RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
EASTERTIDE V
The Resurrection of the Soul
v5
In light, whose fertile weaving into space
from depths of spirit is revealing
the gods’ creating,
the being of the soul is shining, widening,
enlivened in the presence of the world
and resurrected
from narrow selfhood’s inner power.
2 May 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars:” In the early dawn of Monday morning May 3, spot Saturn with the almost last-quarter Moon -Jupiter looks on from their left.
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day (so thankful for rsarchive.org/)
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (From the Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner & Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
1519 – Death Day of Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, & architect. “…We know how Leonardo worked at the “Last Supper”. He often went and sat on the scaffolding and brooded for hours in front of the wall, then he would take a brush and make a few strokes and go away again. Sometimes he only went and stared at the picture and went away again. When he was painting the Christ Figure, his hand trembled. Indeed, if we put together all that we can find concerning this subject we must say that neither outwardly nor inwardly was Leonardo happy when painting this world-renowned picture. Now there were people at that time in Milan who were displeased with the slow progress of the picture, for instance a Prior of the monastery, who could not see why an artist could not paint such a picture quickly, and complained to the Duke. He too thought the affair had lasted too long. Leonardo answered: “The picture is to represent Jesus Christ and Judas, the two greatest contrasts; one cannot paint them in one year; there are no models for them in the world, neither for Judas nor for Christ”. After he had been working at the picture for years, he said he did not know whether he could finish it after all! Then he said that if finally he found no model for Judas he could always use the Prior himself! It was thus extraordinarily difficult to bring the picture to a conclusion but within himself Leonardo did not feel happy. For this picture showed the contrast between what lived in his soul and what he was able to represent on the canvas. Here it is necessary to bring forward a hypothesis of Spiritual Science, which may be reached by anyone who studies what can by degrees be learned about this picture.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Leonardo da Vinci, His Spiritual and Intellectual Greatness, At the Turning Point of the New Age
1611 – The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker
1729 – Birthday of Catherine the Great of Russia, the longest-ruling female leader of Russia. The Catherinian Era, is often considered the Golden Age of the Russian Empire & the Russian nobility. She enthusiastically supported the ideals of The Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot. As a patron of the arts she presided over the age of the Russian Enlightenment, a period when the Smolny Institute, the first state-financed higher education institution for women in Europe, was established.
1772 – Birthday of Novalis, the pseudonym & pen name of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, poet, author, mystic, & philosopher of Early German Romanticism. His study of mineralogy & management of salt mines in Saxony, was often ignored by his contemporary readers Novalis concerned himself with the scientific doctrine of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, which greatly influenced his world view, transforming Fichte’s Nicht-Ich (German “not I”) to a Du (“you”), an equal subject to the Ich (“I”). This was the starting point for Novalis’ Liebesreligion (“religion of love”) dedicated to his beloved Sophie who died of tuberculosis.
“Everything beloved is the centre point of a paradise.” – Novalis
Novalis took the name from “de Novali” which was an old family name. The future Baron von Hardenberg was born into a noble German family in lower Saxony. He was sent to a religious school as a boy, but he was stifled by the strict atmosphere and he never adjusted to its severe discipline. He later lived with his uncle who introduced him to the French literature and rational philosophy. He then went to Weissenfels, where his father moved, and entered the Eisleben gymnasium. In 1790-91 he studied law at the University of Jena, where he met Friedrich von Schiller and Friedrich Schlegel. Novalis completed his studies at Wittenberg in 1793.
In the 1790s, the ideas of the French Revolution spread among idealistic intellectual circles throughout Europe, greatly inspiring the young Novalis. He was also deeply moved by reading the mystical philosophical writings of Goethe. Goethe’s book “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship”, which he read in 1795, influenced him deeply; he considered it the Bible for the “New Age”. In 1795-96 he studied the works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. At the age of 21 he moved to Tennstädt and took up job in civil service.
When Novalis was a young man, he fell in love with a teenage girl named, appropriately enough, Sophie (Sophia is a personification of the goddess of wisdom, the feminine embodiment of the divine in Western gnostic traditions). His experience of love for the young woman was so deep that it became a transformative, “mystical” experience for the young and impressionable Novalis, whose reading had made him receptive to the concept of ideal love. Sadly, Sophie von Kühn died two years later of tuberculosis.
In 1798 Novalis published a series of philosophical fragments, “Fragmenten”. The loss of his beloved caused an infinitude of pain and sorrow for the hapless young lover, but it also served as strong inspiration and source of creative energy. His “Hymnen an die Nacht” (Hymns to the Night – 1800) was the resultant work. This is a collection of prose, poetry and aphorisms in praise of the sacred encounters with nature, night, sleep, and the magnetic connection between the masculine and the feminine.
Novalis died at the age of 29 of tuberculosis, the same disease that claimed Sophie. He is considered one of the early German Romantics, and he is sometimes referred to as “the prophet of the Romantics”. ~from nicholasjv.com
Hymns to the Night – No 6
Longing for Death
Into the bosom of the earth,
Out of the Light’s dominion,
Death’s pains are but a bursting forth,
Sign of glad departure.
Swift in the narrow little boat,
Swift to the heavenly shore we float.
Blessed be the everlasting Night,
And blessed the endless slumber.
We are heated by the day too bright,
And withered up with care.
We’re weary of a life abroad,
And we now want our Father’s home.
What in this world should we all
Do with love and with faith?
That which is old is set aside,
And the new may perish also.
Alone he stands and sore downcast
Who loves with pious warmth the Past.
The Past where the light of the senses
In lofty flames did rise;
Where the Father’s face and hand
All men did recognize;
And, with high sense, in simplicity
Many still fit the original pattern.
The Past wherein, still rich in bloom,
Man’s strain did burgeon glorious,
And children, for the world to come,
Sought pain and death victorious,
And, through both life and pleasure spake,
Yet many a heart for love did break.
The Past, where to the flow of youth
God still showed himself,
And truly to an early death
Did commit his sweet life.
Fear and torture patiently he bore
So that he would be loved forever.
With anxious yearning now we see
That Past in darkness drenched,
With this world’s water never we
Shall find our hot thirst quenched.
To our old home we have to go
That blessed time again to know.
What yet doth hinder our return
To loved ones long reposed?
Their grave limits our lives.
We are all sad and afraid.
We can search for nothing more —
The heart is full, the world is void.
Infinite and mysterious,
Thrills through us a sweet trembling —
As if from far there echoed thus
A sigh, our grief resembling.
Our loved ones yearn as well as we,
And sent to us this longing breeze.
Down to the sweet bride, and away
To the beloved Jesus.
Have courage, evening shades grow gray
To those who love and grieve.
A dream will dash our chains apart,
And lay us in the Father’s lap. ~Novalis
“…When we consider the life of Novalis, what an echo we find there of the Raphael life for which Hermann Grimm had so fine an understanding! His beloved dies in her youth. He is himself still young. What is he going to do with his life now that she has died? He tells us himself. He says that his life on Earth will be henceforth to “die after her”, to follow her on the way of death. He wants to pass over already now into the super-sensible, to lead again the Raphael life, not touching the Earth, but living out in poetry his magic idealism. He would fain not let himself be touched by Earth life.
When we read the “Fragments” of Novalis, and give ourselves up to the life that flows so abundantly in them, we can discover the secret of the deep impression they make on us. Whatever we have before us in immediate sense-reality, whatever the eye can see and recognise as beautiful — all this, through the magic idealism that lives in the soul of Novalis, appears in his poetry with a well-nigh heavenly splendour. The meanest and simplest material thing — with the magic idealism of his poetry he can make it live again in all its spiritual light and glory.
And so we see in Novalis a radiant and splendid forerunner of that Michael stream which is now to lead you all, my dear friends, while you live; and then, after you have gone through the gate of death, you will find in the spiritual super-sensible worlds all those others — among them also the being of whom I have been speaking to you today — all those with whom you are to prepare the work that shall be accomplished at the end of the century, and that shall lead mankind past the great crisis in which it is involved.” ~Rudolf Steiner, The Individuality of Elias, John, Raphael, Novalis – The Last Address – Dornach, Michaelmas Eve, 1924
May 2, 1924 – Deathday of Edith Maryon an English sculptor who worked closly with Rudolf Steiner on the carving of the First Goetheanum & on the Scultural Group called The ‘Representative of Humanity’. From Anthrowiki: Edith Maryon grew up as the second of six children of the wealthy master tailor John Simeon Maryon and his wife Louisa Church in central London. She attended a girls’ school and later a boarding school in Geneva, Switzerland . In the 1890s she studied sculpture at the Central School of Design in London , from 1896 at the Royal College of Arts , which she appointed in 1904 as an “Associate”. She went public with sculptural portraits and created reliefs in a classically inspired, traditionalist style.
After first meeting Rudolf Steiner in 1912/13, she moved to Dornach in the summer of 1914 and played a decisive role in the construction of the first Goetheanum . Together with Steiner, she was largely responsible for the design of the well-known large-scale sculpture The Representative of Humanity between Lucifer and Ahriman as well as colored eurythmy figure sculptures, which she also executed in wood. These works are stylistically close to Expressionism . Edith Maryon resisted any haste. For this reason, the work was not destroyed in the fire of the first Goetheanum on New Year’s Eve 1922/23, but has been preserved and is still on display in the (second) Goetheanum today.
When there was a housing shortage in Switzerland, Edith Maryon – together with Paul Johann Bay – designed three houses for employees on Dornacher Hügel between 1920-22. At that time called “English houses”, today they are called eurythmy houses .
Edith Maryon was in constant personal or letter contact with her teacher, Dr. Steiner. In a brotherly and sisterly way, he confided a great deal to her and dedicated some of his texts to her. While working in the sculptor’s studio around 1916, she once saved him from a serious, perhaps fatal, fall. In 1923 (after the burning of the first Goetheanum) Edith Maryon fell seriously ill. At the end of the year she was appointed head of the section for fine arts at the Goetheanum (without being able to hold the office) and died the following year of complications from tuberculosis .
Sophia Community Circle
Come together in community to explore the mystery and experience of the divine feminine, Sophia, in our time.
Click here to Register!
Registration closes May 3, 2021
Click here to apply for financial assistance.
WHAT:
- ASA Sophia Community Circle hosted by members of the Sophia Group
- Each unique 45 minute session will include a leading thought or experiential activity + breakout spaces & large group sharing.
- This program will be recorded and distribuetd to all participants.
WHEN:
- First Wednesdays of each month begins May 5
- 12:30pm Eastern/ 9:30am Pacific for 45-50 minutes
- Find the full schedule with all dates and presenters below!
- Sessions will be recorded although live participation is encouraged due to the nature of the gathering.
REGISTRATION:
- Register Here! Then check your email for a registration confirmation with Zoom link.
COST : See the registration levels below to choose what fits your ability to give at this time*.
- $60 Suggested Contribution
- $100 Supporter Level
- $140 Future Programs Supporter
- $200 Sophia Conference Supporter
*No one turned away due to lack of funds. Click here to apply for financial assistance.
Schedule of Presenters:
May 5: Signe Schaefer
June 2: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
July 7: Michele Mariscal
August 4: Claudia Knudson
September 1: Helen-Ann Ireland
October 6: Joyce Reilly
November 3: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Angela Foster & Timothy Kennedy
December 1: Linda Bergh, Sandra LaGrega & Jennifer Fox
February 2: Laura Scappaticci & Tess Parker
March 2: Christine Burke, Angela Foster & Jordan Walker
April 6: All Presenters Hosting
Special Recording Notes: This gathering will be recorded each time and include all content and live attendees in the video.
The term anthroposophy should really be understood as synonymous with Sophia, meaning the content of consciousness, the soul attitude and experience that make a person a full-fledged human being. The right interpretations of anthroposophy is not “the wisdom of man,” but rather “the consciousness of one’s humanity.” -Rudolf Steiner, Awakening to Community
1. Transitions
2. Looking for new CRC members
3. Our Whitsun Festival
4. A NEW theme for our Study Group
The Central Regional Council’s ‘Great American Eclipse’ pageant in St. Louis1. Marianne Fieber is stepping down as the representative of our region on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America.
We thank Marianne for her generous and warm contributions in the past several years. She will be missed but, of course, we support her decision and wish her well. See you around, dear friend!
It is time I now pass the torch of regional representation to Hazel Archer-Ginsberg. She will be stepping into this new role of service beginning in June, 2021.
With gratitude, Marianne Fieber for the Central Regional Council
2. LOOKING FOR NEW COLLEAGUES
For quite some time now we have been casually thinking about new colleagues. We cannot be casual any longer. As Marianne steps back, it will be important to find new regional members who are ready to step into a collaborative leadership role and help weave the work within our region into the future.
The future is always evolving and the work of cultivating anthroposophy throughout our vast region is dynamic and vital. Working regionally is an infinitely rewarding opportunity to serve Anthroposophia. We encourage anyone interested to join us.
What are we up to:
The CRC hosts a monthly online study group. We have been doing this long before the pandemic to cultivate connection among our members and friends both within our region and beyond. We are just completing a cycle of lectures entitled Manifestations of Karma and will be moving into a new cycle and theme (more details below).
We are currently co-creating the national Annual General Meeting conference ”Building the Temple of the Heart” 8-10 October 2021 in our region. It is being imagined as a hybrid online, streaming and in-person event with groups throughout our region. Planning meetings for that national event have begun on a monthly basis with the national leadership.
Our Festival programmingin celebration of the seasons and spiritual impulses within the course of the year continues. (see below)
Conversations have begun regarding inter-regional collaboration and initiatives toward strengthening our Anthroposophical communities throughout our continent.
If you are interested in talking about how you might be ready to step in to work with the CRC, please email Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
3. Save the dates for Sangraal – a Pentecost Pilgrimage & Whitsun Festival
with the Central Regional Council. an experiential ‘Pageant’ written by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, taking us on a Quest from The Cauldron of Ceridwen, to The Holy Grail, & into The Sacred Vessel of the Sophia.
Join us on Whitsunday 23 May 2021, at 11 am PT / 12 noon MT / 1 pm – 2:30 pm CT / 2 pm ET / 8 pm CETZoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81181550712
Meeting ID: 811 8155 0712
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kBw1EgrIRMore details will be provided in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned!
4. A NEW Theme for our Study Group
After working with Karma & Reincarnation for 3 years the CRC has chosen a new Theme: The Mysteries of the Holy Grail – from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation for our study group, beginning with the June 2nd session. The book is available for purchase from Steiner Books and Amazon. The lectures may also be found on the RS Archive (eLib). We will provide links to the lectures, as possible, in the emails that contain the details for each monthly session.
Note: for our May 5th session we will be reading Chapter 11 of the Manifestations of Karma book (the last chapter of the book).
The Karma Project – Manifestations of Karma Study Group May 5, 2021 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
“This is the other aspect of the karma of higher beings — that we develop a power of love which is not confined to humanity alone but which penetrates right into the cosmos. We shall be able to channel this love into beings higher than ourselves, and they will accept this as our offering. It will be a soul sacrifice. This sacrifice in soul will rise up to those who once poured their gifts upon us like the smoke of incense rising up to the spirits in times when human beings still possessed the gifts of the spirit. In those days they were only able to send up the symbolic smoke of sacrifice to the gods. In times to come they will send up streams of love to the spirits and out of this offering of love higher forces will pour down to humankind, which will work, with ever-increasing power, in our physical world, directed by the spiritual world. These will be magical forces in the true sense.“~Rudolf Steiner, Manifestations of Karma, Chapter 11, “Individual Karma and Shared Karma”, Hamburg, 28 May, 1910 … focus of the May 5 meeting.
The lecture can be found online at the RS Archive (eLib) by clicking this link:
https://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA120/English/RSP1984/19100528p01.html
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among four volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “Manifestations of Karma.” This book is a translation from German of Die Offenbarung des Karma (Ga 120), published in English by Rudolf Steiner Press in 1996.
Video Conference Details: Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81210110113
Meeting ID: 812 1011 0113
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdBJRUquk5
If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
Agenda for our Study Call
7:15 Welcome and Introductions
7:18 Verse
7:25 Study led by three volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
Camille – pg. 202 to 207
Travis – pg. 207 to 212
Mary – pg. 212 to 218
Hazel – pg. 218 to end
8:05 Conversation
8:28 Close with verse
Living into the Spheres of Cosmic Life and Cosmic Light: Easter, Ascension, Whitsun in the Calendar of the Soul with Luigi Morelli, Hazel Archer and Geoff Norris – Zoom Host Frank Agrama
13 May 2021 Ascension Thursday 5- 6:30pm PT / 6-7:30 pm MT / 7 pm – 8:30 pm CT / 8-9:30 pm ET / 1 am – 2:30 am GMT / 2 am – 3:30 am CET
Join Zoom meeting: https://zoom.us/j/7052931041?pwd=TStPVnpFRzlwZ0NpRURBZDNyYnpBQT09
Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 – Passcode: Ascension
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a961qZZhF
Welcome – Frank Agrama
Verse #6 – Geoff Norris
Ascension: The Secret Teachings, The Elementals, & The Etheric Christ – Hazel Archer
Calendar of the Soul – Luigi Morelli – For those who are familiar with the Calendar of the Soul we could say that during spring and summer we follow the ascent of cosmic life, cosmic light, cosmic warmth and cosmic Word as gifts bestowed upon the human being by the cosmos. By being receptive to them we strengthen our connection to cosmos and Self.
We will briefly explore the dynamics of the year, then look at what qualities of soul we need to develop as we move into spring and summer, most particularly from Easter to Ascension and Whitsun. We will look at the verses of the calendar in conjunction with the artistic renditions of Anne Stockton and Karl König, drawn for each of the verses.
We will ask ourselves: How can we live into and grow from this time of the year? How can we deepen our inner relationship to the event of Ascension? What can we receive and what can we give?
Break-out Groups
Group Speech Work with Geoff Norris
“Angels, in the early morning
May be seen the Dews among,
Stooping — plucking — smiling — flying —
Do the Buds to them belong?”
~Emily Dickenson
Closing Thoughts– Hazel Archer
For more info. contact Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer
Events & Festivals Committee of the Rudolf Steiner Branch
of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618 (map)
https://donate.rschicago.org/
Sangraal: A Pentecost Pilgrimage & Whitsun Festival with the Central Regional Council an experiential ‘Pageant’ written by Hazel Archer, taking us on a Quest from The Cauldron of Ceridwen, to The Holy Grail, & into The Sacred Vessel of the Sophia.
Join us on Whitsunday 23 May 2021, at 11 am PT / 12 noon MT / 1 pm – 2:30 pm CT / 2 pm ET / 8 pm CET
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81181550712 Meeting ID: 811 8155 0712
Dial by your location
Meeting ID: 811 8155 0712
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kBw1EgrIR
After working with Karma & Reincarnation for 3 years the CRC has chosen a new Theme: ‘The Mysteries of the Holy Grail, from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation’
You are also invited to get the Book & Join us for study sessions through out the year as well. contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu for more info
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