Category Archives: Rudolf Steiner Quote

A bright secret veiled in black cloth

December 18, 2016Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars~hag

18 December 2016 – Astro-Weather:

First-quarter Moon is exact at 9:14 am CST. Be on the lookout tonight as the Moon shines more or less under the eastern (left) side of the Great Square of Pegasus. Watch la Bella Luna moving along with the flying horse as the hours go by

The variable star Algol in Perseus reaches minimum brightness at 9:48 pm CST. If you start watching it during the mid-evening hours, you can see it grow more than triple in brightness over the course of about five hours. This eclipsing binary star runs through a cycle from minimum to maximum & back every 2.87 days. Algol appears nearly overhead in mid-evening & dips lower in the northwest after midnight

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The 4th Sunday of Advent
“…The fourth light of Advent is the light of humankind.
The light of love, the light of thought, to give and to be kind.”

International Migrants Day

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“History is the essence of innumerable biographies.” ~Thomas Carlyle, “On History” (1830)

1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia & China

1803 – Deathday of Johann Gottfried Herder, German philosopher, theologian, & poet – associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, & Weimar Classicism. He was a major influence on Goethe.

1829 – Deathday of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, biologist, & academic – an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred & proceeded in accordance with natural laws. He gave the term biology a broader meaning by coining the term for special sciences, chemistry, meteorology, geology, & botany-zoology

1863 – Birthday of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA

1878 – Birthday of Joseph Stalin, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union

Paul Klee Nocturnal Festivity

1879 – Birthday of Paul Klee, Swiss-German painter & educator

1958 – Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched

1966 – Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker

1972 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th

1973 – Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev & Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union

1990 – International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers & Members of Their Families is adopted.

1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments

2006 – United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

~I’ve known that tempting feast of death when
While darkness filled the mind, the heart cried out –
Let us listen & hear…
I know when the eye of truth is plucked
From the head, only the blood
Of rage remains –
Can we make the change
To heal the Comforter?
Come & call forth with me
A bright secret veiled in black cloth –
A heart-light beyond heaven
Which is the light within
Re-kindled through sacrifice…
~hag

***

Franz Simm

Hung with the white veils of winter, the Sun daily wanes. Soon the scorpion will hand the reigns over to the Centaur of Sagittarius – a catalyst for the transformation into the longest night of the Winter Solstice. In this time of the dark before the dawn, the image of the centaur stands before us like the forces of gravity seeking to pull the human being down. It speaks to the danger inherent in this final chapter of Advent, reflecting Herod’s fearful animal instinct to preserve himself by the killing the innocents. This evil act precedes the birth of the light.

Yet ancient myths tell of the hidden wisdom of the centaur. They speak of the struggle of the hero to overcome the bondage of the animalistic drive. It is the eternal drama that plays out in the depths of the human soul.

Inspired by this struggle Goethe has his character Faust carried thru the night on the back of Chiron the centaur, past the turbulent waters of the Peneios, to seek out the secluded sanctuary of wise Manto, who is to show Faust the way to Helena, the lost archetypal image of the divine feminine. Faust praises Chiron as a doctor & tutor.

The riddle of this strange contradiction of the centaur – the wildness & wisdom living so close together, is rooted in the tragedy of human incarnation. On the way to becoming human we had to be bound to the forces of our animal nature which have attached us for so long to the lower materiality, until we can find our way to liberation. The truth hidden behind the consumerism of Christmas, the mystery of the incarnation of Christ holds the key to this healing of the human being. The sting of death must strive to become the tip of the archers arrow that points toward the evolved human being.

“O, thou slumber’s turning,
O, thou sorrow’s ending!” ~Christian Morgenstern

Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Big Wheel Keep on Turning-Proud Mary Keep on Burning!

December 12, 2016Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars~hag

12 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: On this eve of the Full Long Nights Moon, Bella Luna’s bright light occults Aldebaran. The bright orange star vanishes on the Moon’s narrow dark limb just beyond the brilliantly sunlit landscape

As darkness falls, you’ll see our satellite suspended against the stars of the Hyades, the cluster that forms the face of Taurus the Bull. As the evening wears on, the Moon edges closer to Aldebaran. The occultation occurs at roughly midnight

If the Moon looks a little bigger than normal set against the Hyades star cluster, it may not be your imagination. Luna reaches perigee, the closest point in its orbit around Earth, at 5:29 p.m. CST when it is 222,737 miles away from us

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“…what man lives through historically, what he lives through socially, what he lives through in the ethical relationships between people, all this really has the value of a dream, of sleep…People will consider history in quite another way when this has reached their living consciousness; they will no longer consider as history the fable convenue that is usually called history today; but they will realize that historical life can only be understood when that which is dreamed and slept away in usual consciousness, and contains the influences of the deeds, impulses and activities of the so-called dead, is sought in this historical life. The deeds of the dead are interwoven with the impulses of feeling and will of the so-called living. And this is real history.”

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

1098 – First Crusade: Siege of Ma’arrat al-Numan: Crusaders breach the town’s walls & massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they reportedly resort to cannibalism

1408 – The Order of the Dragon, is created by Sigismund of Luxembourg, king of Hungary

1901 – Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal (the letter “S” [***] in Morse Code), at Signal Hill in St John’s, Newfoundland

1915 – President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, announces his intention to reinstate the monarchy & proclaim himself Emperor of China

1935 – Lebensborn Project, was founded by Heinrich Himmler, an SS-initiated, state-supported association in Nazi Germany with the goal of raising the birth rate of “Aryan” children via extramarital relations of persons classified as “racially pure & healthy” based on Nazi racial hygiene & health ideology. Lebensborn encouraged anonymous births by unmarried women, & mediated adoption of these children by likewise “racially pure and healthy” parents, particularly SS members & their families. Lebensborn expanded into several occupied European countries with Germanic populations during the Second World War.

1941 – Adolf Hitler declares the imminent extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery

1942 – World War II: German troops begin Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad

1950 – Paula Ackerman, the first woman to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services

1963 – Kenya gains its independence from the United Kingdom

1979 – The 8.2 Mw Tumaco earthquake shakes Colombia &Ecuador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 300–600, & generating a large tsunami

1985 – Arrow Air Flight 1285, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board.

1988 – The Clapham Junction rail crash kills 335 & injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains

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Alex Donis

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~today Proud Mary said:

“Big wheel keep on turning”…

What comes around goes around

So let the great wheel spin

As we sit at the hub of the universe

& create the day…

***

Isidro Escamilla

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated on December 12th. In 1531 a “Lady from Heaven” appeared to Saint Juan Diego, a poor Indian from Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico City. She identified herself as the “Mother of the True God” & instructed him to have the bishop build a church on the site & left an image of herself imprinted miraculously on his tilma, a poor quality cactus-cloth. The tilma should have deteriorated within 20 years but shows no sign of decay after 485 years. It to this day defies all scientific explanations of its origin.

In the earliest account of the apparition, the Nican Mopohua, the Virgin Mary tells Juan Bernardino, the uncle of Juan Diego, that the image left on the tilma is to be known by the name “The Perfect Virgin, Holy Mary of Guadalupe”.

Alternative names that sound similar to “Guadalupe”, Tecuatlanopeuh which translates as “She whose origins were in the rocky summit“, & Tecuantlaxopeuh “She who banishes those who devoured us.”

Following the Conquest in 1519–21, the Spanish destroyed a temple of the mother goddess Tonantzin at Tepeyac outside Mexico City, & built a chapel dedicated to the Virgin on the site. Newly converted natives continued to come from afar to worship there, often addressing the Virgin Mary as Tonantzin.

A Spanish version of the Nahuatl term, Coātlaxopeuh, which is interpreted as meaning “The one who crushes the serpent,” may be referring to the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl.

According to another theory the juxtaposition of Guadalupe & a snake may indicate a nexus with the Aztec goddess of love & fertility, Tonantzin (in Nahuatl “Our Revered Mother“), who also went under the name of Coatlícue (“The Serpent Skirt“). This appears to be borne out by the fact that this goddess had a temple dedicated to her on the very Tepeyac Hill where Juan Diego had his vision, the very temple which had recently been destroyed at the behest of the new Catholic authorities.

Some describe her as the Woman of the Apocalypse from the New Testament’s Revelation 12:1, “clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” She is also described as a representation of the Immaculate Conception.

In 1929 & 1951 photographers claimed to have found a figure reflected in the Virgin’s eyes; upon inspection they said that the reflection was tripled in what is called the Purkinje effect, commonly found in human eyes. An ophthalmologist, later enlarged an image of the Virgin’s eyes by 2500x & claimed to have found not only the aforementioned single figure, but images of all the witnesses present when the tilma was first revealed before Zumárraga in 1531, plus a small family group of mother, father, & a group of children, in the center of the Virgin’s eyes, fourteen people in all.

In 1936 biochemist Richard Kuhn analyzed a sample of the fabric & announced that the pigments used were from no known source, whether animal, mineral or vegetable. Dr. Philip Serna Callahan, who photographed the icon under infrared light, declared from his photographs that portions of the face, hands, robe, & mantle had been painted in one step, with no sketches or corrections & no visible brush strokes.

The image has layers of meaning for the indigenous people of Mexico who associated her image with their polytheistic deities, which further contributed to her popularity. Her blue-green mantle was the color reserved for the divine couple Ometecuhtli &Omecihuatl; her belt is interpreted as a sign of pregnancy; & a cross-shaped image, symbolizing the cosmos & called nahui-ollin, is inscribed beneath the image’s sash. She was called “Mother of maguey,” the source of the sacred beverage pulque. Pulque was also known as “The milk of the Virgin.” The rays of light surrounding her are seen to also represent maguey spines.

On 14 November 1921 a bomb hidden within a basket of flowers brought by an anti-Catholic secularist damaged the altar, but left the tilma unharmed. A brass standing Crucifix, bent in the explosion, is now preserved at the shrine.

Her message of love & compassion, & her universal promise to help & protect all humankind, as well as the story of the apparitions, are described in the “Nican Mopohua,” a 16th century document written in the native Nahuatl language.

Accounts state that The Virgin Mary appeared four times before Juan Diego & one more before Juan Diego’s uncle. According to these accounts the first apparition occurred on the morning of December 9, 1531, when a native Mexican peasant named Juan Diego saw a vision of a maiden at a place called the Hill of Tepeyac, which would become part of Villa de Guadalupe, a suburb of Mexico City. Speaking to Juan Diego in his native Nahuatl language (the language of the Aztec empire), the maiden identified herself as the Virgin Mary, “Mother of the very true deity”& asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor.

Based on her words, Juan Diego then sought out the archbishop of Mexico City, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, to tell him what had happened. As the bishop did not believe Diego, on the same day, Juan Diego saw the Virgin Mary for a second time (the second apparition); she asked him to keep insisting.

On Sunday, December 10, Juan Diego talked to the archbishop for a second time. He instructed him to return to Tepeyac Hill, & ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her identity. That same day the third apparition occurred when Diego returned to Tepeyac &, encountering the Virgin Mary reported the bishop’s request for a sign; she consented to provide one on the following day (December 11)

By Monday, December 11, however, Juan Diego’s uncle Juan Bernardino had fallen sick & Juan Diego was obliged to attend to him. In the very early hours of Tuesday, December 12, Juan Bernardino’s condition having deteriorated overnight, Juan Diego set out to Tlatelolco to fetch a priest to hear Juan Bernardino’s confession & minister to him on his death-bed.

In order to avoid being delayed by the Virgin & ashamed at having failed to meet her on the Monday as agreed, Juan Diego chose another route around the hill, but the Virgin intercepted him & asked where he was going (fourth apparition); Juan Diego explained what had happened & the Virgin gently chided him for not having had recourse to her. In the words which have become the most famous phrase of the Guadalupe event & are inscribed over the main entrance to the Basilica of Guadalupe, she asked: “No estoy yo aquí que soy tu madre?” (Am I not here, I who am your mother?). She assured him that Juan Bernardino had now recovered & she told him to gather flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, which was normally barren, especially in December. Juan followed her instructions & he found Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, blooming there. The Virgin arranged the flowers in Juan’s tilma, or cloak, & when Juan Diego opened his cloak before archbishop Zumárraga on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, & on the fabric was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The next day, on December 13, Juan Diego found his uncle fully recovered, as the Virgin had assured him, & Juan Bernardino recounted that he too had seen her, at his bed-side (fifth apparition); that she had instructed him to inform the bishop of this apparition & of his miraculous cure; & that she had told him she desired to be known under the title of Guadalupe.

The bishop kept Juan Diego’s mantle first in his private chapel & then in the church on public display where it attracted great attention. On December 26, 1531 a procession formed for taking the miraculous image back to Tepeyac where it was installed in a small hastily erected chapel. In course of this procession, the first miracle was allegedly performed when an Indian was mortally wounded in the neck by an arrow shot by accident during some stylized martial displays executed in honour of the Virgin. In great distress, the Indians carried him before the Virgin’s image & pleaded for his life. Upon the arrow being withdrawn, the victim made a full & immediate recovery.

Juan Diego’s tilma has become Mexico’s most popular religious & cultural symbol, & has received widespread ecclesiastical & popular support. In the 19th century it became the rallying call of American-born Spaniards in New Spain, who saw the story of the apparition as their own Mexican origin & infusing it with a sense of mission & identity –also legitimizing their armed rebellion against Spain.

The earliest mention of the miraculous apparition of the Virgin is a page of parchment (the Codex Escalada) which was discovered in 1995 &, according to investigative analysis, dates from the sixteenth century. This document bears two pictorial representations of Juan Diego & the apparition, several inscriptions in Nahuatl referring to Juan Diego by his Aztec name, & the date of his death: 1548, as well as the year that the Virgin Mary appeared: 1531. It also contains the glyph of Antonio Valeriano; & finally, the signature of Fray Bernardino de Sahagun that was authenticated by experts.

An incredible list of miracles, cures & interventions are attributed to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Each year an estimated 10 million people visit her Basilica, making her Mexico City home the most popular Marian shrine in the world. Altogether 24 popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Juan Diego was canonized in 2002, under the name Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin.

May we be worthy of the miraculous

Xox

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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The Bridging Project – Between Life and Death from Soul to Soul

Audio Conference December 14, 2016 – 7:15 pm CST (8:15 pm EST)

“The dead and the living are embedded in the same way in something that the spirits of time weave as an unceasing stream of cosmic wisdom and cosmic will activity. What the spirits of time weave is history — the ethical-moral life of an age, the social life of an age.”

Rudolf Steiner, Historical Necessity and Freewill, Lecture 3, Our Life with the Dead (focus of our study for the December 14 meeting).

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our second study conversation. The study has been divided among five 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 under the title: “The Influence of the Dead on Destiny”, The following is the link to the audio book and lectures:

Option 1. Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended) https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/520692669

Option 2. Call in using your telephone.

United States: +1 (571) 317-3116

Canada: +1 (647) 497-9372

Access Code: 520-692-669

Option 3. You can use a combination of Options 1 and 2 (computer and phone)

Agenda for our Study Call

7:15 Verse

7:18 Welcome and Introductions

7:25 Study led by five volunteers

8:05 Conversation

8:20 Identify volunteers for the next study call

Lecture 4 – The Rhythmical Relationship of the Human Being Dec 11 2017

8:28 Close with verse

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FLOWERS AND LANDSCAPES
New Works by
Lisa Villa Moser

Opening Reception:
Friday December 2nd, 2016
5 pm – 8 pm

Closing Reception
Sunday December 18th, 2016
12-3 pm

at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL. 60618. MAP

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Start your New Year on the right foot at our annual New Year’s Eve Celebration!

Our evening will be spent in community, with various offerings and activities. Jutta & the Hi-Dukes ™ will play their exciting, unique blend of world music, for your family-friendly dancing pleasure. Everyone can take part because members of the band lead you through the traditional dances they present.

Doors open at 8:00 pm and the music will start around 9:00 pm. Your Donation of $10goes to the band (You are always welcome to give more to support the branch as well)

Additional offerings and activities for the evening to be announced soon.

Please bring a favorite delectable dish to share.

at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL. 60618. MAP

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Mysteries of the Celtic Goddess

Brigid by Helena Nelson Reed

Thursday February 9th 2017 -7 pm
at the Theosophical Society in America
1926 North Main Street
Wheaton, IL 60187

Invoking the Practical Alchemy of the Celtic Triple Goddess Brigid
To Purify, Awaken, & Galvanize Your Head, Heart, and Hands

Brigid’s festival is the 1st of the cross-quarter days in the wheel of the year, a time of spiritual re-dedication and initiation. Brigid invites us to forge and shape ourselves, as the tools of our own destiny. Come Renew Yourself. Together we will thaw the winter & rouse the mysteries growing within…

Hazel Archer Ginsberg is a Spiritual Midwife, and Trans-denominational Minister, working in an eclectic style that inspires connections – initiating us into the magic, waiting to be revealed, in the cycle of the seasons. Festivals Coordinator of the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society. Lecturer, Promoter, Blogger, Poet & Performance Artist. www.ReverseRitual.com.

$10 nonmembers $5 members

Live Webcast

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That which is

November 28, 2016Festival, Insight, Poetry, Quote, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Speaking with the Stars, Winter~hag

Advent by Sulamith Wulfing

In Astrosophy, we look to the wisdom revealed in the position of the star-beings present now in the dome of the sky. During the 4 weeks of Advent (the 1^st Sunday of Advent began yesterday November 27^th 2016) the Sun is passing through the stars of Scorpio. The term “advent” – is Latin for ‘that which is coming’. So this is the time of preparation, of waiting in the dark, for the return of the light, at Winter Solstice, & it is deeply connected with the challenge of the Scorpion. – Can we overcome the consequences of error & evil that has separated us from our true divine nature? Advent can be seen as the time of transforming the fallen parts of our souls, so we can truly meet the Christmas birth.

In the north, the darkness & death of nature mirror the descent of humanity from the light into the darkness of matter at the Fall. This time of Advent, reflects our journey away from the Divine Sun into the lower realm as represented by Scorpio. This descent began during the epoch of evolution known as ‘Ancient Moon’ – in the course of the rebellion called the ‘War in Heaven’ with the later infusion of Luciferic tendencies upon the human astral body.

“But now an event occurred that gave evolution a new turn. Beings who had a certain leading connection with that part of the Moon cosmos…became “rebellious”. This Moon rebellion changed the character of the human beings. They now had a soul body, as we said. They were thereby able to have inner sensations, emotions, etc., but now introduced into their inner nature was the impulse to develop a dim sense of independence, of segregation and of divorce from the higher spiritual world. These impulses prepared them to later become egoists. Those beings who initiated this development were later on perceived as the Serpent who brought about the Fall of humanity and the loss of paradise, according to the Book of Genesis. We find that Moon rebellion recorded in the script of the constellation of Scorpion.” (Willi Sucher, Isis Sophia II, Part Two, The Evolution of Ancient Moon)

Rudolf Steiner also describes this rebellion in Occult Science: An Outline &from another perspective in, The Spiritual Hierarchies and their Reflection in the Physical World: “Beings from the sphere of the Mights (Dynamis), to put it tritely, were detached; they were placed in the course of evolution so as to bring about obstacles instead of acting as progressive influences. We have come to know this as the War in Heaven….[later in Lemurian times]..The beings who stayed behind, whom we call Luciferic beings approached the human astral body –they were unable to reach the “I” – and injected into the astral body the results of the War in Heaven…humans now had been given the possibility of error and evil, but at the same time also received the capacity to rise above error and evil through their own strength…Thus we can see that only because the Dynamis were given adverse orders did humans receive the possibility of reaching their goal by means of their own powers, something that even the Seraphim cannot attain through their own endeavors. That is the crucial fact…Humans have to fulfill a completely new mission in the world, the mission we have just characterized, and descended into the earthly world in order to accomplish it. Christ came into the world as man’s free helper; not as a God working from above, but as the first-born among many.”

Bamberg Apocalypse

Advent is that time of the year to come to terms with the consequences of the error & evil that is in our own astral nature, reflected in our society so strongly today, as well as doing the work to develop the strength to overcome these tendencies in our self & in the world, so that we might prepare the way for the birth of Christ in us at Christmas-tide. This is our activity now for every human being during Advent. It is in this confrontation & transformation of evil in our lives, in our time, that we can begin to renovate the stars of Scorpion, to offer back to the divine what has fallen away, out of freedom.

Advent is a true festival of our current time in world evolution. Especially now since Saturn will be in Scorpio for the next 2 years. This is a karmic call to humanity to awaken to this path of spiritual development with its focus on the confrontation with evil in our time.

The transformation of the Scorpion, not this time into the eagle, but into the dove, this must be our work – Opening to the Christ flame, the true I Am, born anew in the chalice of the heart at Christmas.

Also interesting to note that tomorrow November 28^th is the New Moon, so right now we are in the dark of the moon, the most fertile time for inwardly listening to the voice of our souls. What is seeking to be born? What is longing for deliverance?

This illness I have been experiencing (I have viral pneumonia) has forced me to take a break from many outer activities. I am working hard to connect inwardly to the love, conscience & intelligence of my higher self, listening deeply to what is coming up in my thoughts & feelings. I offer them up as questions, as hopes, for transformation, for healing, for redemption of my lower self. It’s hard to wait, to be observant, to be malleable & open to change. I have received many not so pleasant insights into parts of myself that need purification, terrifying, or shameful glimpses into my double. Sometimes coming from very unexpected sources, blunt synchronicities, uncanny dreams & visions.

The Christian Community homily for this week speaks of this turbulent time: 1st Advent – Luke 21:25-36

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig-tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by an excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man”.

We celebrate Advent to awaken our connection with the cosmic purpose in the Universe. Can we use this time to become more aware of the way in which we are disconnected from our source? Can we strive to awaken our purpose, as we work to remember our Divine origin?

I think of the Mother God gestating the emergent body of Jesus within her. Every breath she takes, every beat of her heart, every thought in her mind, devoted to forming the perfect human being capable of holding the divine.

I think of the approaching soul of Jesus, the pure, innocent Nathan soul, described in Luke’s Gospel, preparing to enter into this immaculate body – This soul which has never incarnated into a human being before.

I can’t help comparing that original purity & dignity of humanity with the way people treat each other now-a-days – so much derision, disrespect & hatred, all the discrimination, how can these lies appear to so many as truth, a selfishness that they are willing to kill for?

Then I try to think about how this is part of some great plan to wake us up, to divide the wheat from the chaff, so that we can reclaim our place in the universe as conscious, Christened human beings.

Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul helps: Thirty-sixth Week, [November 27, 2016 – December 03, 2016]

Within my being’s depths there speaks,
Intent on revelation,
The cosmic Word mysteriously:
Imbue your labor’s aims
With my bright spirit light
To sacrifice yourself through me.

With Prayers for Peace & Healing-
I Am ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Unbound

November 11, 2016Autumn, Chicago Event, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars~hag

11/11/16 – Astro-weather: Although the calendar says November, the Summer Triangle of bright stars remains prominent during the early evening hours. Look nearly overhead after darkness falls & you’ll spot Deneb, a conspicuous point of light despite being the faintest of the three luminaries. Brighter Vega lies west of Deneb & intermediate Altair appears to their south

Saturn is falling ever farther away to the lower right of Venus at dusk. Far to Venus’s upper left, Mars is drawing closer to it — very gradually.

Orion is clearing the eastern horizon by about 7pm now. High above Orion shines orange Aldebaran. Above Aldebaran is the little Pleiades cluster, the size of your fingertip at arm’s length. Far left of the Pleiades is bright Capella

***

“We understand only the very smallest part of human history and of our own life if we consider it in its external aspect, I mean in that aspect which we see from the limited view-point of our earthly life between birth and death. It is impossible to comprehend the inner motives of history and life unless we turn our gaze to that spiritual background which underlies the outer, physical happenings”. Karmic Relationships, Volume IV: Lecture III

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Feast Day of Martin of Tours. Each 11/11 the younger children have a Lantern Walk to celebrate Martinmas, a festival of inner light in the outer darkness of the approaching winter. St Martin was a soldier in Rome in the 4th century. Legend says that one wintry night he met a poor beggar, half-naked & freezing. Martin removed the heavy military cloak from his shoulders &, drawing his sword, cut it in two, giving half to the beggar. That night, Christ appeared to Martin in a dream, wrapped in the same piece of cloak Martin had given the beggar, & said: “Martin has covered me with this garment.”

Martin became the patron saint of beggars, drunks & outcasts, dedicating his life to assisting pariahs. As we journey into the darkest time of the year, it is increasingly important for each of us to kindle warmth & light within our hearts, which becomes a beacon of light to the world. Martin’s cloak can remind us to share with those in need.

The gently glowing lanterns of Martinmas will give way to the candles of the advent spiral as we draw nearer to the Solstice, showing how our inner light must shine ever brighter against the cold. As nature sleeps, we must be wakeful!

Celebrating Martinmas serves as a reminder that each of us has a divine spark that we must ferry out into the world & share with others. The children hear the story of St. Martin, sing songs &, as darkness falls, venture out into the night with their lanterns walking along a path lit with glowing luminaries, carefully carrying their lanterns in a mood of quiet reverence. This symbolic act brings home the deeper truth, in the words of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism (563-483 B.C.): “There isn’t enough darkness in all the world to snuff out the light of one little candle.”

1493 – Birthday of Paracelsus, a Swiss Germanphilosopher, physician, botanist, astrologer, & general occultist. He is credited as the founder of toxicology. He is also a famous revolutionary for utilizing observations of nature, rather than referring to ancient texts, something of radical defiance during his time. Modern psychology often also credits him for being the first to note that some diseases are rooted in psychological conditions

1821 – Birthday of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian philosopher & author

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.

1904 – Birthday of Alger Hiss, American lawyer & spy

1922 – birthday of Kurt Vonnegut

1992 – The General Synod of the Church of England votes to allow women to become priests

2000 – Kaprun disaster: One hundred fifty-five skiers & snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel in Kaprun, Austria

2012 – A strong earthquake with the magnitude 6.8 hits northern Burma, killing at least 2226 people

***

My POD (Poem Of the Day)

~sharpening my pointy chin…
unbound
I am…
Together we will walk the shadowland…
From my hands the horn of plenty flows freely
The ghosts are fed, the unborn, ready…
I remind them
The Earth is an apple
Ripening in space…
Blue starlight filters thru the outstretched wings of a bird, like wind in the fire,
As our journey continues deeper into the dark
Together we carry the unending rhythm of the light…
~hag

***

Saturday 12 November 2016 Closing event at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago

Calaj.com Artists Matthew Schaefer and Janet Trierweiler Schaefer present:

“Silent Lecture” Art Exhibit & Discussion

3pm – 8pm Paintings on view (in the un-rented space next to the Branch)

6:30pm – Artist Discussion – topics may include:

Setting limits to hold the limitless.

Human systems at work.

The fallible element, how it works in art.

The steps or ritual.

The visible/invisible origin.

Finding the spiritual in art through a primitive gesture.

A cognitive transformation, instinct to intuition.

Snacks to Share Encouraged

For more info. Contact Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Re-Building the Temple of Liberty

November 8, 2016Autumn, Chicago Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars~hag

Phillis Wheatley arrived in America, from Africa, at the tender age of 7 years old, in chains, to become the slave of Boston’s John Wheatley. She had an amazing gift for poetry & a deep karmic tie with George Washington. Thomas Paine published her poem “To His Excellency, General Washington” in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1776:
“Celestial choir! enthron’d in realms of light,
Columbia’s scenes of glorious toils I write.
While freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms,
She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
See mother earth her offspring’s fate bemoan,
And nations gaze at scenes before unknown!
See the bright beams of heaven’s revolving light
Involved in sorrows and veil of night!
The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
Olive and laurel bind her golden hair:
Wherever shines this native of the skies,
Unnumber’d charms and recent graces rise.
Fix’d are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia’s arm prevails”.

And did you know that “Hail Columbia”, written in 1798, was our National Anthem, before it was changed to “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1931!?!
“Hail, Columbia, happy land,
Hail, ye heroes, heav’n born band,

O, Columbia! the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine of each patriot’s devotion,
A world offers homage to thee.
Thy mandates make heroes assemblev When Liberty’s form stands in view;
Thy banners make tyranny tremble
When borne by the Red, White and Blue!”

The name of our Capital is Washington – the District of Columbia. The fresco covering the dome is called “The Apotheosis of Washington”, & it shows our 1st president working with Columbia, encircled by the spirits of the 13 colonies, blessing him from the heavens.

In David Ovason’s book, The Secret Architecture of our Nation’s Capital, The District of Columbia & its Federal City were arranged, so that the constellation of Virgo, with its goddess symbolism, dominates the structure. The right triangle of the first magnitude stars that contains the constellation Virgo, Arcturus, Regulus & Spica, can be found in the plan of the Federal city marked by the location of the Capital, the White House & the Washington Monument. The consecration ceremonies for these sites, done by leaders in Freemasonry, all include prominent astrological connections to Virgo…

Benjamin Franklin, a Freemason, like many of the founding fathers, also admired & worked with the Iroquois traditions, adapting their ideas into the Albany Plan & the Articles of Confederation.

The Sons of Liberty took their name from the guiding spirit of this land. And as I showed in yesterday’s post, Columbia in her guise as Liberty, is often portrayed as an Indian Princess. Walt Whitman perpetuated that vision in his poem, As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario’s Shores

“AS I sat alone, by blue Ontario’s shore, As I mused of these mighty days, and of peace return’d, and the dead that return no more, A Phantom, gigantic, superb, with stern visage, accosted me; Chant me the poem, it said, that comes from the soul of America—chant me the carol of victory; And strike up the marches of Libertad—marches more powerful yet; and sing me before you go, the song of the throes of Democracy. (Democracy—the destin’d conqueror—yet treacherous lip-smiles everywhere, And Death and infidelity at every step.)”

Whitman also saw the connection with Calliope & wrote about it in “Song of the Exposition”:
“She comes! this famous Female—as was indeed to be expected;
(For who, so-ever youthful, ’cute and handsome, would wish to stay in mansions such as those, When offer’d quarters with all the modern improvements,
With all the fun that ’s going—and all the best society?)

She comes! I hear the rustling of her gown;
I scent the odor of her breath’s delicious fragrance;
I mark her step divine—her curious eyes a-turning, rolling,
Upon this very scene.

The Dame of Dames! can I believe, then,
Those ancient temples classic, and castles strong and feudalistic,
could none of them restrain her?
Nor shades of Virgil and Dante—nor myriad memories, poems, old associations, magnetize and hold on to her?
But that she ’s left them all—and here?

Yes, if you will allow me to say so,
I, my friends, if you do not, can plainly see Her,
The same Undying Soul of Earth’s, activity’s, beauty’s, heroism’s Expression,
Out from her evolutions hither come—submerged the strata of her former themes,
Hidden and cover’d by to-day’s—foundation of to-day’s;
Ended, deceas’d, through time, her voice by Castaly’s fountain;
Silent through time the broken-lipp’d Sphynx in Egypt—silent those century-baffling tombs;
Closed for aye the epics of Asia’s, Europe’s helmeted warriors;
Calliope’s call for ever closed—Clio, Melpomene, Thalia closed and dead;
Seal’d the stately rhythmus of Una and Oriana—ended the quest of the Holy Graal;
Jerusalem a handful of ashes blown by the wind—extinct;
The Crusaders’ streams of shadowy, midnight troops, sped with the sunrise;
Amadis, Tancred, utterly gone—Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver gone,
Palmerin, ogre, departed—vanish’d the turrets that Usk reflected,
Arthur vanish’d with all his knights—Merlin and Lancelot and Galahad—all gone—dissolv’d utterly, like an exhalation;
Pass’d! pass’d! for us, for ever pass’d! that once so mighty World—now void, inanimate, phantom World!”

The eagle was also a symbol used by the Founding Fathers (Franklin wanted the national bird to be the humble turkey, which of course later became the symbol for the 1st Thanksgiving, uniting immigrants with those who were native to this land). The Eagle was also an emblem for ancient Rome, & it appeared with Columbia in Her aspect as Liberty, often clad in Athena’s Armor, protectress of the Republic, defender against tyranny & strife.

In the book “A Sanctuary for the Rights of Mankind”, Rick Spaulding & Maurice York, speculate that many of the Founding Fathers had earlier incarnations together in ancient Rome. And Chapter 8 is compelling in its description of “The Temple of Liberty” as being a manifestation of the Freemasonic tradition.

Abraham Lincoln, says in his Perpetuation of our Political Institutions “They (the founding Fathers) were the pillars of the Temple of Liberty and now, that they have crumbled away, that temple must fall, unless we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason. Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence.–Let those materials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws: and, that we improved to the last; that we remained free to the last; that we revered his name to the last; that, during his long sleep, we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place; shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our WASHINGTON.

Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Will we, as individuals, & as a people, take up this idea of self-development, in freedom? Like Percival we are called to search within for the grail castle, & re-build the Temple of Liberty.

Blessings on We the People, on this election day 2016

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

***

Join us TONIGHT for our Annual All Souls Festival

Especially scheduled this year on Election Night Tuesday 8 November 2016

at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL.

Potluck 6pm

7pm Welcome with a Steiner verse

May love of hearts reach out to love of souls
May warmth of love ray out to Spirit-light
Even so would we draw near to you
Thinking with you Thoughts of Spirit
Feeling in you the Love of Worlds
Consciously at one with you
Willing in silent being.

Carolyn Arnett will read the names of the dead

Deborah Rogers will inscribe them on the board

All are invited to share the names of their beloved ones who have died this year

Then we will open it up for everyone to speak the names of those whose inspiration we want to call in: Like Rudolf Steiner & the Founding Mothers & Fathers…ETC…

Healing prayers for the Native Americans, & What of our Folk-Spirit Columbia?

After the chalice is full with the blessings of all these beloved spiritual beings, we will do the Hallelujah in eurythmy

We will then begin the Song Circle with Nancy Melvin, singing together old favorites like “This Land is Your Land”, “America the Beautiful”, “If I had a Hammer”…feel free to bring suggestions…

We will close with the Verse for the Michaelic Age

We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror
Of what approaches us from the future.

We must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations
About the future.

We must look forward with absolute equanimity
To whatever may come.

And we must think only that whatever comes
Is given to us by a cosmic guidance full of wisdom.

It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely,
To live without any security in material existence
And to live with pure trust in the ever-present help
of the spiritual world.

Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.

For this let us seek awakening
To the reality of the spirit
From within ourselves,
Every morning and every evening. ~Rudolf Steiner

Contact Deborah Rogers with the names of your beloved ones who have died this year, to be read in the circle beewisdom33@yahoo.com

Cognitive Ritual

~Confessions of a Modern Rosicrucian

Category Archives: Rudolf Steiner Quote

A bright secret veiled in black cloth

Big Wheel Keep on Turning-Proud Mary Keep on Burning!

That which is

Unbound

Re-Building the Temple of Liberty

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