New Orleans (Check out their amazing history here!)

Pre-conference: Thursday, Oct 4: Living in the Branches National Branch and Group Gathering

Friday 5 October 2018 4:00-5:15 pm Cain and Abel: Building a bridge between the Two Streams, with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

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Friday 19 October 2018, 7 – 9 pm

COMMUNITY MEETING: ”A healing conversation about equality and the threefold social order: What is living in us now?” 

Facilitated by Paulette Arnold

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Friday 2 November 2018, 7 – 9 pm

ALL SOULS FESTIVAL

Earthly Death / Cosmic Life

Storytelling: The Descent of Inanna – An archetype of the soul in the spirit world

 Lemniscate Journey thru the Planetary Spheres & the Zodiac –Artistic Exploration – Which Wandering or Fixed Star calls to you?

Didgeridoo

Remembering those who have Crossed the Threshold

The Hallelujah in Eurythmy

Contact Carolyn Arnett with the names of loved ones, who have died this year, to be read in the circle. (773-539-3688) c.roorda.arnett@gmail.com

$10 Donation & Snacks to Share Encouraged

For more info. contact Hazel Archer Ginsberg

***

Friday 30 November 2018 – 7 – 9 pm 

 HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT:  THE MYSTERY OF THE APOCALYPSE with Margaret Shipman

‘Apocalypse’ today almost always means war, but its primary definition is REVELATION.  the Book of Revelations seems warlike until we begin to delve into the messages, seals, trumpets and bowls as stages of initiation!  We will explore the complexities of this amazing book of the Bible by taking a journey through the 7-pointed star and the Apocalyptic Seals of the 1907 Munich Conference.

$15 or pay what you will, Snacks to Share Encouraged

AND:

Saturday 1 December 2018 – 10 am – noon

 THE CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE with Margaret Shipman

How can we begin to understand the importance of The Christmas Conference of 1923/24?  Can it be understood as so profound to consider it a second turning point of time?

We will take a journey with the foundation stone, beginning with the laying of the first stone, a physical one, for the first Goetheanum, in 1913.  Then — through the phoenix experience of the 1922/23 fire, and its journey back to earth a year later—we find it again, as a foundation stone meditation planted into our hearts.  The introduction of The Foundation Stone Meditation was a central focus of the Christmas Conference week.  It was one of three great gifts which Rudolf Steiner brought at this time as powerful spiritual tools for human evolution.

 $15 or pay what you will, Snacks to Share Encouraged


Margaret Shipman has been a member of the Anthroposophical Society for 30 years and considers the work of Rudolf Steiner to be the core of her life.  In 2002 she started a national study group for anthroposophy – ‘Geographically Engaged Members Studygroup’, or G.E.M.S.  She is also a cellist and pianist and spent 36 years repairing and making instruments of the violin family.  She co-authored the book titled Violin Restoration with her mentor, Hans Weisshaar, who was in the second-ever Waldorf class and met Rudolf Steiner as a child.

For more info. contact coordinator Hazel Archer Ginsberg

***

Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

Equanimity

25 September 2018 – “Speaking with the Stars“:  On Mars, the planet wide dust storm is abating.  Altair,  the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila the Eagle, also associated with the Summer Triangle, is straight above Mars right now.

***

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

Kari Olson

Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Joseph von Führich

Birthday of Cleophas, disciple on the road to Emmaus Luke 24:13-32. This occurs three days after the crucifixion, on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. The two have heard the tomb of Jesus was found empty earlier that day. They are discussing the events of the past few days when a stranger asks them what they are discussing. “Their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” He soon rebukes them for their unbelief & gives them a Bible study on prophecies about the Messiah. They ask the stranger to join them for the evening meal. When he breaks the bread “their eyes were opened” &  they recognize him as the resurrected Christ, Who immediately vanishes. Cleopas & his friend hasten back to Jerusalem to carry the news to the other disciples, & learn that The Christ has also appeared to them. The same event is recorded in Mark 16:12-16:13.

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810 – Birthday of John Scotus Eriugena, Christian mystic philosopher, translator, theologian & poet. John “of Ireland” (Eriugena means “Irish-born,” where the Scotti were an ancient & extensive tribe) is a major figure in the development of mystical spirituality in western European Christianity. He served as the primary translator-conduit for ideas from the great Greek Christian minds of the Middle-East & Near-East to come into Europe. ‘God is both immanently within and transcendentally beyond all beings’ Expanding richly on the idea of the apokatastasis or “universal salvation” of all souls in God’s all-saving Divine Love. Eriugena also wrote of the conscious Return (reditus) & merging of all beings into God. No souls (including the souls of animals & the demon-souls) would be left out of this grand return, no one would be damned to suffer forever in hell or wither away into oblivion. Eriugena’s enlightened view reveals an astonishingly positive scenario of a triumphantly compassionate, ever-loving God who is the Heart, Source & Substance of everyone.

“…we come across wonderful characters such as Scotus Erigena, a monk from Scotland called the Scottish St. John, who later lived at the court of Charles the Bald. He did not get on well with the Church, and it is told that the brothers of his order tortured him to death with pins. Of course, this is not to be taken literally, but it is true that he was tortured to death. A splendid book was written by him, On the Divisions in Nature which reveals a great profundity of thought… “. ~Rudolf Steiner, Occult Signs and Symbols, lecture 3, GA 101

1789 – The United States Congress passes the Bill of Rights

1849 – Deathday of Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer

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1930 – Birthday of Shel Silverstein, American author, poet, illustrator, & songwriter

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1970 – Erich Maria Remarque, a German novelist who created many works about the terror of war. His best known novel is All Quiet on the Western Front (1928). This made him an enemy of the Nazis, who burned many of his works

1978 – PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 & crashes in San Diego, killing 144 people

***

Vincent van Gogh

Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the housefly
in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling dying
flake of snow,
Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .
How did it go?
How did it go
?”
― Shel SilversteinWhere the Sidewalk Ends

***

Equanimity by Alison Lee

Virtue of the month: Contentment Becomes Equanimity

At this time, the flowers wither, fruit & nuts fall from the trees & decompose, leaving their empty husks on the ground; grains are sorted or stored before being sown, to ensure a new cycle of growth. This process of decomposition & sorting also concerns the human being. Just as the fruit is separated from the tree & the seed from the fruit, so is the soul separated from the body, in sleep, in meditation, in death…The body is the envelope -the wrapping – & the soul is the seed that is planted in the soil of the spiritual world.

The human being is a fruit…& when we are ripe, we must not fall to the ground like the fruits & seeds of the earth, we must journey with consciousness into the spiritual world.

Autumn is the season for that separation of which Hermes Trismegistus speaks:You shall separate the subtle from the gross, gently and with great skill.

To separate the subtle from the gross is to separate the spiritual from the material, & the whole of nature undergoes this process of alchemy at autumn-tide, in preparation for the coming of new life. And yet most people have no idea what to cut out or re-cycle: they swallow everything whole, & yet are rarely content.

And so this is what we have to learn from Michael: Discernment! – How to choose, & what to choose, how to separate the pure from the impure, the useful from the useless, the harmful from the beneficial. The absence of judgment in this respect is the cause of many misfortunes. Michaelmas is resplendently rich in meaning for those who understand that it can bring them the courage to cultivate true freedom & liberation. So put the sword of Michael to use, to bless & bestow, as well as to cut away what does not serve – To separate the wheat from the chaff -To sharpen the mind & protect the heart.

Stand as a peaceful warrior for change

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg 

Dear friends – I will be taking a break from the blog as I prepare for 

AGM 2018 Friday, Oct 5 – Sunday, Oct 7 in New Orleans, Louisiana

I will leave 1 Oct. & return 11 Oct. Look for me in NOLA

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE!

First Grace United Methodist Church 3401 Canal Street, New Orleans (Check out their amazing history here!)

Pre-conference: Thursday, Oct 4: Living in the Branches National Branch and Group Gathering

Free event! $25 lunch/refreshments fee.

Some travel scholarships available.
Email with questions.

National Youth Conference (Wed pm, Thurs, Fri am October 3-4-5):
MY HEART’S VOCATION: Finding Ourselves within Community

Click here for Youth Conference schedule and registration!

$250 Early Bird (until September 5th), $275 Standard

$375 Sponsorship (supports financial assistance) $60 Youth

Includes Friday light reception, snacks, beverages, and Sunday light brunch! Limited financial assistance available. Email to find out more. 

Conference Schedule

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE!

Thursday, October 4

9:00-3:30 First Grace Methodist Church
Living in the Branches: National Branch and Group Gathering
National Youth Conference (Details coming!)

4:00-9:00 Central Region Gathering

Friday, October 5

7:45-9:30 am – Bayou St. John Songtrail: meet under the McDonough Oak.

10:00-12:00 – Class Lesson and Conversation with Joan Sleigh

1:00 pm Opening

1:30-2:30 Keynote Conversation with Orland Bishop

2:30-2:45 Trio Sharing

2:45-3:30 Here and Now with the General Council

4:00-5:15 Concurrent Sessions (Choose on site)

Cain and Abel: Building a bridge between the Two Streams, with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Exploring Transformation Through Our Own Biography, with Janey Newton

5:30-6:15 Central Region Interactive Panel

6:30 DINNER

8:00 Momento Mori Ritual (Stay tuned for details!)

Saturday, October 6

8:00-8:45 Singing or Speech

9:00-10:00 Keynote Discussion with Joan Sleigh

10:00-10:15 Trio Sharing

10:45-12:00 Concurrent Workshops (Choose on site)

Initation of the Heart: The Fifth Gospel, with Patrick Kennedy

General Council Annual Update Session

Transforming Community – Creating the Future: Young People Discovering Their Purpose and Place, with Bart Eddy

12:00-1:30 Lunch (Table Topic Discussions)

1:30-2:30 Youth-Led Panel

3:00-4:15 Participant Research and Initiative Sharing Sessions
(Click here to submit your research/initiative sharing proposal.)

OR

3:00-4:15 Pageant Participant Preparation with Marianne Fieber-Dhara (Details at the conference!)

4:30-6:15 Concurrent Sessions (Choose on site)

Orland Bishop: The Seventh Shrine

House of Hope, with Thea Lavin

Anthroposophical Contemplative Practices in Everyday Life

6:15-7:30 DINNER

8:00-9:30 Confluence of Karma: A Pageant Of Dedicated Service

Sunday, October 7

8:00-8:30 Group Speech

8:30-8:45 Trio Sharing

8:45-10:00 Now and Next (Art, Reflection, Closing Plenum, Singing)

11:00-12:30 First Grace Church Service, or Tour of Raphael Village [link]

Lunch on your own!

Post Sessions (Included in Conference Fee)

2:00-4:00 Lisa Romero: Contemplative Practices

2:00-4:00 John Bloom and Laura Scappaticci: “So That Good May Become”–Working with the Foundation Stone

See you in New Orleans!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE!

Schedule subject to minor changes.

Limited Financial Assistance Available.
Email 
community@anthroposophy.org for an application.

Occupy Accord

17 September 2018 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waxing gibbous Moon stands close to Saturn’s upper left this evening. Look for Saturn due south as darkness falls this week. It shines more than a full magnitude brighter than any of the background stars in its host constellation, Sagittarius.

***

History by William Baziotes

I turn to history not for lessons but to confront my experience with the experience of others and to win for myself a sense of responsibility for the state of the human conscience ~ Zbigniew Herbert (from Chris Manvell)

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1179 – Deathday of Hildegard of Bingen, “the Sybil of the Rhine” a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, & polymath.

She is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama, the oldest surviving morality play. She wrote theological, botanical, & medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, & poems, while supervising miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias.  She is also noted for the invention of a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota.

Hildegard 1st saw “The Shade of the Living Light” at the age of three. Hildegard was hesitant to share her visions, but at the age of 42, Hildegard received instruction from God, to “write down that which you see and hear.” Still hesitant to record her visions, Hildegard became physically ill. The illustrations recorded in the book of Scivias were visions that Hildegard experienced, causing her great suffering: “But I, though I saw and heard these things, refused to write for a long time through doubt and bad opinion and the diversity of human words, not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility, until, laid low by the scourge of God, I fell upon a bed of sickness; then, compelled at last by many illnesses, and by the witness of a certain noble maiden of good conduct [the nun Richardis von Stade] I set my hand to the writing. While I was doing it, I sensed, the deep profundity of scriptural exposition; and, raising myself from illness by the strength I received, I brought this work to a close – though just barely – in ten years. (…) And I spoke and wrote these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person, but as by the secret mysteries of God I heard and received them in the heavenly places. And again I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, ‘Cry out therefore, and write thus!’

Hildegard’s visions caused her to see humans as “living sparks” of God’s love.

On 17 September 1179, when Hildegard died, her sisters claimed they saw two streams of light appear in the skies & cross over the room where she was dying.

“Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around Him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground, and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God.”

Howard Chandler Christy

1787 – The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia

1859 – Joshua A. Norton declares himself “Norton I, Emperor of the United States.”Born in England, Norton spent most of his early life in South Africa, he emigrated to San Francisco with an inheritance, but he lost his fortune investing in Peruvian rice & Norton’s public prominence faded. He reemerged to lay claim to the position of Emperor of the United States, & ‘Protector of Mexico’. He was treated deferentially in San Francisco, &currency issued in his name was honored in the establishments he frequented.

Though some considered him insane or eccentric, citizens of San Francisco celebrated his regal presence & his proclamations, such as his order that the United States Congress be dissolved by force & his numerous decrees calling for a bridge crossing connecting San Francisco to Oakland, &a corresponding tunnel to be built under San Francisco Bay.

At his funeral two days later, nearly 30,000 people packed the streets of San Francisco to pay homage. Norton has been immortalized as the basis of characters in the literature of writers Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christopher Moore, Maurice De Bevere, Selma Lagerlöf, & Neil Gaiman

1908 – The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes, killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality

1916 –Manfred von Richthofen (“The Red Baron“), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France, in World War I

1928 – The Okeechobee hurricane strikes southeastern Florida, killing more than 2,500 people. It is the third deadliest natural disaster in United States history, behind the Galveston hurricane of 1900 & the 1906 San Francisco earthquake

1939 –The Soviet Union joins Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland in World War II

1939 –German submarine U-29 sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous in World War II

1948 – The Lehi, also known as the Stern gangassassinates Count Folke Bernadotte, who was appointed by the United Nations to mediate between the Arab nations & Israel. Lehi = “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel” was a Zionist paramilitary organizationfounded by Avraham (“Yair”) Stern in Palestine. Its aim was to evict the British authorities from Palestine by force, allowing unrestricted immigration of Jews & the formation of a Jewish state, a ‘new totalitarian Hebrew republic’

1961 – Deathday of Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish diplomat, economist, author & the second secretary-general of the United Nations. Soon after his appointment Hammarskjöld was interviewed on radio by Edward R. Murrow. In this talk he declared: “But the explanation of how man should live a life of active social service in full harmony with himself as a member of the community of spirit, I found in the writings of those great medieval mystics [Meister Eckhart and Jan van Ruysbroek] for whom ‘self-surrender’ had been the way to self-realization, and who in ‘singleness of mind’ and ‘inwardness’ had found strength to say yes to every demand which the needs of their neighbours made them face, and to say yes also to every fate life had in store for them when they followed the call of duty as they understood it.”

He was en route to negotiate a cease-fire on 18 September when his plane crashed near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia. Hammarskjöld & fifteen others died in the crash. The circumstances of the incident are still not clear. There is some evidence that suggests the plane was shot down. Göran Björkdahl (a Swedish aid worker) wrote in 2011 that he believed Dag Hammarskjöld’s 1961 death was a murder committed in part to benefit mining companies like Union Minière, after Hammarskjöld had made the UN intervene in the Katanga crisis. Björkdahl based his assertion on interviews with witnesses of the plane crash & on archival documents. Former U.S. President Harry Truman commented that Hammarskjöld “was on the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said ‘when they killed him’.”

1978 – The Camp David Accords brokered by President Jimmy Carter, is signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin

Image result for 2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression

2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression

Image result for 2006 – Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts

2006 – Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts, marking the first eruption for the long-dormant volcano in at least 10,000 years

2011 – Occupy Wall Street movement begins in Zuccotti Park, New York City

***

Hilma Af Klint

~ Holy Spirit,
giving life to all life, moving all creatures,
root of all things,
washing them clean,
wiping out their mistakes,
healing their wounds,
you are our true life,
luminous, wonderful,
awakening the heart
from its ancient sleep.~ Hildegard of Bingen

***

Hilma Af Klint

Cloud Gazing

A very interesting meditation cloud gazing; part Rorschach, part cosmic divination. Recently I have felt called to watch the sky every day. Even for 5 minutes much can be revealed. I remain watchful & act as witness to the messages – in the formations, in the wind, in my body, in all of nature.

How is dawn speaking today, what will dusk want? Noon brings its own power. The robin’s song this year seems particularly urgent, yet lonesome. I send out gratitude & love, & listen for the echo of the elementals.

Moving through the clouds is that a choir of Angels, see it there…?  They seem so active & willing to connect with those who are keen to look up & read the starry script, to read the augury without falling into illusion, to witness without judgment, to get out of the way & yet to participate fully.

Was it Ben Franklin who was an initiate in weather watching?

The etheric realm is an open secret for those who have eyes to see, look up & join in the co-creation of our evolution.

See you there

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg 

***

Veil Painting Workshop with David Dozier

Friday Sept. 21, 2018, 7 -9pm

Saturday Sept. 22, 10 am – 5 pm

Sunday Sept. 23, 10 am -1pm

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

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

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

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

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

***

 

Friday 28 September 2018 – COMMUNITY MEETING at 7 pm with Ann Burfeind 

Checking in on our local Anthroposophical Initiatives:

Are you a Waldorf Teacher, Branch Member, Christian Community Member, Involved with Anthroposophical Medicine, or Bio-Dynamics, Interested in serving the Being of Chicago…? Please come & bring a report, of the new school, or your Spiritual Scientific research…ETC…

We will also have a review of the How We Will Forum2

All in the spirit of Michaelmas

***

AGM 2018 Friday, Oct 5 – Sunday, Oct 7 in New Orleans, Louisiana

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE!

First Grace United Methodist Church 3401 Canal Street, New Orleans (Check out their amazing history here!)

Pre-conference: Thursday, Oct 4: Living in the Branches National Branch and Group Gathering

Free event! $25 lunch/refreshments fee.

Some travel scholarships available.
Email with questions.

National Youth Conference (Wed pm, Thurs, Fri am October 3-4-5):
MY HEART’S VOCATION: Finding Ourselves within Community

Click here for Youth Conference schedule and registration!

$250 Early Bird (until September 5th), $275 Standard

$375 Sponsorship (supports financial assistance) $60 Youth

Includes Friday light reception, snacks, beverages, and Sunday light brunch! Limited financial assistance available. Email to find out more. 

Conference Schedule

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE!

Thursday, October 4

9:00-3:30 First Grace Methodist Church
Living in the Branches: National Branch and Group Gathering
National Youth Conference (Details coming!)

4:00-9:00 Central Region Gathering

Friday, October 5

7:45-9:30 am – Bayou St. John Songtrail: meet under the McDonough Oak.

10:00-12:00 – Class Lesson and Conversation with Joan Sleigh

1:00 pm Opening

1:30-2:30 Keynote Conversation with Orland Bishop

2:30-2:45 Trio Sharing

2:45-3:30 Here and Now with the General Council

4:00-5:15 Concurrent Sessions (Choose on site)

Cain and Abel: Building a bridge between the Two Streams, with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Exploring Transformation Through Our Own Biography, with Janey Newton

5:30-6:15 Central Region Interactive Panel

6:30 DINNER

8:00 Momento Mori Ritual (Stay tuned for details!)

Saturday, October 6

8:00-8:45 Singing or Speech

9:00-10:00 Keynote Discussion with Joan Sleigh

10:00-10:15 Trio Sharing

10:45-12:00 Concurrent Workshops (Choose on site)

Initation of the Heart: The Fifth Gospel, with Patrick Kennedy

General Council Annual Update Session

Transforming Community – Creating the Future: Young People Discovering Their Purpose and Place, with Bart Eddy

12:00-1:30 Lunch (Table Topic Discussions)

1:30-2:30 Youth-Led Panel

3:00-4:15 Participant Research and Initiative Sharing Sessions
(Click here to submit your research/initiative sharing proposal.)

OR

3:00-4:15 Pageant Participant Preparation with Marianne Fieber-Dhara (Details at the conference!)

4:30-6:15 Concurrent Sessions (Choose on site)

Orland Bishop: The Seventh Shrine

House of Hope, with Thea Lavin

Anthroposophical Contemplative Practices in Everyday Life

6:15-7:30 DINNER

8:00-9:30 Confluence of Karma: A Pageant Of Dedicated Service

Sunday, October 7

8:00-8:30 Group Speech

8:30-8:45 Trio Sharing

8:45-10:00 Now and Next (Art, Reflection, Closing Plenum, Singing)

11:00-12:30 First Grace Church Service, or Tour of Raphael Village [link]

Lunch on your own!

Post Sessions (Included in Conference Fee)

2:00-4:00 Lisa Romero: Contemplative Practices

2:00-4:00 John Bloom and Laura Scappaticci: “So That Good May Become”–Working with the Foundation Stone

See you in New Orleans!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE!

Schedule subject to minor changes.

Limited Financial Assistance Available.
Email 
community@anthroposophy.org for an application.

***

Alex Grey

Our Annual ALL SOULS Festival Saturday 3 November 2018

7 pm – 9 pm at the Branch

Details TBA

***

Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

 

Against All Odds

14 September 2018 – “Speaking with the Stars”: It’s the last week of summer!

In twilight this evening, catch the crescent Moon in the southwest with Jupiter on her lower right. A line from the Moon through Jupiter points toward Venus, much lower.

Once nightfall is complete, the two brightest stars (not planets) are Vega high overhead & Arcturus in the west.

Draw a line down from Vega to Arcturus. A third of the way down you cross the dim Keystone of Hercules. Two thirds of the way you cross the dim semicircle of Corona Borealis with its one modestly bright star: Alphecca, the gem of the crown.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

We are the echo of the future ~W. S. Merwin (Thanks to Chris Manvell)

Feast of the Cross – According legend the True Cross was discovered in 326 by Saint Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, during a pilgrimage she made to Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was then built at the site of the discovery, by order of Helena & Constantine. The church was dedicated nine years later, on this same date, with a portion of the cross placed inside it.

Other legends explain that in 614, that portion of the cross was carried away from the church by the Persians, & remained missing until it was recaptured by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in 628. Initially taken to Constantinople, the cross was returned to the church in 629.

326 – Helena of Constantinople discovers the True Cross & builds the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

629 – Emperor Heraclius enters Constantinople in triumph after his victory over the Persian Empire

Sandro Botticelli

1321 – Deathday of Durante degli Alighieri – known as Dante

Image result for Agrippa

1486 – Birthday of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German Occultist, theologian, astrologer, & alchemist

Image result for Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena

1723 – Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena lays down the first stone of Fort Manoel in Malta. de Vilhena, a Portuguese nobleman was the 66th Prince of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Unlike many other Grand Masters, he was benevolent & popular with the Maltese people

1741 – George Frideric Handel completes his oratorio Messiah

Image result for 1752 – The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar

 

1752 – The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2)

Image result for 1901 – U.S. President William McKinley dies

 

1901 – U.S. President William McKinley dies after an assassination attempt on September 6, & is succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt

Image result for Ip massacre

1940 –The  Ip massacre: The Hungarian Army, supported by local Hungarians, kill 158 Romanian civilians in Ip, Sălaj, a village in Northern Transylvania, an act of ethnic cleansing

Related image

1943 – World War II: The Wehrmacht starts targeting several Greek villages death toll over 500 people

1959 – The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it?

1960 – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded

Image result for Congo Crisis

1960 – Congo Crisis: With CIA help, Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power in a military coup, suspending parliament & the constitution

Image result for 1969 – The US Selective Service selects September 14 as the First Draft Lottery dateImage result for 1969 – The US Selective Service selects September 14 as the First Draft Lottery date

1969 – The US Selective Service selects September 14 as the First Draft Lottery date

2008 – All 88 people on board Aeroflot Flight 821 are killed when the plane crashes on approach to Perm Airport

***

My POD (Poem Of the Day)

Sir Edward Coley

~I burn & radiate
In the empty space
Where fire appears blue
A jolt of essence
A glow of ether
A passion for stars & stones
~hag

***

How We Will: Bare Bones Organizing – Threefolding Our Cultural Revolution

Review by Kait Ziegler

How do we stand deeply in spiritual space and also be of service in a social justice movement?” This question resonated throughout the space, weaving through the breaths of the individuals who came to How We Will with their own deep questions and capacities. It cascaded down the brightly hued, Lazure walls of the second, emerging Elderberries Threefold Cafe in Chicago, the Aquarian Heartland of the country. In this Heartland, our second forum was a beating heart with many different veins of communities connecting into a shared source of life, with two essential streams of spirituality and inner work intersecting with activism and social justice. The meeting of these two seemingly disconnected life journeys–inner and outer healing of ourselves and the world–sparked the moral imagination of how to build a meaningful bridge between the communities, and ask “how to build it?” and “why to build it?” There is also a question of if these two streams are really disconnected at all, and if they are not binary realms opposing one another, how do we locate the bridge which is already there as a fused, inseparable gesture?

The organizers and forum community offered the idea of Social Threefolding as the reasons for “Why” and “How”. Social Threefolding, a separation of the political, cultural, and economic spheres, was dived deeply into and acted as the blood running through the different veins to make the heart of our forum pump with life. Through panels like “Building Bridges”, “Against All Odds”, and “Why I Stand”, along with Theory U sessions and Threefold Breakout Groups, we investigated the inner and outer qualities of Threefold–technically, emotionally, spiritually, logistically, and more–both intangible and tangible realities of a new system being brainstormed and vigorously worked with. Through hearing insights from individuals working in the Poor People’s Campaign, as well as leaders around the country active in social justice and organizing work, we also explored the reality that, just as Rudolf Steiner was a community organizer and activist, we must also pick up the baton of organizing our local communities, intersecting with social justice awareness, if we are to practically and holistically bring the impulse of Social Threefolding into the world.

As a ribbon threading through our intellectually rich sessions, Melody and Ianthe led the community through an embodied, creative journey of co-leading the story of Goethe’s, “The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily“. With different small groups taking portions of the tale, we used our bodies, props, and imagination to tell the story at different times of the days which mirrored the times of the story, midnight to midnight, until the prophecy had been fulfilled. Melanie offered an evening imagination of, “Who is the lily?” which boldly illuminated the creative power of the story and its purpose– to open deep questions and themes in which to resonate in our souls.

Each interpretation is different of Goethe’s tale, but the feeling of it somehow generated a correlating and empowering question around our purpose of coming to How We Will, and what might come next. Like the convening of the old man, old woman, maidens, lily, snake, young prince, four kings, will-o wisps, ferryman, and the hawk, what might happen when all of us come together that cannot be achieved if working alone? Like the separated worlds of the two sides of the great river, with a great prophecy waiting to be fulfilled of true leadership, bridging an abyss, and building a sacred space, what is our collective prophecy which we must pick up as our task to help serve humanity and bridge the gaps which are present in our society? How do the streams of inner and outer work connect to topple the pillars of racism, poverty, ecological devastation, and the war economy, as the work does of the Poor People’s Campaign?

Our answers to these questions varied. At the closing of the forum, people spoke of their ideas that want to be put into action: a localized Threefold organizing project with research and development; outreach to the older generations within Anthroposophy; a housing trust to crumble borders and increase accessibility; building an international sacred space for youth; connecting Brightmoor Maker Space and Free Columbia to the new cafe space, and much more. There is a lot of inner and outer work to be done, and this will certainly not be our last How We Will, yet we made beautiful progress together. Though our initiatives might be separate, the blood of their intention is of one source. Social Threefolding and its qualities of striving for deeper freedom, equity and equality, as well as kinship is coursing through all of the gifts manifested from the forum. We will have to work and see what emerges in our upcoming future, and invite you to set a benchmark that brings us and our communities back together in Philadelphia in 2019 for our third How We Will. A six month interval will happen for those wishing to be a part of the Organizing Research looking at two cities in Los Angeles as our map.

We offer gratitude to all who came to How We Will, all of the organizers, all which emerged and was shared, and acknowledge the courage it takes to stand against all odds for the sake of humanity.

#HowWeWill
#SeparationOfPowers
#Threefolding

Another review from Tom Grode!

A FAIRY TALE

Webster’s: “a story with improbable events leading to a happy ending”.

Once upon a time I flew from Los Angeles to Chicago for How We Will — a four day gathering the end of summer at the Rudolph Steiner Branch.

Steiner lived and worked in Germany during the days following World War I. From Conscious Society: “Delivered in the context of post-war culture and chaos, these lectures form part of Rudolf Stenier’s energetic efforts to cultivate social understanding and renew culture through his innovative ideas based on “threefolding”. Steiner develops a subtle and discerning perception of how social dynamics could change and heal if they were founded on real insight into our threefold nature as individuals, social beings, and economic participants in the world. He doesn’t offer a programmatic agenda for change, but a real foundation from which change can organically grow.”

I flew to Chicago stressed and excited about the chaotic circumstances in my life. I flew to Chicago not really sure what I was walking into. I flew to Chicago anticipating something important would happen.

Around seventy people came to Chicago. Several of us came from Los Angeles. Several came from an artists community in rural upstate New York. Some guys came from Detroit. A sprinkling came from other parts of the country and many from Chicago.

Two young Storytelling ladies from Europe on the first day broke us into seven groups to take turns with a section of The Green Snake and Beautiful Lily fairy tale by Goethe. I never heard of The Green Snake and Beautiful Lily before. The different groups would perform their section of the story over the course of the next few days so by the end we presented the full story to one another.

We had just established Community Agreements, one of which was Trust The Process and so I suppose I broke the agreement because I quickly went to Google to read the whole story. The Green Snake and Beautiful Lily tells of a river separating two lands and a snake that sacrifices itself to become a bridge so people can freely walk over the river from land to land.

The Los Angeles folks were connected to Moral Mondays held by a vegan café Elderberries 3Fold on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. Moral Mondays is rooted in the work done by Rev. William Barber in North Carolina who launched Moral Mondays and later re-launched the Poor Peoples Campaign first launched by Martin Luther King now under the name Poor Peoples Campaign: a national call for moral revival. Some of the Moral Mondays folks are now major leaders in the Poor Peoples Campaign for California.

I flew to Chicago carrying three things:

1) My Native American name is Woorypot Moompet and much of the Poor Peoples Campaign foundation laid by Dr.King at the time of his assassination was his growing relationship with Native American leaders.

2) I’ve lived in Skid Row downtown Los Angeles since 2013 and the essence of Skid Row mirrors the essence of the Poor Peoples Campaign: a national call for moral revival.

3) A few years ago while staying in Pasadena I had a vision of two lines moving in outer space where they would eventually intersect. One line was called Martin Luther King and the other line was called William Seymour. When they intersected there was an explosion and inside the explosion appeared the word “justice”. Preacher Seymour, the son of slaves, was the leader of the Azusa Street Revival of 1906 in downtown Los Angles that birthed Pentecostal Christianity. Time-Life in 2001 put the Azusa Street Revival, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and Shekinah Glory, as #68 on their list of 100 Most Important Events of the Past One Thousand Years 1000–2000AD. Azusa is a Tongva word, Native indigenous people of Los Angeles, and is usually translated as Blessed Miracle or Healing. .

The threefolding process of Rudolf Steiner is based on a simple premise: human society used to be centralized courtesy of the Pharoah and the King. But the great wave has been away from centralization and this movement has resulted in three separate yet overlapping realms — Rights (government), Cultural, Economic. That premise then becomes the basis for systemic reformation and creating new systems.

Steiner developed Anthroposofy as a scientific form of Theosophy, a relationship with God and the spiritual realm based on mystical insights, and followers of Steiner weave Anthroposofy into Threefolding as part of exploring the Rights, Culture, and Economic realms for a healthier humanity.

In this fairy tale are many characters: a Ferryman, two Will O’ The Wisps, the Green Snake, a Weak Giant with a Strong Shadow, the Gold King, the Silver King, the Bronze King, a Fourth King (composite of the other three Kings), Old Man with Lamp, Wife of Old Man, Beautiful Lily, Young Man, Maiden, Mops the Dog, two Maiden Servants. As the seven groups rehearsed their turn to tell their section of the story, one wall was painted as a Green Snake and Beautiful Lily mural.

The rural New York artists sang folk songs wearing rural New York folk song clothing. The Detroit guys were led by an old white guy who kept spitting out rhymes. Words from Motor City mostly very pretty.

Meals were shared — every possible tasty variation of beans and rice. During one lunch I spoke to one of the rural New York artist folk singers and he told me how a Mohawk leader walked with them for counsel as they developed a Native theater piece featuring giant puppets, Excerpts of the Journey of the Peacemaker.

The Chicago folks were mostly older and over the days they wrestled with how to support a vegan café based on the one in Los Angeles about to be built in much of their Rudolf Steiner Branch building.

How We Will included expert threefolding teachers with Q and A plus group discussion. We also had panel discussions. One panel was Against All Odds and I spoke about the intense still to be finished roller coaster in City Hall for Skid Row to create a Skid Row Neighborhood Council as an official part of City government.

We closed our gathering in a circle where folks could step forward to announce some brand new practical effort as an invitation for others to support their journey. One of the Storytellers from England who helped lead our Green Snake theater process stepped into the circle bursting into tears as she shared her vision of how affordable housing can help bridge gaps between people, ending with her crying saying: “Why is this happening, I don’t even know how to do a mortgage”.

Tears can be a form of intercession. Intercession is a gap between what should never have been separated, and you step into that gap. Tears nurture the coming together.

The common aftermath of a mountaintop experience is folks return to normal life in the valley. This gathering could be different as everyone can follow online or in person the process to turn much of the Chicago Branch building into a threefolding vegan café based on the community-building momentum of How We Will.

“Finally, the crowd gradually dispersed, pursuing its own course; and the bridge, to this day, continues to swarm with travelers, and the temple is the most frequented one on the entire earth”.

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Dear Friends – A friendly reminder: The play “This War Is Not Inevitable” will be performed at Urban Prairie on Saturday night at 7 pm.  And at the Christian Community on Sunday Sept. 16th at 12:30 pm.

This two-actor performance is about Social Three-Folding in Middle Europe at the beginning of World War I and the beginning of the Waldorf School Movement.

It is acessable to all, and so relevant to the issues we are all facing today in the cultural, political and the economic realms, but refreshingly non-partisan.

Michael Burton, from New Zealand along with young Waldorf alumnus Christian Peterson, from Harlemville, will be performing.

We are so fortunate that they are able to stop in Chicago on their tour around the US!  So bring a neighbor or friend along!

All Contributions are appreciated. ?

~Johanna Rohde

PERFORMANCE OF THE PLAY Written by Michael Hedley Burton:Saturday, September 15th at 7 pm  Urban Prairie Waldorf School 1310 S. Ashland

PERFORMANCE CANCELED on Sept. 14th at Chicago Waldorf School

PERFORMANCE on Sunday, Sept 16th at 12:30 pm

At The Christian Community, 2135 West Wilson Ave, 60625

Suggested donation: $15, $25 or $40…depending on your circumstances.Books written by Michael Burton also for sale

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

Sunday 16 September 2018, 4 – 6 pm At the Branch

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

Also: a short Poetry Reading and Piano Recital with Ryan Senger www.lukefischerauthor.com

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Veil Painting Workshop with David A. Dozier

Friday Sept. 21, 2018, 7 -9pm, Saturday Sept. 22, 10 am – 5 pm, Sunday Sept. 23, 10 am -1pm

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

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 Friday 28 September 2018 – COMMUNITY MEETING at 7 pm with Ann Burfeind 

Checking in on our local Anthroposophical Initiatives:

Are you a Waldorf Teacher, Branch Member, Christian Community Member, Involved with Anthroposophical Medicine, or Bio-Dynamics, Interested in serving the Being of Chicago…? Please come & bring a report, of the new school, or your Spiritual Scientific research…ETC…

We will also have a review of the How We Will Forum2

All in the spirit of Michaelmas

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Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (mapCheck out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America) 

The Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…