With the sacrifice – A joyful self-surrendering – Transformed into a deed, From the Spirits of Will – Rising like incense to the Cherubim, In the ebb & flow of warmth, The beginnings of our element of fire On ancient Saturn – The ‘realm of space-less eternity’ – Time The offspring Of the Thrones & the Spirits of Harmony Is born.
After a recapitulation of this spiritual activity, in the Ancient Sun stage, there is an atmosphere of enlivening bliss & devotion, as the Spirits of Wisdom witness the willing sacrifice of the Thrones.
This inspires the Kyriotetes to give or bestow their Wisdom into the mix, which becomes the essence behind what we know of as air; enhancing the warmth. This gift is preserved in Time. The birth of bestowing in the universe by the Spirits of Wisdom on ancient Sun in turn gave birth to the Archangels who are the receivers of the giving. But they don’t keep what they receive for themselves, they reflect it back – this becomes light.
We can remember that whenever wind or light occurs, the gifts of the Spirits of Wisdom are whirling out to us. And wherever light appears, hidden behind it are the Archangels; but they are only able to ray forth light because they reflect back the bestowing virtue of the Spirits of Wisdom which has streamed out to them.
JJ Pinkerton
Steiner asks us to: “Imagine the Spirits of Wisdom situated at the centre of the Sun absorbed in contemplation of the vision of the sacrificing Thrones; and by reason of this vision, radiating forth their own being; and receiving back their radiating being which they sent forth, receiving it reflected back from the surface, so that they receive it back as light. Everything is illuminated…Their own being meets them coming back from outside. They see their own inner being outspread in the Cosmos — and reflected back as light, as the reflection of their own being.
The inner and the outer are the two opposites which we now meet. The earlier and the later are transformed into the inner and the outer; and “Space” is born! Space comes into existence through the bestowing virtue of the Spirits of Wisdom on ancient Sun.”
We can now picture a globe of inner space. In the center, Saturn is recapitulated, we see the Thrones kneeling before the winged Cherubim, sacrificing their own being.
Then we witness The Spirits of Wisdom surrendering in devotion to this vision at the center of this globe. Their reverence coalesces into an image of sacrificial incense, as air ascending, which streams outward & condenses into clouds at the periphery. The Archangels are born of these clouds of smoke. The gift of the incense is radiated back from them in the form of light. Their essence of light illuminates the interior, creating space. The bestowing of the Spirits of Wisdom are taken back in, becoming the sphere of ancient Sun, consisting of: glowing warmth or heat, the air of sacrificial incense, & light.
Peter Yelling
What a glorious picture, inspiring a heightened mood that invites us to joyfully give of ourselves too, in imitation of these Higher Beings.
And what a blessing to have that essence fully received, so the a gesture in kind comes back – transformed – A gift that keeps on giving – A bestowing that engenders a reciprocation that shows us to ourself.
We can think about how without receiving, giving is incomplete. In a way they are one & the same. Receiving differentiates itself from giving only in terms of time. Receiving occurs in response to giving.
Joseph Iorusso
But what happens when something is given – that is not received?
We will explore what has been called ‘The Sacred Wound’ in the next installment when we enter the ancient Moon embodiment of Earth…
Until then
I leave you with this thought: May we give of ourselves unselfishly; for as Steiner lays out in this lecture: “a person who is unable to create a spirit of self-surrender cannot achieve higher knowledge. What is the opposite of this attitude of self-surrender? It is self-will, the assertion of one’s own will. These are 2 poles in the souls’ life: loss of self in what one is contemplating, & self-willed assertion of what lies within the self. These are 2 great opposites. If you wish to attain real knowledge & permeate yourself with wisdom, self-will is lethal.
In ordinary life, we know self-will only as prejudice – & prejudices always destroy higher insight.”
Greetings dear friends – Today, 11.11.22, is the perfect occasion to begin a sharing of my recent AAP experience, being that it is Martinmas. This Feast Day exemplifies the theme of our seminar: Sacrifice & the healing of the ‘Sacred Wound’. I invite you to explore with me the ‘Inner Realities of Evolution’ given by Steiner around this time of year in 1911. It takes the depictions from ‘Occult Science’ & ‘Cosmic Memory’ to a whole new level, bringing us into the inner experience of the hierarchical beings themselves!
In the 1st lecture, given on All Hallows, we take a journey into the aspects of the ancient Saturn embodiment of Earth. Steiner describes his struggle to enter into this existence clairvoyantly, how it must be approached with ‘inner firmness’ & certainty’. He reveals that as a modern human being this realm can fill us with ‘fear & terror at the sight of Saturn’s endless void’, because there is an absence of all space & time. Steiner gives us the tools to counteract this sickening vertigo thru the suggestion to uphold the virtues of Christ found within practical Anthroposophy & the Gospels. When we can get past our horror of the void, by grounding ourselves in love, trust, gratitude, & the will to serve, we can encounter The Thrones, the Spirits of Will, as a ‘surging sea of courage’.
At the same time what lights up for us is a sense of Harmony streaming in from The Cherubim. This becomes a glow that stirs a divine reverence within the Spirits of Will, inspiring them to sacrifice their very Being to the Cherubim. Steiner gives a beautiful imagination of the Thrones kneeling with complete devotion & courage before the Cherubim, offering the flaming warmth of reverence. From this sacrificial union Time is born – The Beings of Time – The Archai. This warmth is the spirit behind what we experience on earth in the physical form of the element of fire.
When we live into these pictures of experience we realize that the existence of these ancient forces work on into our present age & will continue on into the future thru our understanding & active participation.
Next we will enter the experience of the ancient Sun embodiment of Earth.
~hag
Until then, Remember, that as we journey into the darkest time of the year, we can kindle warmth within our soul forces. The example of Martin’s cloak can remind us of the sacrifice of the Spirits of Will in our primal beginnings. This Festival is a call to emulate the higher spiritual beings.
Celebrating Martinmas renews our divine spark so that we may warm the world in our true becoming.
~hag
~hag
Here is a recording of ‘Martinmas & the 11:11 Phenomenon‘ – The story of St. Martin with Nancy Melvin; & then starting at 25:42 – The 11:11 connection with Hazel Archer
11.11.22 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waning gibbous Moon rises less than an hour after nightfall is complete, with Mars shining to her upper right. A week ago it was Jupiter’s turn with the Bella Luna, & 3 days before that it was Saturn’s. The Moon doesn’t play favorites; She makes a point of visiting each planet every month, not to mention its own phase-maker, the Sun.
1918 – Armistice of 11/11 ending the fighting in the First World War between the Allies & Germany – also known as the Armistice of Compiègne after the location in which it was signed – &the agreement that ended the fighting on the Western Front. It went into effect at 11 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918 (“the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”), & marked a victory for the Allies & a complete defeat for Germany, although not formally a surrender. The Germans were responding to the policies proposed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson* in his Fourteen Points of January 1918. Although the armistice ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty, the Treaty of Versailles. And the world is still at war.
*”…‘Spiritual science brings forward a truth such as: What takes place in the historical life of man, and consequently in the life of political impulses, has nothing to do with the ordinary consciousness, it can have nothing to do with it; but can only be understood and applied through imaginative consciousness.’ We might even say as regards the most distinctive representatives of the anti-social historic conception, that President Wilson’s view must be replaced by an imaginative knowledge of the truth. And Wilson’s ideas are very widespread (far more people are of his way of thinking than is supposed). Names are of no moment, only the facts under which men live are of consequence. I may be allowed to be somewhat outspoken about Wilson, because in the course of lectures given in Helsingfors before the war, already then I pronounced my judgment of him and did not need to wait for the war to learn of what spirit he is who sits on the throne of America. At that time fulsome praise of Woodrow Wilson could be heard everywhere; it has not long ceased. The world is now very much wiser, and knows that the man who now occupies the throne of America drafted his most powerful republican document from one issued by the late Emperor of Brazil, Don Pedro, in 1864. Wilson copied this exactly except that the passage, ‘I must intervene in the interests of South America’ is altered to ‘I must intervene in the interests of the United States of America,’ etc., with the necessary recasting.” ~Rudolf Steiner, THE PRESENT POSITION OF SPIRITUAL SCIENCE.
“…If we follow this Muavija, one of the earliest successors of the Prophet, as he passes along the undercurrent and then appears again, we find Woodrow Wilson.
In a shattering way the present links itself with the past. A bond is suddenly there between present and past. And if we observe how on the sea of historical happenings there surges up as it were the wave of Muavija, and again the wave of Woodrow Wilson, we perceive how the undercurrent flows on through the sea below and appears again — it is the same current.
I believe that history becomes intelligible only when we see how what really happens has been carried over from one epoch into another. Think of the abstraction., the rigid abstraction, of the Fourteen Points. Needless to say, the research did not take its start from the Fourteen Points — but now that the whole setting lies before you, look at the configuration of soul that comes to expression in these Fourteen Points and ask yourselves whether it could have taken root with such strength anywhere else than in a follower of Mohammed.
Take the fatalism that had already assumed such dimensions in Muavija and transfer it into the age of modern abstraction. Feel the similarity with Mohammedan sayings: “Allah has revealed it”; “Allah will bring it to pass as the one and only salvation.” And then try to understand the real gist of many a word spoken by the promoter of the Fourteen Points. — With no great stretch of imagination you will find an almost literal conformity.
Thus, when we are observing human beings, we can also speak of a reincarnation of ideas. And then for the first time insight is possible into the growth and unfolding of history.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Karmic Relationships: Esoteric Studies – Volume I
1821 – Birthday of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian philosopher & author
1855 – Deathday of Soren A. Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher, theologian, & cultural critic who was a major influence on existentialism & Protestant theology in the 20th century. He attacked the literary, philosophical, & ecclesiastical establishments of his day for misrepresenting the highest task of human existence—namely, becoming a free human being in an ethical & religious sense.
1887 – August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer & George Engel are executed as a result of the Haymarket affair. It began Tuesday May 4, 1886, as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day & in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they acted to disperse the public meeting. The bomb blast & ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers & at least four civilians; scores of others were wounded.
The Haymarket affair is generally considered significant as the origin of international May Day observances for workers. The site of the incident was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1992, & a public sculpture was dedicated there in 2004.
“Every artistically striving person making closer acquaintance with Rudolf Steiner and his anthroposophy is likely to have experienced in a quite individual manner the agreeable shock: here lie all the possibilities for the further development of art. In one way or another it may have gone with him as with the writer of these recollections when she first read through (not yet actually studied!) the book Theosophy, without understanding the essential, yet riveted by the crystal-bright formation of this work, and having to say to herself: Even if I cannot survey it, it is nonetheless evident: Here lies a comprehensive work of art! This first impression did not deceive, for with every subsequent work taken up, every book, every lecture, not to mention the Mystery Dramas, there opened up new experiences and vistas previously undreamed of. – These will surely be found most felicitously expressed in the poem by Christian Morgenstern (1871–1914) dedicated to Rudolf Steiner:
“To beauty does your work lead: For beauty in the end Streams in through every revelation That surrounds us. Out of human-sufferings Upward to ever higher harmonies You release the dizzying feeling, Till, united In accord with the Inestimable proclaimer of GOD And HIS never-to-be-grasped splendor It vibrates in the love-light Of blessedness…. From beauty does your work come, to beauty does it lead.”
Dear Friends – I am just now landing back from the AAP training with many insights that I hope to share soonly. But I want to send out this message tonight before the Lunar Eclipse begins at 2:02 am CT – so that we might make it our intention to tune in together – to hold the light in the dark. But even if you are reading this after the fact – the eclipse energy is written in the astral script – so, you can still add your enchristened enegries into the mix!
I have often commented on the extremely interesting fact that the ‘powers that be’ have deliberately chosen to hold elections on a Tuesday – the day associated with the planet Mars – bringing with it all the patriarchal associations of male control, war & aggression; but can also provide us with the will for action if we choose to direct our passions for justice & not martial power over, tuning in instead to the Buddha energies that seek to reach us now from the red planet.
Another thing to ponder is that elections are always held during the season of All Soul-Tide, when the veils between the worlds are thin. Those of us who work with the “so-called dead” know how powerful & healing this interaction can be. The question is how are the ‘powers that be’ working with them?
Rudolf Steiner’s research tells us that: “Certain occult brotherhoods, however, make it their business to work in exactly the opposite sense; they want to retain the wisdom exclusively within their own narrow circles, in order to exploit it in connection with their lusts for power. We are living in the midst of this struggle.”
Ok, so that’s a lot to ponder with just a regular election day – but this year is especially fraught: Starting this evening – in the middle of the night – at 2:02 am Central Time – is the beginning of the Lunar eclipse of the Full ‘Mourning Moon’ – 8 November– Election Day 2022 –
2:02 am CT – Penumbral Eclipse begins – The Earth’s penumbra start touching the Moon’s face.
4:16 am – Total Eclipse begins – Total moon eclipse starts – completely red moon.
4:59 am – Maximum Eclipse – Moon is closest to the center of the shadow.
5:41 am – Total Eclipse ends – Total moon eclipse ends. Moon close to horizon, so make sure you have free sight to West-northwest
6:40 am – Setting – Moonset
6:49 am – Not directly visible – Partial Eclipse ends Below horizon
7:56 am – Not directly visible – Penumbral Eclipse ends Below horizon
To add to this eclipse energy we also hear Speaking: The Sun, Mercury and Venus which are all in the constellation of Libra, the Scales.
Mercury will be behind the Sun (in superior conjunction with the Sun). This all takes place in the descending Lunar Node, the tail of the dragon, and will stand opposite the Full Moon Total Eclipse – conjunct Uranus in the ascending Lunar Node, the head of the dragon, in the stars of the Aries the Ram!
PLUS: This potent configuration of planets will be in a T-square (at 90-degree angle) to Saturn in Capricorn – which creates a confrontational relationship with Mars.
Here are some curated inspights from astrosopher Jonathan Hilton: ‘In astrosophy, one can understand these lunar nodes as significant cosmic portals or gateways. They are, in a sense, open doors between the cosmic realm and the earthly realm where cosmic forces from the higher spiritual solar spheres may stream unobstructed by the envelope of the lunar sphere into the Earth sphere. Perhaps many of you are aware of the significance of the Moon Node returns in human biography, when the lunar nodes return after 18.6 years to their place at the human birth, thus, opening up the cosmic realm in human biography and bringing new developmental impulses into the human life. So, in a general sense when a planet is in a lunar node, one can say that its impulses are streaming more directly into the Earth sphere and are more accessible.
These nodes are also the source of eclipses, because when the Sun and Moon are along the same axis in these nodes at the same time, the Earth will stand directly between the Sun and Moon causing the Sun to be blocked from shining on the Moon while the Earth shadow passes across the Moon.
These eclipses can be seen as omens of evil and danger, for the Sun activity is blocked allowing the lower “shadow beings” of the Moon to be let loose upon the Earth, since they are not held in check by the sunlight on the Moon.
So here we have, setting up our Election Day, this potential for the subconscious, lower astral forces, or “evil thoughts” to influence or “possess” human souls.”
This eclipse is also occurring with the Moon conjunct Uranus in the Dragon’s Head ascending node, Uranus can be used by the opposing forces to arouse the lower astral forces or, as Steiner says, to attract the evil thoughts which are present in the cosmos to approach ‘those human beings who are desirous of being possessed by them’.
It is for this reason, that we who can be conscious, meet this event with the full presence of the Christic forces of the true I AM, the Spiritual Sun – awake to the working of subconscious forces.
Remember that also in this picture of the Lunar Eclipse Moon and Uranus, we also see standing opposite, the Sun conjunct Mercury and nearby Venus in the stars of the Scales. Mercury and Venus are more of the nature of the Sun and can become real tools of transformation for human beings to consciously work with.
So, with Mercury, Sun, and Venus in the Scales, the stars of Michael, the stars of the threshold, we can hear the cosmic beings speaking to us to address the challenge of this eclipse configuration with Uranus; to recognize the help of Michael in the battle in which we find ourselves on the threshold between the higher thinking and the lower dragon forces which want to drag humanity down into ever darker materialism and the old forms of the past. This configuration altogether can be taken up in contemplation on many levels as a picture of the need in humanity to raise our thinking, to stand on the threshold, and consciously employ the Christ ego force in our thinking and will to transform and heal in this time of transition.
But there’s more: This Eclipse configuration with Moon and Uranus in Aries opposite Sun, Mercury, Venus in Libra comes into a T-square with the planet Saturn in Capricorn. The meaning of this takes us again back to the events of 2020 and the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Capricorn at solstice/Christmas 2020 – setting the stage for the ‘Corona’/ covid experience.
The stars of Capricorn carry both a past and future vision of destruction, catharsis and initiation. They carry both the memory of the Great War in Heaven on Ancient Moon evolution as well as the vision of the 7th Cultural Age and the end of our Epoch which brings the War of All Against All.
Saturn in a square relationship to this eclipse configuration reveals the struggle, the confrontation and conflicts we carry within our humanity around our shared world karma. It wants to bring us back on track with the Divine Plan of evolution, through whatever karma must be taken up to do so. It also stands as a question, reminding us of who we are from our origins and asking us how we will meet this eclipse moment.
One of the most powerful lectures by Steiner is his lecture on the Mystic Lamb, from The Influence of Spiritual Beings on Man, GA 102. In it he develops a picture of the zodiac and the human being in evolution in relation to the Christ. This picture of the mystic lamb can be a balm for us during the eclipse.
Libra – Sun, Mercury, Venus: Michael offering; Heart-thinking; Humanity on the Threshold between the dragon and the divine wisdom; standing between worlds holding the balance through the I AM.
Aries – Moon, Uranus: The new clair-thinking; Imaginative thinking and the Spirit Self; the true I AM; the Lamb of God who sacrificed for humanity
Capricorn – Saturn: the Father Will; World karma and the divine plan of evolution at work through catharsis; cosmic memory of our true nature and our evolutionary goals; the great division and War that will ultimately lead to reunion.
In this context of the significance of Saturn in this configuration, and the karmic call of the Father memory for the I Am to become active and awakened in humanity, I am reminded of Steiner’s re-phrasing of the Prologue to John’s Gospel in Lecture 7 of The Pre-Earthly Deeds of Christ, GA 152.
May we carry this thought into this eclipse configuration:
In the Primal Beginning is Memory, And the Memory lives on further, And Divine is the Memory. And the Memory is Life. And this Life is the Ego of Man Which streams into Man himself, Not he alone, the Christ in him. When he remembers the Divine Life In his Memory is the Christ. And as the radiant Life of Memory Christ will pour Light Into every Darkness of the immediate present. ~Rudolf Steiner
~from Jonathan Hilton, read the whole article here: Astrosophy.com
Working with The Lord’s Prayer, & the 5th panel of the foundation Stone Meditation are also very powerful now.
Blessings my dear Michaelic Warriors as we carry the sheild & hold the sword of light during this time out of time
~hag
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler ALL HALLOWTIDE II The Ripening Of Creative Powers v31 The light from spirit depths strives outwards like the sun, becomes life’s strength of will and shines in senses’ dullness to birth the forces that ripen creative powers in human work the soul initiates.
This is the third verse of the Light Quartet, that begins with v5, when the light from spirit depths reveals the gods’ creative work, and culminates in v48 with the awakening of love in the human heart. Its mirror is the second one, v22, when summer’s light became the spirit light in us to raise the fruits whose ripening will lead us to our higher self. Rudolf Steiner once spoke of how with every breath of air, we take not only air but also light into ourselves and that we transform this light within us and make it our own as we do any other substance: we digest it, that is, we make it an integral part of our self (qv. The Archangel Michael 11/30/1919).
AUTUMN PRELUDE II The Ripening Of Self v22 The cosmic light lives on with inner power, becomes the light of soul and shines in depths of spirit to birth the fruits that in the couse of time will ripen the human Self from Cosmic Self.
Our Dear Kyle J. wrote in response to yesterday’s post about Sirius with a powerful connection to Till Eulenspiegel – which reminded me of presentation I love to give called ‘Lifting the Veil of the New Isis’, where I bring Rudolf Steiner’s imagination of the Statue of the Representative of Humanity as a veil covering the New Isis. And how in the corner of that statue is the Being of Cosmic Humor. In the Epiphany lecture of 6th January 1918– ANCIENT MYTHS, THEIR MEANING AND CONNECTION WITH EVOLUTION, GA 180, Lecture III, in Dornach. Steiner likens this being of humor to the legend of ‘Till Eulenspiegel’:
‘So one day someone came before the provisional form of the statue of the new Isis, and up above at the left was placed a figure of humorous deportment, which in its world-mood had something between seriousness, a serious idea of the world and, one might say, even a chuckling about the world. And lo and behold! as once upon a time someone stood opposite this figure in a specially favourable moment, the figure became alive and said quite facetiously: Humanity has only forgotten the matter, but centuries ago something was placed before the new humanity about the nature of the new humanity, in so far as this new humanity is still only master of the abstract word, the abstract concept, the abstract idea and is far removed from the reality.
This new humanity keeps well to words and always asks: Is it a pumpkin or is it a flask? …when it happens that a flask has been made from a pumpkin…always clings to definitions, always stops short at words! (This is a reference to the cosmic script revealed in the cresent moon – spelling out the name Parzival, the Holy Fool who at 1st did not speak the words, but thru many trails is now the New Grail King)
In the 15th, 16th, 17th centuries — so said the chuckling being — mankind still had self-knowledge about this peculiar situation of taking words in a false sense, not relating them to their true reality, but taking them in their most superficial sense. Today, however, men themselves have already forgotten what was put before them for the benefit of their self-knowledge, in the 15th, 16th, 17th centuries.’
And the being went on chuckling and said: ‘What modern humanity should take as a real recipe for its abstract spirit is depicted on a tombstone in Mölln in the Lauenburg district. Because a tombstone stands there and on this tombstone is drawn an owl (Eule) which holds before itself a looking-glass (Spiegel). And it is related that Till Eulenspiegel, after he had wandered through the world with all sorts of buffoonery and pranks, was buried there. It is related that this Till Eulenspiegel existed, that he was born in the year 1300, went to Poland, even reached Rome, and in Rome even had a wager with the Court-jesters over all sorts of odds and ends of wisdom, and initiated all the other Till Eulenspiegelisms, which indeed are to be read in the literature about Till Eulenspiegel himself.’
Learned men — and the men who are scholars, are indeed very learned today and take everything with extraordinary gravity and significance — these have naturally discovered — they have discovered various things: for example, that there was no Homer, etc. — the scholars have naturally also discovered that there never was a Till Eulenspiegel. One of the chief reasons why the actual bones of the actual Till Eulenspiegel, who was only the representative of his age, are not supposed to lie beneath the tombstone in Lauenburg, on which is depicted the owl with the looking-glass, was because another tombstone had been found in Belgium upon which there was likewise an Owl with a mirror. Now the learned men naturally have said — for that is logical is it not, and logical are they all — how does it go in Shakespeare — for they are all honourable men — all, all, all! — logical are they all! They have said: if the same sign is found in Lauenburg and Belgium then naturally no Eulenspiegel existed at all.(Because their logic did not tell them, that like the name Parzival, the name Till Eulenspiegel is a title – held by those who have achieved that rank)
Generally in life if one finds a second time what one has found a first time, one takes this as a reinforcement — but it is logical, is it not, in these things to take matters so. Well, we say, if I have one franc, then I have one franc. I believe it. So long as I only know that I have a franc, I believe it! But then I get another and I now have two. Now I believe that I have not one at all! — that is the same logic. This is the logic in fact that is to be found in our science — if I were to recount to you how everywhere it is to be found wry frequently!
But what is the essential point of the Eulenspiegel-buffoonery? Read it up in the book: the essential thing of the Till Eulenspiegel-buffoonery always consists in the fact that Eulenspiegel is given some sort of commission, and that he takes it purely literally and naturally carries it out in the wrong way. For obviously if, for instance — to exaggerate somewhat — one were to say to Eulenspiegel (whom I now take as a representative figure) ‘Bring me a doctor,’ he would take the word literally and would bring a man who had graduated as doctor from a University. But he would perhaps bring a man who was — excuse the strong language — a perfect fool, he only went by the sound of the word. All the fooleries of Till Eulenspiegel are like this, he only goes by the wording. But this makes Till Eulenspiegel precisely the representative of the present age. Eulenspiegelism is a keynote in our modern times. Words today are far removed from their original source, ideas are often still farther removed, and people do not notice it, but behave in an Eulenspiegel way to what civilization happens to serve up. People have no notion how far they are removed from reality in what today they call ideas, and even ‘ideals’. In other words: mankind does not know at all how it has made Eulenspiegel into its patron saint, how Eulenspiegel is still wandering through the different lands.
One of the fundamental evils indeed, of our time, rests on the fact that modern humanity flees from Pallas Athene, that is, from the Goddess of Wisdom, and clings to the symbol, the owl (Eule). And mankind no longer has the least idea of it — but it is true, as I have often shown, that the foundation of external knowledge is only a reflection — but, my dear friends, in a mirror one sees that which one is! And so the owl … I mean the modern scientific profundity, sees in the glass, in the world-maya illusion just simply its own face.
Over such matters as these the being at the left above the modern Isis Statue chuckles and sniggers, and over many other matters which, out of a certain courtesy towards mankind, shall not be mentioned at the moment.
But, a feeling should be called forth that with the peculiarity of this presentation of human mysteries through the real existence of the Luciferic, Ahrimanic, in connection with the Representative of humanity itself, a state of consciousness is to be roused in mankind which wakes those very impulses in the soul which are necessary for the coming age.”
Steiner speaks again about Till Eulenspiegel in direct relation to the Grail Legend in OLD AND NEW METHODS OF INITIATION, GA 210, Lecture XIII, 26 February 1922, Dornach, Connecting Christoffel von Grimmelshausen’s fool, Simplicissimus representing the Fool of the intellectual soul, with Parzival, the Fool of the Consciousness soul age & with Till Eulenspiegel the Fool of the earlier sentient soul.
“People ought to consider what they actually have in their soul in conjunction with what they do externally; the relationship between the two would be like an owl looking in a mirror! If someone were to do exactly what the words say, it would be like holding up a mirror to an owl. Out of this, in the second half of the fourteenth century, Till Eulenspiegel arose. The owl’s mirror is held up in front of mankind. It is not Till Eulenspiegel who has to look in the mirror. But because Till Eulenspiegel takes literally what people say with their dry, abstract words, they suddenly see themselves, whereas normally they do not see themselves at all. It is a mirror for the owls because they can really see themselves in it.
Night has fallen. In past times, human beings could see into the spiritual world. And the activity of their words was in harmony with the world. Human beings were eagles. But now they have become owls. The world of the soul has become a bird of the night. In the strange world depicted by Till Eulenspiegel, a mirror is held up before the owl.”
In ANCIENT MYTHS, THEIR MEANING AND CONNECTION WITH EVOLUTION, GA 180, Lecture IV, Dornach 8th January 1918 – Steiner relates Till Eulenspiegel with the absurdity of modern science, the lies of politics & even names Woodrow Wilson!
Thanks Kyle for inspiring me to revist these ideas…
xox
~hag
28 October 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waxing crescent Moon is back in the evening sky, low in the southwest. As twilight deepens and the stars begin to come out — but before the Moon gets too low — look for the Sagittarius Teapot in its background.
1871 – Birthday of Michael Bauer, Anthroposophical teacher, poet, wrote: “The Life and Work of Christian Morgenstern“
Our Annual All Souls Celebration – A Community Circle to Honor Our Beloved Dead Wednesday, November 2, 2022 In-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL. 60613
Doors open 5 pm 5:15-6:00 Potluck Dinner & Conversation Transition to the Upper Room 6:05 Verse for the So-Called Dead 6:10-6:20 Singing 6:20-6:30 Speak Their Names 6:30-6:40 Social Art for the Dead 6:40-7:10 Conversation RE Experience 7:10 Closing Verse
For those wishing to attend All Souls Day Vesper Service at The Christian Community, please arrive at the Church and be seated by 7:25 pm The service will begin promptly at 7:30pm
2135 W WILSON AVE CHICAGO, IL 60625 Church calendar.
Today, 103 years ago, in 1919 Rudolf Steiner gave the 1st lecture on the physical incarnation, in the West, of Ahriman. THE AHRIMANIC DECEPTION, GA 193, Zurich, 27th October, 1919
“Now, in order that his incarnation may take the most profitable form, it is of the utmost interest to Ahriman that people should be steeped in illusory modern science, but without knowing that it is illusion…To conceal from humankind that in modern intellectual, rationalistic science with its supplement of a superstitious empiricism, one is dealing with a great illusion, a deception — that men should not recognize this is of the greatest possible interest to Ahriman.
It would be a triumphant experience for him if the scientific superstition which grips all circles today and by which men even want to organize their social science, should prevail into the third millennium. He would have the greatest success if he could then come as a human being into Western civilization and find the scientific superstition.
But I ask you not to draw false conclusions from what I have just said. It would be a false conclusion to avoid the science of the day; that is the very falsest conclusion which could be drawn. We must get to know science; we should get an exact knowledge of all that comes from this direction — but with the full consciousness that we are receiving an illusory aspect, an illusion necessary for our education as men. We do not safeguard ourselves against Ahriman by avoiding modern science, but by learning to know its character. For modern science gives us an external illusion of the universe, and we need this illusion. Do not imagine that we do not need it. We must only fill it in from quite another side with actual reality gained through spiritual research, we must rise from the illusory character to the true reality…It is by educating oneself through these illusions that one arrives at the reality.
This, then, represents one of the means used by Ahriman to make his incarnation as effective as possible — this keeping of man back in scientific superstition.
The second means that he employs is to stir up all the emotions that split men up into small groups — groups that mutually attack one another. You need only look at all the conflicting parties that exist today, and if you are unprejudiced you will recognize that the explanation is not to be found merely in human nature…
In order to create dissensions, Ahriman also makes use of what develops from the old conditions of hereditywhich man has really outgrown in the Fifth Post-Atlantean Epoch. The Ahrimanic powers use all that is derived from old circumstances of heredity in order to set men against each other in conflicting groups.All that comes from old differences of family, race, tribe, peoples, is used by Ahriman to create confusion. “Freedom for every nation, even the smallest …” These were fine-sounding words. But the powers hostile to man always use fine words in order to bring confusion and in order to attain the things that Ahriman wishes to attain for his incarnation.
If we inquire: Who stirs up nations against each other? Who raises the questions that are directing humanity today? — the answer is: the Ahrimanic deception which plays into human life. And in this field men very easily let themselves be deceived. They are not willing to descend to the lower strata where reality is to be found. For, you see, Ahriman skillfully prepares his goal beforehand; ever since the Reformation and the Renaissance, the economist has been emerging in modern civilization as the representative governing type. That is an actual historical fact…One must not imagine that the rulers of modern times are anything but the understrappers of the economists. And all that has resulted by way of law and justice — one should only study it carefully — is simply a consequence of what economically oriented men have thought.
But just because this rulership of the mere ‘symbol for solid goods’ (that is to say, money) has arisen, Ahriman has been given another essential medium for the deception of mankind.If men do not realize that the rights-state and the organism of the Spirit must be set against the economic order called up through the economists and the banks, then again, through this lack of awareness, Ahriman will find an important instrument for preparing his incarnation. His incarnation is undoubtedly coming, and this lack of insight will enable him to prepare it triumphantly…
The real Christ must be sought today through all that can be gained from a spiritual knowledge of the world.
These very people who swear by the Gospel alone and reject every kind of real spiritual knowledge, form the beginning of a flock for Ahriman when he appears in human shape in modern civilization. From these circles, from these members of confessions and sects who repulse the concrete knowledge brought by spiritual endeavor, whole hosts will develop as adherents of Ahriman. Now this is all beginning to come into existence…
Many people have felt something of this sort. But there is not yet courage everywhere to come to an understanding with the historical impulses of the Christ, Lucifer and Ahriman in the urgent way that is necessary and that is emphasized by Anthroposophy…
Yet humanity will only acquire the right attitude to the earthly incarnation of Ahriman if it sees through these things and has the courage, will and energy to illumine both secular science and the Gospel by the Spirit. Otherwise the result is always superficialities….
We need a new science, one that is illumined by the Spirit. But men must have the courage for such a new science…
Purely mundane science would make men entirely subject to illusion; in fact ultimately they would commit only follies…
Mankind must above all seek universality and the courage to look at things from all sides.
I wished to say this to you today so that you may realize that what one tries now to bring about within humanity has truly deeper grounds than just some sort of subjective prejudice. In fact one can say that it is read from the signs of the times and that it must be brought about.” ~Rudolf Steiner
27 October 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Scintillating Sirius & Orion’s belt can be found in the south before dawn.
Mars is also near the easy-to-spot constellation Orion the Hunter. It’s nearly the same brightness as Sirius, but shines steadily, with a distinctive red color.
~The forms of light & dark are many The shapes of good & evil are hidden We must discern the fruit from the poison… In every moment beings of spirit wait to rise up in our thinking – That one of darkness has eyebrows that swim on his forehead like fishes That one of light burns in the cold fire of selfishness The middle pillar, whose two arms are scales Stands firm in equanimity ~hag
