Category Archives: Rudolf Steiner Quote

Crack the Code to Freedom

History, Poetry, Rudolf Steiner Quote

Dear freinds – TODAY in 1498 – Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pietà.

“In Michelangelo we have a spirit who helped human evolution on its way because he had a maturity of soul which enabled him to imprint on the world of space and matter significant facts from the spiritual world. He stood wholly in the great current of his times yet his own inmost quality was not fully understood. A friend once wrote to him that even the Pope feared him; and yet in his soul there lived all the greatness of Christian impulses which flowed into his work. While he felt himself at one with the great Christian impulses he yet lived at the dawn of a later epoch — closely though it was still connected with earlier ages. The content of older Christian impulses still affected his soul and out of that he created something which in its form and artistic method was already part of the ties in which we ourselves live. Hence comes the mood of the poem which he wrote — probably during his last days as he looked back over his life — and which makes it clear what our relation is to him, and how we should allow his influence over us to work:

Now hath my life across a stormy sea like a frail barque reached that wide port, where all are hidden, ere the final reckoning fall of good and evil for eternity.

Now know I well how that fond phantasy, which made my soul the worshipper and thrall of earthly art, is vain; how criminal is that which all men seek unwillingly.

Those amorous thoughts which were so lightly dressed, what are they when the double death is nigh?

The one I know for sure, the other dread. 

Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest my soul that turns to His great Love on high Whose arms to clasp us on the cross were spread. ~ Michelangelo

Michelangelo was a great poet also, and the poems of his which survive show the same spirit which we have found in his sculpture and painting. The last three lines of this sonnet make it clear that he could never be at ease in the world, and that was fundamentally true of him all his life. He was a sort of hybrid, still part of the old but already living within the new. This is particularly evident in that work which he carried out at the instigation of one of the Popes: the tombs of Giuliani and Lorenzo dei Medici.

Dawn & Dusk
Day & Night

In this chapel: the four allegorical figures, arranged two and two: Day and Night, Dawn and Dusk. I have often gazed at them; in fact they are one of the things which by a sort of spiritual compulsion I always look at longest when I have had the privilege of being in Florence. These figures are not mere allegories without force and without vitality. Use every means that Spiritual Science gives you to look at them and think about them; then if we remember that what anthroposophy calls the ego and the astral body leave the physical and etheric bodies at night, and if we ask ourselves what qualities and gesture of the etheric body we should select to represent plastically the truth which Spiritual Science tells us — how, that is, we should picture the physical body of the sleeping human being if we really feel him to be what Spiritual Science describes him as being — we know that he should be represented in the form which Michelangelo has given to “Night”. It is not just a symbol of night but the true spiritual reality of man as he really is in sleep which we have before us in this female figure. Thus Michelangelo, who knew so well how to set the figures in his works within the same space in which we ourselves stand, was also well aware what it means if the soul and spirit leaves man’s physical body but leave it with life still within it. If we also study the other individual members of the human being and then look at the other figures in the tomb, we shall see how closely they run parallel with what I once called spiritual chemistry.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Michelangelo, Berlin, 8th January, 1914

26 August 2022– “Speaking with the Stars

Michelangelo

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

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

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Feast day of Samuel, literally meaning “Name of God” in Hebrew, is a leader & Judge of ancient Israel. He is also known as a prophet & is mentioned in the second chapter of the Qur’an.  Aa a seer, Samuel is associated with the bands of musical ecstatic roaming prophets.

Feast Day of Melchizedek, (“God most high”) Priest & king of Salem mentioned in the 14th chapter of the Book of Genesis. He brings out bread and wine & blesses Abram. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, he is depicted as being “Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life.” Jesus Christ is identified as “a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek”

“Even when some individual was to be the leader of a particular people he would be required to develop a measure of understanding for every human soul. This is indicated magnificently in the Old Testament in the passage describing the meeting between Abraham and Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High. Those who understand this passage know that Abraham, who was destined to become the leader of his people, underwent an Initiation at this time — even if not in full consciousness as is the case in later Initiations. Abraham’s Initiation was connected with realisation of the Divine element that can flow into all human souls. The passage which tells of the meeting of Abraham with Melchizedek contains a deep secret connected with the evolution of humanity. “~Rudolf Steiner, Between Death & Rebirth, Lecture 2

Feast Day of The Black Madonna of Częstochowa, The Virgin Mary is shown as the “Hodegetria” (“One Who Shows the Way“)The icon has been intimately associated with Poland for the past 600 years.

Its history prior to its arrival in Poland is shrouded in numerous legends which trace the icon’s origin to St. Luke who painted it on a cedar table top from the house of the Holy Family.

The same legend holds that the painting was discovered in Jerusalem in 326 by St. Helena, who brought it back to Constantinople & presented it to her son, Constantine the Great.

The legend concerning the two scars on the Black Madonna’s right cheek is that the Hussites stormed the Pauline monastery in 1430, plundering the sanctuary. Among the items stolen was the icon. After putting it in their wagon, the Hussites tried to get away but their horses refused to move. They threw the portrait down to the ground, as the robber struck the painting twice, the face of the Virgin Mary started to bleed; in a panic, the scared Hussites retreated & left the painting

Women’s Equality Day

1498 – Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pietà

1789 – The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is approved- directly influenced by Thomas Jefferson, working with General Lafayette. Also by the doctrine of “natural right“, held to be universal: valid at all times & in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. It became the basis for a nation of free individuals protected equally by law. Inspired in part by the American Revolution, & also by the Enlightenment philosophers, the Declaration was a core statement of the values of the French Revolution & had a major impact on the development of freedom & democracy in Europe & worldwide

1791 – John Fitch is granted a United States patent for the steamboat

1795 – Deathday of Cagliostro, the alias of the occultist Giuseppe Balsamo, an Italian adventurer & self-styled magician. He became a glamorous figure associated with the royal courts of Europe where he pursued various occult arts, including psychic healing, alchemy & scrying. His reputation lingered for many decades after his death. Steiner called him an initiate.

1883 – Eruption of Krakatoa

1910 – Birthday of Mother Teresa

1914 – Rudolf Steiner meets Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of the German General Staff, near Koblenz

1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote

1942 – The Holocaust in Chortkiv, western Ukraine, over 4000 die

1970 – The feminist movement, led by Betty Friedan, leads a nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality

1995 – Deathday of Daskalos, the Greek word for teacher, a Greek Cypriot mystic & healer. He set up the circle, “The Researchers of Truth.”

1999 – Russia begins the Second Chechen War

David Deak

My POD (Poem Of the Day)

I feel the fire burning – my thoughts spark the flame
A voice calls out the question
Echoing with my name.
Hidden in dark chambers – a purpose dwells deep
Be patient to unveil Her
So what’s unlocked, will never sleep
Where is Love to pulse in rhythm?
Pain ringing the alarm: What you reap, this you sow.
Then will the seed be watered, & then begin to grow
And crack the code to Freedom
To let the Sun of Wisdom speak from the heart & flow.
~hag

Portals of Perception

History, Insight, Poetry, Rudolf Steiner Quote
David Anderson

Some notes & thoughts gleaned from a zoom session with Dr. James Dyson during our recent AAP  training: Why did Anthroposophy come into the world when it did? While pondering this question in my meditation this morning I came across this quote by Steiner:

“The change took place to begin with in the spiritual world, in that the Beings who had been leading hitherto were replaced by that spiritual Being who may be described as the Being of Michael. Michael, has taken over the Spiritual guidance of humankind. The fact that Michael is now entering the soul-life and spiritual life of humankind has its visible counterpart on Earth. An ever growing number of people begin to realize that  the human being is livingly and constantly connected, not only through their physical body with the Earth, but through their soul and spirit with the spiritual world.

The human being is thus growing into conscious spiritual knowledge. This is the one aspect of the leadership of Michael, but there is also another. To be sincerely filled with spiritual knowledge also affects the human heart, the human soul. The more the light of Spiritual Science spreads, the less will it remain a mere theory; it will pour out into human feeling, — it will be present in the form of true human love, in ever widening circles.” ~Rudolf Steiner, PLANETARY SPHERES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON MANS LIFE ON EARTH AND IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS, VI. Christ and the Metamorphoses of Karma, 19 November 1922, London

Besides the fact that Anthroposophy was primed in the spiritual world thru the Michael School & the Cosmic Cultus in preparation for the New Michael age which began in 1879, just as the kali Yuga was ending, Dyson also thinks Anthroposophy came into the world to usher in the new clairvoyance. (Something we have been exploring thru the Vidar research )

But Dyson asks, How can this be if we can’t even wake up to the Higher Self within ourselves or truly see the divinity within other human beings…since we seem to be facing the ruins of a social karma..?

Rudolf Steiner’s core mission was to bring a practical understanding of karma & reincarnation to the West, but he had to take over the task of bringing Anthroposophy into the world since his teacher Karl Julius Schroer (Plato in an earlier incarnation) was not able to bring his cosmic thinking into the consciousness soul age. Dyson thinks that if Steiner hadn’t died so young he would have brought more insights connecting his core mission with Psychosophy.

Further notes: The human encounter is a threshold experience. Therapy (ie. the knowing of thyself) helps us to have a new kind of relationship to others & to the world.

How can we expand the idea of subject / object in the realm of the physical out into the etheric where the angels & elemental beings as well as our interrelationships live..? This involves the redemption of thinking.

Tomorrow we will explore ‘Psychosythesis’…

Until soon

~hag

23 August 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: As summer progresses and Arcturus moves down the western sky, the kite figure of Bootes sprouts from Arcturus toward the upper right. The Big Dipper slants at about the same height in the northwest, to the Kite’s right.

Vuk

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (sourced from Steiner orginal Calendar of the Soul, Wikipedia Commons, Sky&Telescope)

Sergiu Roman

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

Feast Day of Vulcan – The god of fire – including the fire of volcanoes, deserts, metalworking and the forge in ancient Roman religion and myth. He is often depicted with a blacksmith’s hammer. The Vulcanalia was the annual festival held August 23 in his honor. His Greek counterpart is Hephaestus, the god of fire and smithery.

Black Ribbon Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism & Nazism

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade & its Abolition

vesuveus

79 – Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire

1244 – Siege of Jerusalem: The city’s citadel, the Tower of David, surrenders to Khwarezmian (Persian) Empire

1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by khan Tokhtamysh lays siege

1572 –St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed to have been instigated by Catherine de’ Medici, the mother of King Charles IX.

1754 – Birthday of Louis XVI of France – the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as Citizen Louis Capet during the four months just before he was executed by guillotine. He was the son of Louis, Dauphin of France, son and heir-apparent of King Louis XV, and Maria Josepha of Saxony. When his father died in 1765, he became the new Dauphin.

1839 – The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong. The ensuing 3-year conflict will later be known as the First Opium War

1914 – World War I: Japan declares war on Germany

1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany & the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, & Poland are divided between the two nations.

1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad

1944 – World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allies

1944 – Freckleton Air Disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people

earth rise nasa

1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon

1970 –César Chávez leads the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history

1973 – A bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis, who begin to sympathize with their captors, leading to the term “Stockholm syndrome”

song revo

1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands for restoration of independence

1990 – Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union

1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western “guests” (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War

1991 – Tim Berners-Lee opens the World Wide Web to new users

1996 – Osama bin Laden issues message entitled ‘A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.’

2000 – Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf killing 143

2011 – A magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurs in Virginia as a result of ‘Fracking’. Damage occurs to monuments & structures in Washington D.C. with damage estimated at 300 million

Marilina Mascias

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~The portals of perception
Raw & cluttered await
The revealing –
It is my Self I see –
A 1000 colors swirling in liquid light
A star covered in rising clouds
Hung by a thread from its ocean Moon
Hail Self
Traversing eternity
In moral steps of time
Where the Guardian beckons
~hag

Vidarmas

Biography, Community, Festival, Poetry, Rudolf Steiner Quote

Greetings – On Saturday 20 August 2022, a group of us met in the Upper Room of the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Chicago, to explore the idea of co-creating a New Festival called Vidarmas to acknowledge the Archangel Vidar, in connection to our need to experience ‘The Etheric Christ‘ which is our task in this age.

We opened with the recitation of a Poem by ~Mac Andrew called ‘Woden and the Grail‘:

And Odin hung for nine days
from the Earth’s One Tree,
his eye gouged for wisdom gained,
a loss so he could see.

He waited long upon this throne
as Godlike days passed.
For the future he’d wait to see;
how to make his time last.

The One-God was coming
for this was surely told
but how to manage tomorrow
for the long lost Gods of old.

His wolves, and horse, and crows
they stood and gathered near
looking long for his wisdom
against the lives they held so dear.

Then Odin smiled upon the ninth day
for the answer there did lie
within the Earthen Tree
he had helped himself to tie.

Lowered now to the ground,
sodden by his many tears,
he drew nigh his greatest friends
those who waited the many years.

Turning to the tree he drew
deep from within its heart
a living chalice made of wood
from which to make a start.

Come my friends gather round
and for the past do not wail
as we hold the future steady now
within this Earthen Holy Grail.

While Lucien wrote on the black board, I shared a few leading thoughts gleaned from my work with Prokofieff’s indications encapsulating the Spiritual Science of Rudolf Steiner in his amazing book: “The Cycle of the year as a Path of Initiation Leading to an Experience of the Christ Being, An Esoteric Study of the Festivals” – the 12th & final chapter on: “The Modern Mysteries of the Etheric Christ” expounding on “The Vidar Mystery”.

Druidic ‘gravestone’ of Vidar found in Niederdollendorf near Colonge

a few Highlights:
“This individuality of Wotan or Odin (who Steiner calls an Archangel) is the same as the one who later appeared with the same mission under the name Buddha”. (GA105 August 14 1908)

“When the Buddha appeared to the shepherds in the picture of the ‘heavenly host’, he was not in a physical body but in an astral body. He had assumed a body in which he could still send his influences to the Earth….This body is called a Nirmanakaya’. ” (GA 114, 17 September 1909)

Every human being has a guardian angel; before Siddhārtha became the Gautama-Buddha he had one too. When he achieved Buddhahood his angel was ‘freed’ & went on to work with the Christ thru the pre-earthly deeds & with the Nathan Soul who then incarnated as the Luke Jesus. You can read about this angel in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 2 & in Matthew 1:18–25.

Steiner speaks about the Nirmanakaya of the Buddha with all its “Youthful forces” becoming the astral body of the Nathan Jesus when he was 12.

It is the Buddha’s’ Angel, who we later learn is Vidar, who comes to the aid of the etheric body of Christ Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when the Ahrimanic death forces were threatening to kill the body before Christ’s deed on Golgotha was completed. “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him”. (Luke 22-43)

According to Rudolf Steiner in 1879 the Angel of Gautama Buddha ascends into the sphere of the Archangels, taking the place vacated by Michael, who at this time completes his ascent to the rank of Archai. This angel being then went on to work with the Christ in the etheric.

Then we went around & read together Rudolf Steiner’s Lecture THE MISSION OF FOLK-SOULS, GA 121,, Lecture XI, 17 June 1910, Christiania – Here is a powerful quote from our study:

“All these details which are set forth in the ‘Twilight of the Gods’, correspond with that which is to appear to humankind in a newer etheric vision, which in reality refers to the future. The Fenris Wolf will still remain. Oh, there is a deep, deep truth concealed in this account of the Fenris Wolf remaining behind in conflict with Odin. In the near future of humankind there will be no danger so great as the tendency to remain satisfied with the old clairvoyance, — instead of developing the new by means of new forces — the danger that humanity might be tempted to remain satisfied with what the old astral clairvoyance of primal ages could give, namely, soul-pictures such as that of the Fenris Wolf. It would also be a severe trial for that which has to grow up in the domain of Anthroposophy, if in that, the tendency towards all sorts of confused, chaotic clairvoyance should arise…

Something very different must come in. And what that is, is, however, known to Celtic-Germanic-Norse mythology — it is well aware of its existence. It knows, that there exists the etheric form in which will embody that which we shall once again see as the etheric form of Christ. And this alone will succeed in driving out the confused clairvoyant power which would bewilder humankind…
Vidar, who has kept silence all the time, will overcome the Fenris Wolf. That also is told us in the ‘Twilight of the Gods’.

Anyone who recognizes the importance of Vidar and feels him in their soul, will find that beginning in the twentieth century the capacity can again be given to humanity with which to see Christ.

Vidar, who belongs to us all, will again stand before the human being. Vidar was kept secret in the Mysteries and secret Schools as a god who would receive his mission only in the future.”

We had lively discussions throughout the evening. Then to get us up on our feet to vibrate from our lips & lungs, Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer of The Musical initiative: Velsum: Voices of Ancient Futurism brought us a song they wrote for the occasion.

Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Come upon us.
Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Give us your trust.

Let us meet you in the threshold.
Let us know you in the Light.
Let us carry forth your banner
In selfless might!

Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Come upon us.
Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Give us your trust.

In the flowing of the spirit
From the Northern sickle moon,
We will harvest your new impulse
In joyous truth!

Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Come upon us.
Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Give us your trust.

Lucien & Ultra invited us to co-write a 3rd verse; so folks pop-corned ideas, & we will work more with that for our next gathering…

Here are the links to the recordings of the song they taught us.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QLvn4bSTEbjSptZe6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AGbartxJFFJmNvTf9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cc8YQTQHZeyGBsaL7

Lucien suggested we end by doing a group poem, each going around saying 1 word. Here is what came forth from our collective efforts for our closing verse: “Speak from the light wherein resolution leads to our hearts fulfillment of the Etheric Christ with courage.”

Vidar at the gates of Shambala by Daniel Ospina

Daniel Ospina the artist of this amazing painting held a meeting at the same time in Ireland where they also read the lecture. The invitation was taken up by other branches including one in Colombia as well. If you dear reader have also taken up this impulse to know Vidar, please share your insights. Let’s keep this knowing going.

Many Thanks to Are Thoresen for sparking our interest in this Being whose powerful mission is calling us to participate.

May the Spiritual Scientific Research that we began into the Festival we are calling Vidarmas, continue to thrive.

~Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Chicago

The Music in You

Biography, Celestial Event, Community, Festival, Rudolf Steiner Quote

Continuing on from yesterday’s “Awakening to Community” exploration of the AAP training (Association for Anthroposophical Psychology) I will open with a question Alan Thewless began his seminar with: What is the soul’s connection to the whole cosmos?

The astral body is music! – The etheric body works out of the rhythms of cosmic sculpture, with the astral body moving in the cosmic melody – We are the Rhythm & Melody of the Uni-verse!

The 7 planets living in our organs & chakras are the bridge to the Music of the Spheres! We go out to the periphery & then come back into the center of ourselves.

tobiasart

Saturn is as the Guardian to the Solar System – a boundary to the Stars of the constellations – from the sense world to the spiritual world, holding the energy of the ‘Priest’.

Jupiter asks: What is wisely working in us? The Kingly energy

Mars is our critical thinking – bringing us necessity & discernment: Yes or no; affirming our individuality – our ability to assert ourselves. We can ask: Am I being too critical, to harsh? The warrior.

In the Sun Sphere we say Yes to who we are. The administrator

We come to earth to give this something to the world – we come to care, bringing in the Venus quality of faithfulness & our gift of experiencing & creating beauty – to be & to give Love. The Care Giver

Once this love is part of us we can truly share & teach, working out of the Mercury sphere. The teacher.

The Moon brings our digested experience into our thinking. The Artist.

The planets – the wandering stars – are connected with Time – the vowels. The constellations of the Zodiac – the fixed Stars – bring us the concept of Space – the formative forces of the consonants. Our etheric body is the bridge between the 2.

Experiencing the cosmos within us, as well as out in nature, revitalizes our etheric being & the universe responds with joy at our interaction.

Alan asked: Which planetary quality do you most resonate to? Then we were invited to stand with a group of our fellows each in their chosen place. I was with the Saturn group – the Priests. What about you?

More tomorrow…Until soon (BTW: you can still join our cohort for the 3 year the training)

~hag

20 August 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The last-quarter Moon shone between Mars and the Pleiades early Friday morning the 19th. On Sunday morning the 21st it’s between the horntips of Taurus: Beta and fainter Zeta Tauri.

Chirila Corina

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day – “…Suppose that you could take the human being as you see him here and turn him inside out so that his inside — the heart, for instance — would become the outer surface. If this could be done taking hold of him in the inmost heart and turning him inside out like a glove, then man would not remain man as we see him here; he would enlarge into a universe. For if we had the faculty to concentrate in a single point within our heart, and then to turn ourselves inside out in spirit, we could become this world that we otherwise experience between death and a new birth. That is the secret of the inner side of the human being. The heart of the human being is also a world turned inside out. That is how the physical, earthly world is really connected to the spiritual world. We must get used to this “turning inside out.” If we do not, we will never get the right idea concerning how the physical world that surrounds us here relates to the spiritual world.” ~Rudolf Steiner, TODAY 100 years ago – THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY, PART 2: THE MYSTERY OF TRUTH, GA 214, I. Meditation: The Path to Higher Knowledge, 20 August 1922, Oxford

Vidar at the gates of Shambala by Daniel Ospina

Dear freinds – Anthroposophy gives us the opportunity to work with the Cycle of the Year as a modern path of Initiation into the New Mysteries. In our striving we not only renew, but we are being called from the future to co-create entirely new Festivals.

Join us in doing Spiritual Scientific research into the Being called Vidar – 

Vidar-mas? – An exploration that may perhaps lead into a new Festival for this Archangel of our Time.

Having received insights from Are Thoresen at the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Chicago last week, we are taking up our own research into the new Archangel Vidar, who stands as Guardian to the Threshold of the Etheric Realm, in protection of the Nathan Soul, opening the Northern Stream of Initiation to those who would approach the Etheric Christ . In a recent spiritual experience, Are Thoresen suggested that August 20th may be the Feast Day of Vidar..?

All are invited to join us, where ever you are, in reading a lecture by Rudolf Steiner which brings to life this new Archangel Vidar.

We welcome your feedback as to whether or not August 20th resonates as a new Feast Day that we might call Vidar-mas..?

THE MISSION OF FOLK-SOULS, GA 121, Lecture XI, 17 June 1910, Christiania https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/19100617p01.html.

Meeting in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago or wherever you are
20 August 2022, at 5 pm PT / 6 pm MT / 7 pm CT / 8 pm PT

From Maverick a student of Astrosophy: “On the sheets given us by the Star House called “Sun Chronicle of the Christ Events”, Aug. 20th shows the Sun in sidereal longitude at 2 to 3 degrees in Leo – where the Sun is at home in the sign it rules. The Christ events occurring then are: Aug.20th – the conversation at Jacob’s well (so the 1st time Christ Jesus revealed to anyone other than the disciples that He was the Messiah), and Aug. 20/21st – the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

~Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Chicago

Dear friends – As Anthroposophers we are called to do active Spiritual Scientific research, not take any persons word for anything. So being that the Festival Life can be a path of initiation into the New Mysteries, we thought to explore this Being Vidar further in connection to our task in this age of understanding the etheric Christ, which Rudolf Steiner speaks about in GA 121, the lecture we will study together today. By doing so we are in no way suggesting that we are to replace Michael as the Time Spirit holding the Zeitgeist of the age, or that this exploration would in any way eradicate Michaelmas as the true Christian Festival that it is.

Druidic gravestone of Vidar found in Niederdollendorf near Colonge 

“…The communications given out from Rosicrucian sources must be tested rather than believed, tested not superficially by the superficial methods of modern science, but ever more conscientiously…The more you test them, the more you will find them confirmed from this source. You must accept nothing on authority. The best students of Spiritual Science are those who take what is said as a stimulus in the first place and test it by the facts of life itself. For in life too, at every stage of life, you can test what is given out from the sources of Rosicrucianism. It is far from my intention in these lectures to lay down dogmas and claim that the facts are such and such and must be believed. Verify them by an exchange of views with people of able and active mind and you will find confirmation of what has been said as a prophetic indication of the future manifestation of Christ. You need only open your eyes and verify it objectively; we make no appeal to belief in authority. This need to test everything received from Spiritual Science should become a kind of basic attitude permeating our whole approach.

I should like to impress upon you, therefore, that it is not anthroposophical to accept a statement as dogma on the authority of this or that person; but it is truly anthroposophical to allow oneself to be stimulated by Spiritual Science and to verify what is communicated by life itself.” ~Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE INDIVIDUAL FOLK SOULS, GA 121, 11. Nerthus, Freyja and Gerda. Twilight of the Gods. Vidar and the new Revelation of Christ, 17 June 1910, Oslo

Turning Wheel

Biography, Community, Festival, History, Poetry, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Summer, Upcoming Events
Vincent van Gogh

“Bringing in the Sheaves” – Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve: Now begins the harvest and the time of reaping, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves…”

Preparing for the 2nd Harvest: Lammas Day – We will explore this ancient, yet ever renewable Cross-Quarter holiday.

The Harvest fest of Lammas or Lughnasadh begins today until August 7th when we hit the astrological Crossquarter between Summer Solstice & Fall Equinox.

It is also the Feast Day of Joseph of Arimathea – According to all four Gospels, the man who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after the crucifixion. A number of stories that developed during the Middle Ages connect him with both Glastonbury, where he is supposed to have founded the earliest Christian oratory, & also with the Grail legend.

“One must penetrate to an understanding of the Mystery of the Bread, which is said to have been broken by Christ Jesus in the same chalice in which Joseph of Arimathea caught His blood. As legend tells it, this chalice was then removed to Europe, but was preserved by angels in a region high above the surface of the earth until the arrival of Titurel who created for this Grail, this sacred chalice, a temple on Mont Salvat” ~Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, April 16, 1921

The Wheel turns from St. John’s Tide with its message of the inner Christ Sun and the mirroring of the Holy nights, to the Sun in the heart of the lion (or at least it’s where Regulus, the heart of the lion, was a couple of thousand years ago!) Lammas, or Loaf mas, a cross quarter festival traditionally celebrated at the beginning of August, marks the point when we leave the Garden, and earn our own way, “by the sweat of our brow”.

The harvest of grain, and the baking of bread, represents the first child of the cosmic union of Sun and Earth. It symbolizes the essence of humanity, born from this union, for the loaf is more than a gift of nature, it is made by the combined forces of nature with the will forces of human activity.

The harvest season is a time of judgment. We are called upon to sift through the things that have grown up during the past half-year, and decide what we will keep and what we will cut away. We must make choices, and act on them. The cycle of life turns past the peak of growth, into the time of release.

In astrology, the moon, five eighths past the new moon, is called the “disseminating moon”. During this phase, what has built up in the waxing cycle begins to be released into the environment. We start to see the results of our work. At Lammas, the sun is five-eighths of the way around the Wheel from Winter Solstice. Growth has reached its peak, and the life of the Sun God has begun to bleed off into the fruit and grain.

Bailey Dreggle

The King is Dead Long Live the King – for now is also the time of sacrifice, of death in service of life. Some of the first fruits are ready for harvest, but some, too unripe to be eaten, must be plucked anyway. These are culls, removed so they won’t drain the life force from the good fruit. If everything was left on the tree, the life force would be diluted, or worse, the bad fruit could weigh down a branch until it breaks, destroying the entire crop, or sometimes killing the tree. The culls are taken so the rest of the fruit, and those who depend on the crop for survival, might live.

John Barleycorn must die… ‘Cut in half and buried, then beaten with sticks, and finally crushed between stones’… as the song goes, nevertheless rises once again. Bread is the perfect sacrifice for “Loaf Mass” or Lughnassadh as the Celtics called it, for they knew that this festival is more than just the first fruits of the earth — it also involves the first fruits of human labor. Grain is processed by human craft, and joined with the four elements to make the staff of life.

Dear friends, in my ever striving to craft my humanness, I have decided to take the Association for Anthroposophical Psychology (AAP) Training. And from there I will drive the 2 hours to Spring Valley to be part of the ‘Renewing the Mysteries Conference’. I will be offline until Aug. 16, 2022.  

In gratitude ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Roan Kelly

1 August 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”


CORN RIGS & WHEELS, a poem for Lammas – Aug. 1st

Cicadas trance
In theta waves of sound
The sickles reap in boarder-time
Opening the gate to the West

Dragons fly
Into the mouth
Of the Hollowman
His eyes ablaze
As he glimpses Her waiting womb
All ripe & hot – Her phoenix tomb
A fierce alchemical furnace.

Baked in the lion fire
Of tetramorph Angels
John Barleycorn must die.

Grind the grain
To make the bread & beer

Molded chrysokolla
The kneaded Wickerman
Fulfills the sacrifice
& sits upon Her altar
Next to braided corn dollies
& moist cake.

At the top of the hill
The Sun covered with pitch & tar
& tied to the wheel of Catherine
Is set aflame
The blazing disk rolls in immolation
To its decline

Burn the old straw effigy
At the funeral games to bless the 1st grain

Watch Sothis rise
Morning 1st scorcher
Celestial Jackal
Herald of the New Year
Flood the fields
With your scintillating serum

Where we meet again
& once again
In a year & day
To behead the Loaf
& eat…

~hag

What is this day?
It is the day of Lammas.
What is the meaning of this day?
It is the mystery of the corn
What is the mystery of the corn?
That which is cut down will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.

Andrea Kowch

So bake a loaf of bread on Lammas. If you’ve never made bread before, this is a good time to start. Honor the source of the flour as you work with it: remember it was once a plant growing on mother Earth. If you have a garden, add something you’ve harvested–herbs or onion or veggies. If you don’t feel up to making wheat bread, make corn bread, or gingerbread people, or popcorn. What’s most important is intention. All that is necessary to enter sacred time is an awareness of the meaning of your actions.

Saying Grace with you ~hag

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ASSOCIATION for ANTHROPOSOPHIC PSYCHOLOGY:

OPEN: Enrollment for 2022 Program

LINK:  3-Year Certificate Program 2022-2025

AVAILABLE: Continuing Education Units (CEUs) Available

JOIN US

EXPLORE the interpenetrating mysteries of Body, Soul & Spirit
DISCOVER the illusive secrets of your own Psyche
ILLUMINATE the journey from lower self to Higher Self

Annael Pavlova

Music Workshop Introducing: New Impulses in Music

When: August 5 & 6 – 2022

Friday night @ 6:30 – 9:00***** and *****Saturday @ 9:30 -12:00 and @ 2:00 – 4:30

Where: New Vision Church: https://newvisionbic.org/aboutus/N14W27995

On Silvernail Rd. Pewaukee (just south of I-94 / at the SS EXIT)

About our instructor: Veronika Roemer

In her own words she says “Music speaks to our souls, and through its three basic elements of melody, harmony, and rhythm, it speaks directly to our three soul forces of thinking, feeling, and willing. When making music, we are always encountering all three of these forces in an interweaving, harmonious process. Music is nourishment for our souls.” In this workshop she will be introducing participants to these instruments and illustrating the following characteristics that make them essential “for our time”. In short, she will show how

  • the “sound quality brings healing to the inner ear” and helps the listener reconnect to their inner musician.
  • the “technical ease of the instruments” makes them accessible to everyone. 
  • the “movements in space make musical realities visible, like the movement from tone to tone, or of one chord to the next.”
  • the “group processes reconnect people. Because connections are built through music and not talking, the social aspects of the group processes are more subtle offering an extra bonus to the musical work”. Finally, music lifts the mood and allows people to laugh and enjoy themselves and others.

Veronika has extensive training and experience. Her initial training was gained at the Musikakademie in Basel and Musikhochschule in Zurich Switzerland inclusive of orchestral and string quartet performance in Europe followed by a student Foundation year at Emerson College and five additional years teaching and instructing for them as faculty. She also has multiple years of study and instruction at the Dorian School of Music Therapy. From 1998-2013 she was a resident and co-worker at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills developing a music program for adults with developmental disabilities continuing as an instructor for the group through 2021 as well as instructing for the Camphill Academy at Beaver Run and at the Kimberton Waldorf School. Currently she is a founding faculty member for the SunGate Educational Community and active member of the Lyre Association of North America. Wherever she goes she is happiest to be making music with people.

Veronika is returning to visit us in Wisconsin where she lived (in Wales) from 1990-1998 and had a connection to the Prairie Hill Waldorf School. At that time she began her family of five children and was the founding mother of the Rafael Foundation for New Impulses in Music and a local lyre group.

In each workshop session we will sing, play various instruments such as bordun lyres, wood, and metal instruments, do rhythm games and more.

We are delighted to have Veronika return to present these workshops and hope that you can attend. Come for one or come for all!

For more information or to RSVP contact: Gail Sauter- Rafael Foundation for New Impulses in Music 262-391-8939 or sauterg96@gmail.com

David Newbatt

Renewing the Mysteries: The Founding of The Christian Community
& the Burning of the First Goetheanum
Spring Valley, NY – August 8-13, 2022
REGISTER NOW!* lectures * artistic workshops * conversation * evening performances
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg will be offering a program on Tuesday 9 August for the Free Initiative 2:30 -3:30 pm ET – ‘From The Jealousy of the Gods & Man to Artemis & the New Isis’
Many anthroposophists have understood the 1923/24 Christmas Foundation Conference as constituting a renewal of the Mysteries. Nine months after the Christmas Conference, speaking to the priests of the Christian Community, Rudolf Steiner pointed to a sequence from the founding of the Christian Community in September 1922 to the burning of the Goetheanum at the end of that year to the Christmas Conference.In this 100th anniversary year of both the founding of the Christian Community and the burning of the Goetheanum, can an exploration of these events help us to understand the nature of the New Mysteries?

The keynote speaker is Daniel Hafner, priest of the Christian Community. He will address this theme with a particular focus on the colored windows of the First Goetheanum.

The Act of Consecration of Man will be celebrated during the week and there will also be a Class Lesson for members of the School of Spiritual Science.

Venue: SPRING VALLEY, NY, Threefold Community, and The Christian Community

*REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND THIS EVENT: A conference on the scale currently planned requires that a minimum number of participants register by July 20th.

INFO OR QUERIES: Rev. Paul Newton paulknewton@msn.com
(845) 517-4101

Sponsored by The Christian Community Spring Valley Area and the Threefold Branch of the Anthroposophical Society