Category Archives: Remembering

Human Sun Ensouled

Image result for etheric heart
Rita Cassia

10:10 Testament: In this present age of Michael, we have a mighty opportunity to give birth to the being of Anthroposophia – to develop our higher ‘I’ on the earth. In the ‘Apocalypse of John: Lecture XII’ Rudolf Steiner said: “We are preparing for the preparers. The Anthroposophical spiritual movement is today but a very small flame; in the future it must develop into a mighty spiritual fire!Our current world situation calls us to be alert to the formative forces that are seeking to be developed now into a New Etheric Heart, which must begin to be enlivened even if at 1st it is just thru our Cognitive-Imagination, so that our next major incarnation in the Michael stream can take full effect.

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This New Etheric Body must be formed thru our individual efforts, which we then co-create into the larger egregore – The New Etheric Body of the Michaelic Movement – as a seed for all of human evolution, in which we consciously participate in an etheric Sun-becoming process. This is a fully conscious, systematic, spiritual scientific praxis, not some fantasy or illusion. It is built up & formed, step by step, in a most disciplined, consistent method – a fully conscious & practical application of the 4 stages of the Reverse-Cultus. These essential guidelines of the modern spiritual path, that were given to us a 100 years ago by Rudolf Steiner, are the New Mysteries which will prepare us to be transformed & adapted to the Social-Cognitive Art of a modern community of Anthroposophia.

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BTW: Please don’t get discouraged if you can’t always join into the 10:10 Thought Seed. Set your alarm to at least mark it. Even a split second moment of attention adds to the spark.

Sun, thou bearer of rays,
Thy light’s power over matter
Magics life out of the earth’s
Limitless rich depths.

Heart, thou bearer of soul,
Thy light’s power over spirit
Magics life out of the human being’s
Limitless deep inwardness.

If I gaze upon the Sun
Her light speaks to me in radiance
Of the Spirit, filled with grace,
Wielding through the beings of worlds.

If I feel within my heart
The Spirit speaks its own true word
About the human being, loved by him
Through all time and eternity.

Looking upwards, I can see
In the Sun’s bright disc
The mighty heart of worlds.

Looking inwards, I can feel
In the heart’s warm beat
The human Sun ensouled.

~Rudolf Steiner

***

Paths of asteroids Melpomene and Echo, February 2021

10 February 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna as a crescent passes south of Saturn this morning before dawn. At that time, Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, & Mercury, are all increasingly close to the Sun. The Moon passes south of Venus today at 2 pm CST. Tonight, asteroids 18 Melpomene & 60 Echo – still traveling together through Cancer — pass on either side of the orange star FX Cancri. Also close by in Cancer is the Beehive Cluster.

***

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Image result for St. Scholastica

547 – Death day of St. Scholastica, foundress of the women’s branch of Benedictine Monasticism. The patron saint of nuns, & convulsive children. She is invoked against storms & rain. The most commonly told story about her is that she would go & visit her twin brother Benedict of Nursia near his abbey once a year, They would spend the day praying & discussing sacred texts. Sensing the time of her death was drawing near, Scholastica asked him to stay with her for the evening so they could continue their discussions. Not wishing to break his Rule, Benedict refused, insisting that he needed to return to his cell. At that point, Scholastica closed her hands in prayer, & after a moment, a wild storm started outside. Benedict asked, “What have you done?”, to which she replied, “I asked you & you would not listen; so I asked my God & he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me & return to your monastery.” Benedict was unable to return to his monastery, & they spent the night in discussion. Three days later, from his cell, her twin saw her soul leaving the earth & ascending to heaven in the form of a shining white dove

Image result for St. Austrebertha.

630 – Feast Day of St. Austrebertha. A popular legend states that one day, while looking for the donkey whose task it was to carry the laundry of the monks to the convent, she came across a wolf. The wolf admitted to killing the donkey & begged for forgiveness. Austrebertha forgave the wolf but commanded him to carry the laundry himself, a task that the wolf performed for the rest of its life

1909 – Deathday of Felix Koguzki – a herb collector, a simple man from the people who had deep insights into the spiritual world . Rudolf Steiner got to know him during his student days in 1880, when he regularly took the train from Inzersdorf to Vienna. He was the living model of Felix Balde from Steiner’s Mystery Dramas . Felix Koguzki is also regarded as the messenger of the secret master reported in GA 262 (pp. 30-31 ). There it says: “I did not meet M. ( Master), but first of all to a messenger from him who was fully initiated into the secrets of the effectiveness of all plants and their connection with the cosmos and with human nature. “( GA 262 , p. 16). It is sometimes assumed that Alois Mailänder is the secret M, but there is no clear evidence. Steiner writes about his encounter with Koguzki in “My Course of Life”:

as if he as a personality were only the organ of speech for a spiritual content that wanted to speak from hidden worlds. When you were with him you could look deep into the secrets of nature. He carried his bundle of medicinal herbs on his back; but in his heart he carried the results which he had gained from the spirituality of nature in his gathering. I have seen some people smile, who at times joined them as a third party when I walked through Wiener Alleegasse with this “initiated” person. It was no wonder. Because its expression was not understandable from the start. In a sense, you first had to learn your “intellectual dialect”. At first I couldn’t understand him either. But from the first time I met him, I had the deepest sympathy for him. And so it gradually became to me.

Image result for rudolf stiener 1880

If one takes the usual concept of “learning”, one can say: “Learning” could not be done from this man. But if you yourself had the view of a spiritual world, you could gain deep insights into it through someone else, which was completely fixed in it.

And at the same time everything that was enthusiasm was far removed from this personality. When you came into your home, you found yourself in the midst of the most sober, simple country family. Above the door of his house were the words: “In God’s blessing everything lies.” One was entertained, as with other villagers. I always had to drink coffee, not from a cup, but from a “mug” that held almost a liter; in addition I had to eat a piece of bread that was huge. But the villagers didn’t look at the man for a fanatic either. The way he behaved in his hometown made every ridicule bounce off. He also had a healthy sense of humor and knew how to talk to young and old at every meeting in the village in such a way that people enjoyed his words.

This man remained close to my soul, even when life had led me away from him again. You can find him in my Mystery Dramas in the figure of Felix Balde. “( GA 28)

***

Weaving a non-gendered Feminist Reality with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg*

Friday 5 March 2021 – 6:30 am – 8 am Central Time as part of the The International Youth Initiative Program Initiative Forum

What are the qualities of the Divine Feminine? How can we use them to empower an innovative way of thinking, feeling & willing, to create a new world, where the human being is free?

Have paper & colored pencils at the ready for this hands-on workshop.

*Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society. Past Video Recordings

 
While this wasn’t exactly what we first envisioned, moving online means
that this forum will be more accessible than perhaps ever before.
The program will be designed to accommodate people from different time zones
all over the globe, and we look forward to transcending restrictions and limitations by joining together in community with folks for whom travelling is not an option.

In addition to interactive workshops, lectures, open spaces, performances & more, there will be plenty of space within the program for fostering connection
and conversation. At the Initiative Forum, we hope you will laugh a lot
(wait till you see what our arts & culture team is cooking up!), listen deeply,
be truly heard, and experience the power of community,
which no distance can dull. We can’t wait to meet you!

For tickets click here!
 To stay updated follow us on Facebook or Instagram
The International Youth Initiative Program

***


The 8-Fold Path to the Easter Elementals

Holy Week 2021 (March 28 – April 4): Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am (Central Time) to create together a Thought-Seed Egregore based on the Herbert Hahn Verse

When I think light, my soul shines,
When my soul shines, the earth is a star,
When the earth is a star, then I am, a true human being

& then we will take turns sharing the indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner / The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (let me know if you would like to lead one of the days? (5 min) Holy Week  chart

Palm SUNDAY
Resolves or ‘RIGHT JUDGMENT.’ having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.

Holy MONDAY
Talking – ‘RIGHT WORD.’

Holy TUESDAY
External actions- ‘RIGHT DEED.’

Holy WEDNESDAY
The ordering of life. – ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT.’

Maundy THURSDAY
Human Endeavour. – ‘TO LET ALL THE EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT.

Good FRIDAY
The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life. – ‘RIGHT MEMORY.’ (Remembering what has been learned from experiences).

Holy SATURDAY
To pay attention to one’s ideas. – ‘RIGHT OPINION.’

The octave of the New Sun
EASTER SUNDAY
To turn one’s gaze inwards –
RIGHT EXAMINATION.’

Whoever is holding the leading thoughts for that day will tie it into some 5-10 min. artistic exercise based on the indications

Group sharing (5 min)

We close with the ‘reversed’ Hahn verse.
I am a True Human Being
For the Earth is a Star
The Earth is a Star
When I Think Light
When I think Light
My Soul Shines

Easter Sunday – 4 April 2021, in person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online 2 pm – 4 pm Central Time.

Group Eurythmy with Mary Ruud

Hazel Archer – The octave of the New Sun

Keynote with Ines Katharina (Bee Keeper, Founder of the Biodynamic Emerald Honeybee Sanctuary, Waldorf Teacher) Ines will connect the Easter Thought with the Elemental Beings & the flight of the Queen Bee.

Mary Ruud will give us a performance of ‘Rock Spring Wonder’

We close with singing ‘Now the green Blade Riseth’

Potluck Social Time in the Schreinerei – Please bring food & drink to share

$10 Suggested Donation (can’t make it? or joining us online? please consider supporting this event, Thank you)

*Dear friends, please join the call at 10:05 am to get settled in so we can begin the Thought-Seed promptly at 10:10 am
Topic: The 8-Fold Path thru Holy Week 2021
Time: Starting on Palm Sunday Mar 28 – thru Easter Morning, 2021 10:10 AM Central Time (US and Canada)
Every day, 8 occurrence(s)
Mar 28, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 29, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 31, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 1, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 2, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 3, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 4, 2021 10:10 AM

Daily: https://zoom.us/meeting/tJErdOqsqj8iGNzL8iNTwKUXyrvmVGSSXqaW/ics?icsToken=98tyKuCtqDgpHtCRuBuPRowMBIjCb-jwiClHjY1HsEfsLRRESTbOL_BUP4RYI-vo

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/95633444828?pwd=Wk56K08vK2dNQUhhK0Q2S09zQWJrQT09 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: bee

Dial by your location Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aX8X3nrr3 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: 425730

6BE

Image result for the 6 basic excersices by rudolf steiner

Listen to the Guided Meditation ‘As Above So Below‘ on the ‘I Think Speech‘ podcast

Greetings friends – Today is ‘Attuning Tuesday’ – a little offering that I bring to the group working with the 6BE exercises. We just started concentrating on with ‘Positivity’, so today I am feeling called to offer a little guided meditation that I am Calling ‘As Above So Below’. This is a theme I often work with.

Image result for breathing painting
Margaherita Arkuna

So make yourself comfortable, as we share the air – taking a deep breath – filling your belly – thrilling your lungs. Feel your body let go of any tensions & relax. Consciously set the rhythm with your breath. And as your awareness is internalized, fully connected with the Breath of Life gently moving through you, make all your senses alert to this life force. Enjoy its power & simplicity. Feel the sustaining energy behind every inhalation, release the breath as a gift of gratitude to the plant world. Feel the life force coursing thru your cells inspiring your thoughts. Consciously stay with the rhythm in your breathing, healing & energizing the heart of the core, of the root of your own being; & all beings. This life force power is the vibration of love, becoming stronger & more beautiful, growing more potent thru your attention & intention.

Image result for sun in the core of the earth painting

Call in the power of the molten golden core of Gaia, feel it pulsing up into your solar plexus, attuning you to this omnipresent rhythm that flows in great cycles of elemental energy; radiating thru you. Move it with your thought, expanding this golden force, on to the Earth’s surface, covering the entire globe – connecting you to all life. Feel this healing vibration, revitalizing all life, as you begin to move your attention outward to visualize our planet Earth, spinning thru space. As you allow it to expand your experience, immerse yourself in this potent cosmic current where powerful spiritual allies join you in the dance of life – Universes upon universes forming the Cosmic Body which we all share – the vastness in which our Earth revolves. In that infinite space feel the loving presence of the Divine. Each of us vibrating with the same beat of the Cosmic Heart enfolding us, & countless galactic systems in loving arms; the one pulse of Life in all. Add your love to the love of the Cosmic Beloved. And let it emanate to all places hungry for healing.

Image result for heartbeat of the earth painting
Lily Verento

As the heartbeat of the Earth swells & rises, all forms of life upon the soil & in the waters, in the warmth & in the air, receive & heal. Entire nations, & peoples gather in peace, at the endless fount of compassion & abiding love. See yourself & the planet restored. Riding the upward intensity of this positive purposeful energy, feel it circulating in the atmosphere, filling the clouds & becoming more ethereal, ever more potentized. Circling up & thru our Earth’s atmospheric layers; cradling Earth’s aura – Charging it with the thought & feeling of wholeness.

Image result for Peace on earth painting
Chilria Corina

Place a strong signature of peace in the global mind. Create an energetic grid that will emanate rays of peace & unity, joy & purpose on Earth. Resolve to act on your life-purpose & make it ever more real, ever more whole. And as you breathe in this unfolding truth, gradually bring your experience to our little hive here, striving to live in positivity, in this here & now. Feel your body refreshed & renewed, here & now, in your room, in this sacred cyber space, that we continually consecrate with our positive intentions. Holding what is sacred, bringing everything into the light of love. Know too that you are here to be loved.

Image result for Peace on earth painting
Mary Pat Chappell

And Gently, joyfully, when you are ready, open your awareness to this perfect divine moment, to this opportunity right now to bring clear thinking, right action, equanimity, positivity, open-mindedness, & inner harmony to all you do – Sharing these gifts that you are living into thru your dedicated striving, to infuse the Earth-beat rhythms, adding to the pulse of life – joining us together, shining thru us – Charging the ethers with blessings that radiate out to all beings.

And so it is, Blessed 6Bee
~hag

***

Image result for leo constellation question mark painting

9 February 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: After it’s good and dark, look due east for twinkly Regulus, not very high. Extending upper left from it is the Sickle of Leo, a backward question mark, outlining the Lion’s forequarters. “Leo announces spring,” goes an old saying. Actually, Leo showing up after dark announces the cold, clammy, messy back half of winter.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1872 – Birthday of Edith Maryon. She studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London & exhibited her work at the Royal Academy. When she met Rudolf Steiner & Anthroposophy she discovered her raison d’être. Maryon wrote to Steiner that “for some years I have always felt there is something for me to do, and that sometime I shall meet the Master who will tell me what it is and explain some of the things that have puzzled me so much. For a long time I searched…and when I saw you in Berlin I knew at last I was right about the Master…is there really any definite thing for me to do… if there is may I know now what it is?” (1 Jan 1913). Months later, from Munich, Maryon wrote to Steiner: “I must find some definite work to do, or be forced to return to England. There is a feeling that perhaps there may be something for me to do here, so I will not go back unless absolutely obliged. You will see that it is necessary for me to come to a conclusion about the kind of work I will do during the rest of my life, and I do want some advice…Your pupil, L Edith C Maryon” (10 Jun 1913).

Sculpture by Edith Maryon

Maryon arrived at Dornach, Switzerland, in January 1914. These were very early days for the project of relocating Anthroposophy headquarters to Switzerland. It was propitious timing since six months later the Great War would begin & engulf Europe & the world in catastrophe. Maryon was a trailblazer: “There was hardly any other artist coming to work in Dornach before her, capable in the way Edith Maryon was, of sacrificing – that is, largely giving up her own deeply rooted style, born out of the aesthetics of Greece, in favour of a new Mystery art”.

The next decade was a period of intense industry & creativity for the English sculptor, a period in which she found her life’s purpose. “Edith Maryon…was helping him [Steiner] with the Goetheanum building and above all with the great wooden sculpture The ‘Representative of Humanity’…Miss Maryon throughout those years was one of his closest collaborators…the studio in which the work was going on became his study for a great part of the day. Here he received his visitors, and she was acting very largely as his secretary” (George Kaufmann Adams, 1958). Adams related a visit to Dornach after the war: “We were received in the most friendly way by the Dornach members and above all by Miss Maryon herself. She gave us mallet and chisel and let us help with parts of the sculpture where there was much superfluous wood and our unskilled hands could do no harm”.

Adams reported that Steiner was “anxious for an English edition of the book [on the Threefold Social Order], and as no one else was at hand, Miss Maryon had undertaken to translate it. In style – like many of the attempted translations of Dr Steiner’s works in those days – it was impossible…and we said so frankly. We were then invited to Dornach to go into the whole question”. (Adams went on to extemporaneously translate many of Steiner’s lectures, for example at Oxford & Torquay, as well as books, for example Steiner’s Agriculture Course)

by EM

Edith Maryon & Rudolf Steiner carried on an extensive exchange of correspondence beginning in 1912, when Maryon wrote to Steiner on 16 October from London. Steiner wrote to Maryon from his travels including from Ilkley, Penmaenmawr, London, Stuttgart, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Mannheim, Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, Kristiania (Oslo), and & The Hague. Steiner’s salutation to Maryon progressed in the course of 1919 to 1920 from “Mein liebes Fraulein E. Maryon” (My dear Miss E Maryon) to “Mein liebes Fraulein Edith Maryon!” (My dear Miss Edith Maryon) to “Meine liebe Edith Maryon!)“ (My love Edith Maryon!)

Theirs was an artistic partnership: “Rudolf Steiner stood, day after day, beside his colleague in the high ceilinged sculpture studio. During this time they not only worked with their hands, but also conversed intensively on every imaginable subject – from art, through politics to things of the deepest concern. Over & above this his studio had become for Rudolf Steiner a refuge of inner peace in which – well protected from visitors by Edith Maryon – he could both do a lot of esoteric work & also relax”. Maryon worked tirelessly with Steiner to create the ‘The Representative of Humanity’. She was “one of the closest colleagues and pupils of Rudolf Steiner”.

Maryon was appointed by Steiner as the leader of the Section for Sculptural Arts at the Christmas Conference of the Anthroposophy Society at Dornach in December 1923, & was unanimously elected as the vice-president of the Anthroposophy Society at the General Assembly on 21 January 1924.

Edith Maryon died on 2 May 1924 reportedly of tuberculosis, & many say from a broken heart (a depletion of her etheric forces  which were tied up in the burning of the Goetheanum. In his memorial tribute, Steiner stated of Edith Maryon that: “When we began to build the Goetheanum, she was one of the first to devote herself to the work…With a perfect control of her technique, her special gift was to give spirituality to stately form. This artistic skill she devoted entirely to the service of the Goetheanum…earnestness showed itself in her appearance. One could see a person who had not been spoiled by the amenities of life, though she had been sorely tried by the hand of fate…She participated most actively in all that went on at the Goetheanum. The spiritual contents of the Christmas Assembly and the Class lectures…up to the last days of her life she pondered on how this Section [Sculptural Arts] should develop its activity in the right way…Her work for the this Society will always be remembered as being most earnest and devoted”.

Image result for eye of the earth painting
Corina Chistes

POD (Poem Of the day)

~Be-held in the eye
Time moves in the heart-throb
There is no time
in which the cosmos does not hold
the shape of its Beloved
No time
In which the earth does not sing
I behold in my I
The eye that holds me
My work is its Will
~HAG

***

Weaving a non-gendered Feminist Reality with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg*

Friday 5 March 2021 – 6:30 am – 8 am Central Time as part of the The International Youth Initiative Program Initiative Forum

What are the qualities of the Divine Feminine? How can we use them to empower an innovative way of thinking, feeling & willing, to create a new world, where the human being is free?

Have paper & colored pencils at the ready for this hands-on workshop.

*Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society. Past Video Recordings

 
While this wasn’t exactly what we first envisioned, moving online means
that this forum will be more accessible than perhaps ever before.
The program will be designed to accommodate people from different time zones
all over the globe, and we look forward to transcending restrictions and limitations by joining together in community with folks for whom travelling is not an option.

In addition to interactive workshops, lectures, open spaces, performances & more, there will be plenty of space within the program for fostering connection
and conversation. At the Initiative Forum, we hope you will laugh a lot
(wait till you see what our arts & culture team is cooking up!), listen deeply,
be truly heard, and experience the power of community,
which no distance can dull. We can’t wait to meet you!

For tickets click here!
 To stay updated follow us on Facebook or Instagram
The International Youth Initiative Program

***


The 8-Fold Path to the Easter Elementals

Holy Week 2021 (March 28 – April 4): Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am (Central Time) to create together a Thought-Seed Egregore based on the Herbert Hahn Verse

When I think light, my soul shines,
When my soul shines, the earth is a star,
When the earth is a star, then I am, a true human being

& then we will take turns sharing the indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner / The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (let me know if you would like to lead one of the days? (5 min) Holy Week  chart

Palm SUNDAY
Resolves or ‘RIGHT JUDGMENT.’ having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.

Holy MONDAY
Talking – ‘RIGHT WORD.’

Holy TUESDAY
External actions- ‘RIGHT DEED.’

Holy WEDNESDAY
The ordering of life. – ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT.’

Maundy THURSDAY
Human Endeavour. – ‘TO LET ALL THE EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT.

Good FRIDAY
The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life. – ‘RIGHT MEMORY.’ (Remembering what has been learned from experiences).

Holy SATURDAY
To pay attention to one’s ideas. – ‘RIGHT OPINION.’

The octave of the New Sun
EASTER SUNDAY
To turn one’s gaze inwards –
RIGHT EXAMINATION.’

Whoever is holding the leading thoughts for that day will tie it into some 5-10 min. artistic exercise based on the indications

Group sharing (5 min)

We close with the ‘reversed’ Hahn verse.
I am a True Human Being
For the Earth is a Star
The Earth is a Star
When I Think Light
When I think Light
My Soul Shines

Easter Sunday – 4 April 2021, in person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online 2 pm – 4 pm Central Time.

Group Eurythmy with Mary Ruud

Hazel Archer – The octave of the New Sun

Keynote with Ines Katharina (Bee Keeper, Founder of the Biodynamic Emerald Honeybee Sanctuary, Waldorf Teacher) Ines will connect the Easter Thought with the Elemental Beings & the flight of the Queen Bee.

Mary Ruud will give us a performance of ‘Rock Spring Wonder’

We close with singing ‘Now the green Blade Riseth’

Potluck Social Time in the Schreinerei – Please bring food & drink to share

$10 Suggested Donation (can’t make it? or joining us online? please consider supporting this event, Thank you)

*Dear friends, please join the call at 10:05 am to get settled in so we can begin the Thought-Seed promptly at 10:10 am
Topic: The 8-Fold Path thru Holy Week 2021
Time: Starting on Palm Sunday Mar 28 – thru Easter Morning, 2021 10:10 AM Central Time (US and Canada)
Every day, 8 occurrence(s)
Mar 28, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 29, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 31, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 1, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 2, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 3, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 4, 2021 10:10 AM

Daily: https://zoom.us/meeting/tJErdOqsqj8iGNzL8iNTwKUXyrvmVGSSXqaW/ics?icsToken=98tyKuCtqDgpHtCRuBuPRowMBIjCb-jwiClHjY1HsEfsLRRESTbOL_BUP4RYI-vo

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/95633444828?pwd=Wk56K08vK2dNQUhhK0Q2S09zQWJrQT09 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: bee

Dial by your location Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aX8X3nrr3 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: 425730

***

A Cadence

Image result for frozen breath painting
Julie Little

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~My breath is like a child to me
A lulling rhythm that undulates my heart-whole
My breath hangs sweet
Making condensation in the frigid air
A wafting food for the trees
I live there
A cadence
Driving the wing of a wild bird
~hag

8 February 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: ‘Ruddy Mars is now the only bright planet visible in the overnight hours.  Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn are all too close to the Sun to be easily seen.  The red planet is moving steadily through the faint constellation of Aries, the Ram, toward Taurus, where he will encounter Aldebaran around the time of the spring equinox’. (Thanks Steve Hale & USNO)

Image result for god mars planet painting
Remedios Varo

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

According to the original; Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner today it the Birthday of King Solomon. In the ‘Temple Legend’ lectures by Rudolf Steiner, he speaks of King Solomon as the reincarnation of Abel. (And the Master Builder of the Temple Hiram Abiff, Cain)

Image result for carninval brazil painting
Julio Rodrigues

Rudolf Steiner’s SOUL CALENDAR translated with added titles by Roy Sadler
This is the week leading to Lent. It’s the last verse dated by our ordinary solar calendar, before the lunar calendar time that dates the verses from Lent to Whitsun.

This one, v45, between Imbolc & Lent, is in the time that leads in Brazil to the world’s biggest Carnival, which this year was due from Friday February 12 to Shrove Tuesday,
February 16, next week – but the pandemic has forced it to be cancelled. v45 is the octave of Christmas (38+7), and its mirror, v8, is the octave of Easter (1+7), one reason – together with finding the iambic rhythm – why I’ve translated ‘Im Bunde’
as ‘In concert’… & rather than in its original 2nd line I let the verses begin with this…
CARNIVAL
Illuminate
v45

In concert with the spirit’s birth
the mind grows firm;
it lifts the senses’ vague allure
to perfect clarity.
When soul abundance
would bond with springlife’s coming,
thought’s power must shine its light
on sense revealing.
>>>

Image result for whitsun


WHITSUN
Dream
v8

In concert with the gods’ creating
the senses’ power grows;
it overwhelms the force of thinking,
subduing it to dimness of a dream.
When bonding with my soul
wold be a holy being,
then human thinking must be stilled,
in dreamlike presence satisfied.

Image result for Eliphas Levi,

1810 – Birthday of Eliphas Levi, a French sage, poet, & author of more than twenty books about magic, Cabbalah, alchemical studies, & occultism.

“There was a personality who lived in the later period of Mexican civilisation and was connected with the utterly decadent, pseudo-magical Mystery cults of Mexico; with an intense thirst for knowledge he studied everything with close and meticulous exactitude. My attention was attracted to him through having made the acquaintance some years ago of a curious man who is still engaged in a primitive form of study of the decadent superstitions of the Mexican Mysteries. Such lore is of negligible importance, because anyone who studies these things at the present time is studying pure superstition; it has all become decadent to-day. But the other personality to whom I am referring imbibed with fervent enthusiasm all that could be learnt from the still flourishing Mexican civilisation before the discovery, the so-called ‘discovery’ of America. In those days Mexican civilisation was still influenced by the Mysteries but was already in the throes of decline. When mention is made to-day of Taotl, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoka — the Beings of the Mexican Mysteries — little more is known than the names and a few scattered images. But this personality still knew that Taotl is a Being who as a cosmic, universal Spirit weaves in the clouds, lives in the lightning and the thunder. He knew too that under certain given conditions this Spirit could be invoked into consecrated water by enactments of sacred ritual. And he knew that Quetzalcoatl was a Divine Being who could take hold of man in his circulating blood, in the working of his breath. Living reality of Being was experienced in the Mexican Mysteries by the personality of whom I am speaking. He was reborn in a later age without any intermediate life as a woman. He had been a man in Mexico and was born again as a man. But in his life between death and rebirth this individuality passed through the super-sensible world in such a way that in the development of his karma — this in turn was the outcome of still earlier incarnations not in Mexico but elsewhere — he bore through the Jupiter region all that he had experienced in Mexico: knowledge that had degenerated into superstition but was nevertheless replete with vitality, saturated with the fruits of older civilisations. In the Jupiter-sphere all this assumed the form of wisdom, but a wisdom that is in truth automatic, unconscious, when compared with the wisdom man should make his own by individual effort.

When in the elaboration of karma between death and a new birth, the living, weaving wisdom of the Jupiter-sphere pours over what has been experienced by a man in a previous earthly life, wisdom and its light can still shine forth in the subsequent life. But the wisdom, then, is founded on the experiences of earthly life.

The individuality of whom I am speaking was born again in modern civilisation as Eliphas Levi. Eliphas Levi, therefore, had spent his previous incarnation in the Mexican civilisation, had then passed through the sphere of Jupiter with its wisdom, and in this sphere of Jupiter everything was worked through once again. But Mexican culture is a decadent culture and if you read the books of Eliphas Levi to-day you will find evidence of great wisdom spread out as it were over something extremely primitive. And one who has insight into these things will say: all this is Jupiter, but inferior Jupiter!” ~Rudolf Steiner, Karmic Relationships, Volume II: Lecture XII

Image result for George Adams Kaufmann

1894 – Birthday of George Adams Kaufmann, a British mathematician, translator & anthroposophist. He travelled widely, spoke several languages & translated many of Rudolf Steiner’s lectures into English. Through his studies in theoretical physics he contributed to the expansion & development of the natural sciences as extended by the concepts of anthroposophy.

In 1914 he had encountered Rudolf Steiner’s “Occult Science” and become a member of the Emerson Group in London in 1916. During his time as conscientious objector he had come to know Mary Fox, a Quaker & in 1920 they married.

His interest in Steiner’s ideas on social reform & his intention to translate the book The Threefold Social Order (GA 23) caused him to visit Steiner together with Ethel Bowen Wedgwood in Dornach, Switzerland. Steiner advised him to become involved in some form of social work, something Adams could readily accept amid the social collapse in Central & Eastern Europe following the war. He went on several journeys to Poland as part of the English & American Quaker organization.

In 1920 he took part in the inauguration of the first Goetheanum building. On his return to England, he cooperated with some friends on spreading the ideas of Social threefolding as well as the anthroposophical ideas of Steiner. His wife Mary Adams began her work as librarian & translator for the Anthroposophical Society in London that she was to carry for many years. In addition, Adams was the free verbal translator of around 110 lectures of Steiner into English. He went on to translate many of Steiner’s written works, often with Mary Adams.

He was often in Dornach during these times and experienced the burning of the first Goetheanum on New Year’s Eve 1922/23 & was part of the Christmas Foundation meeting of the General Anthroposophical Society in 1923/24. In 1924 he became one of the Goetheanum-Speakers authorized by Steiner.

While working as a free co-worker of the Anthroposophical Society in Britain as lecturer & workshop holder after 1925, Adams turned again to the study of the natural sciences & mathematics, concentrating particularly on projective geometry & working with Elisabeth Vreede, leader of the Section for Mathematics & Astronomy at the Goetheanum. At the beginning of the 1930s, Adams published a series of articles & essays about projective, synthetic geometry & its relationship to physics, to Goethe’s theory of metamorphosis & to anthroposophical spiritual science, particularly the pioneering work “Of Etheric Space” in the magazine Natura of the Goetheanum’s Medical Section. Here for the first time is mentioned the concept of “counter-space”, as Steiner indicated in the third of his courses on the Natural Sciences (GA 323), explained by means of non-Euclidean geometry. Some years later Louis Locher was to discover the same thing independently of Adams. From that time on the conceptual development of the idea of counter-space in its relation to normal spatial thinking became the focal point of Adams’ further scientific research. In 1933 the comprehensive work Space & the Light of the Creation – Synthetic Geometry in the light of Spiritual Science appeared, which was an overview of the spiritual scientific meaning of synthetic geometry.

When Elisabeth Vreede & Ita Wegman were dismissed from the executive of the General Anthroposophical Society in Dornach, a number of other prominent members of the German, Dutch & British Societies were expelled, including Adams. This brought to an end his cooperation with the Mathematical/Astronomical Section. When the Chairman of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain, D. N. Dunlop, died in May 1935, Adams took over as general secretary.

Charles Kovacs

1907 – Birthday of Charles Kovacs – born in Vienna. When he was still a young child the family moved to Nussdorf on the Danube, where the river flowed just before the house, so that he could see & hear the barges passing by, loading & unloading. Behind the house were forests of nut trees; to the left there shone a special light over the Kahlberg. It was here that he first went to school.

With the sudden death of his father, the family – his grandmother, mother & his younger brother Erwin – moved to their uncle’s lovely villa in Baden at the foot of the Vienna Woods. At that time the inhabitants of Baden were forward-looking & had high civic standards. They built fine modern art galleries to show the new styles of painting that had become popular. Charles was very interested in painting. He visited these galleries & then worked on his own pictures when he went home. He was about twelve years old when he showed his paintings to his respected art teacher, Professor Friedrich Thetter. Thetter’s two children were also Charles’ friends at the school & Charles was invited to come regularly and to bring his paintings. Professor Thetter, a long-standing anthroposophist, then introduced Charles to the fundamentals of art, to Goethe, then to Rudolf Steiner & anthroposophy. It was an encounter Charles never forgot. He was deeply grateful to Professor Thetter & they remained close friends, corresponding even when they were far apart. Charles & his brother Erwin both became members of the Anthroposophical Society, Charles when he was 22 years old.

Life was lively in Vienna. Charles would listen to the latest hits on the wireless in the evenings & next day he would play them to his friends, for both brothers had learned from their mother to play the piano. His uncle employed him for a time in his warehouse, selling coffee & tea, & it was his son who later, when Charles was 32, invited him out to Kenya. He enjoyed working on a large farm; the compound was so extensive that he needed a horse to get around it all & for a while he was in charge of a sawmill. It was during that time that he drew (on the backs of reference cards used at the mill) & compiled a small book of Pietas – each drawing so different!

Then came the Second World War & he volunteered to join the British Army. After the war he returned briefly to Kenya where he had started an anthroposophical study group. In April 1948 Charles came to London. A relative needed somebody to take on the responsibility of his firm in Golden Square, Piccadilly, & Charles worked there for about eight years. It was well-paid work, but it was a heavy burden. Before long he came to the anthroposophical group meeting one Monday evening; this was where he met Dora, & within six months they were married. Charles was soon asked to take over the study group at Museum Street & as part of his work for this group he translated works by Rudolf Steiner not then available in English. He became a member of the Council of the Anthroposophical Society & gave many lectures. His home was frequented by members of the group most evenings. When they had left he would often paint or draw, an activity which for him seemed a necessity. It was a member of the group who urged Charles to become a teacher. And so it came about that he came to Edinburgh in 1956 to teach at the Rudolf Steiner School.

Then his most productive years began. He took over a Class 4 of thirty-five children. As part of his preparation, he wrote out his lessons day by day so that he built into his teaching a structure, inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s curriculum, which could satisfy the growing child. These notes now stand as a fine example of the new & living way Steiner wanted his curriculum presented to children. ~Charles Kovacs – Reflecting on His Life, by Floris Books

Charles Kovacs - Christianity and the Ancient Mysteries

As a Waldorf teacher, Charles’ creative talents were called on more than ever before. His special gift for painting & drawing was put to good use & his work was much in evidence around the school. For example the kindergarten, which I took over, was blessed & looked upon by the guardian angel that Charles painted. He composed songs & poems, he wrote plays for his classes; Charles was completely given over to his teaching. At the same time he held parents’ evenings, had regular study groups & gave lectures within the Anthroposophical Society & to the public. For a time he travelled regularly to Ilkeston in Derbyshire to work with a group of friends there. His pupils wanted him to come to the upper school to give them the philosophy main lesson when he had already retired.

May be an image of 13 people, including Michael Anthony Bush, Lori Kulik, Sharleen Leonard and Lori Barian and people smiling

2018 – Death day of Christopher Mann, a long time Anthroposopher, His parents knew Rudolf Steiner & did the Mann translation of the Calendar of the Soul. Christopher & his wife Martina were champions of Biodynamics & eurythmy. https://www.biodynamics.com/…/celebrating-lifelong-work…Christopher produced the movie The Alchemist – A film by Frigyes Fogel and Christopher Mann Following those on their mission who have been called upon to form the earth throughout four continents…Dedicated To all who want to heal and consecrate the earth…https://vimeo.com/181737300

The picture above is Christopher at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, which he helped build. He came to support my workshop on the Spiritual Hierarchies. He was quite lively, sharing about his early life, & then his work with land trusts & such. He was so proud of his movie The Alchemist…After a day on Zinniker Farm he invited a bunch of us to a showing in his home, & there were several teenagers from the Chicago Waldorf School Community with us, & because of that film, 1 of them wants to go into Bio dynamic farming! He touched many lives. And now he is our ally on the other side. Blessings dear friend on your spiritual journey! xox ~hag

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~hag

Weaving a non-gendered Feminist Reality with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg*

Friday 5 March 2021 – 6:30 am – 8 am Central Time as part of the The International Youth Initiative Program Initiative Forum

What are the qualities of the Divine Feminine? How can we use them to empower an innovative way of thinking, feeling & willing, to create a new world, where the human being is free?

Have paper & colored pencils at the ready for this hands-on workshop.

*Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society.

The International Youth Initiative Program

***

Kristena West


The 8-Fold Path to the Easter Elementals

Holy Week 2021 (March 28 – April 4): Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am (Central Time) to create together a Thought-Seed Egregore based on the Herbert Hahn Verse

When I think light, my soul shines,
When my soul shines, the earth is a star,
When the earth is a star, then I am, a true human being

Sophie Takata

& then we will take turns sharing the indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner / The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (let me know if you would like to lead one of the days? (5 min) Holy Week  chart

Palm SUNDAY
Resolves or ‘RIGHT JUDGMENT.’ having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.

Holy MONDAY
Talking – ‘RIGHT WORD.’

Holy TUESDAY
External actions- ‘RIGHT DEED.’

Holy WEDNESDAY
The ordering of life. – ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT.’

Maundy THURSDAY
Human Endeavour. – ‘TO LET ALL THE EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT.

Good FRIDAY
The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life. – ‘RIGHT MEMORY.’ (Remembering what has been learned from experiences).

Holy SATURDAY
To pay attention to one’s ideas. – ‘RIGHT OPINION.’

The octave of the New Sun
EASTER SUNDAY
To turn one’s gaze inwards –
RIGHT EXAMINATION.’

Whoever is holding the leading thoughts for that day will tie it into some 5-10 min. artistic exercise based on the indications

Group sharing (5 min)

We close with the ‘reversed’ Hahn verse.
I am a True Human Being
For the Earth is a Star
The Earth is a Star
When I Think Light
When I think Light
My Soul Shines

Then later in the afternoon on Easter Sunday – 4 April 2021, in person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online 2 pm – 4 pm Central Time.

Group Eurythmy with Mary Ruud

Hazel Archer – The octave of the New Sun

Keynote withInes Katharina (Bee Keeper, Founder of the Biodynamic Emerald Honeybee Sanctuary, Waldorf Teacher) Ines will connect the Easter Thought with the Elemental Beings & the flight of the Queen Bee.

Mary Ruud will give us a performance of ‘Rock Spring Wonder’

We close with singing ‘Now the green Blade Riseth’

Potluck Social Time in the Schreinerei – Please bring food & drink to share

$10 Suggested Donation (can’t make it? or joining us online? please consider supporting this event, Thank you)

*Dear friends, please join the call at 10:05 am to get settled in so we can begin the Thought-Seed promptly at 10:10 am
Topic: The 8-Fold Path thru Holy Week 2021
Time: Starting on Palm Sunday Mar 28 – thru Easter Morning, 2021 10:10 AM Central Time
Every day, 8 occurrence(s)
Mar 28, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 29, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 31, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 1, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 2, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 3, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 4, 2021 10:10 AM

Daily: https://zoom.us/meeting/tJErdOqsqj8iGNzL8iNTwKUXyrvmVGSSXqaW/ics?icsToken=98tyKuCtqDgpHtCRuBuPRowMBIjCb-jwiClHjY1HsEfsLRRESTbOL_BUP4RYI-vo

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/95633444828?pwd=Wk56K08vK2dNQUhhK0Q2S09zQWJrQT09 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: bee

Dial by your location Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aX8X3nrr3 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: 425730

Feast of the Bear

Feast of the Bear – From antiquity to the Middle Ages, bears are to this day a cult symbol of the Germans, Scandinavians & the Celts. On 1 February they celebrate the end of hibernation. This is around the time when the bears leave their dens to see if the weather was mild. For a long time, the Catholic Church sought to eradicate these pagan practices. To do this, it instituted the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple which is celebrated on February 2, which corresponds to the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary. However, the celebrations of the bear & the return of the light continued, with bonfires & other torchlight processions. Pope Gelasius I in the fifth century therefore instituted the feast of candles, or Candlemas. From the twelfth to the eighteenth century, Candlemas was called “chandelours” which means bear in French, in many areas (including the Alps, Pyrenees, Ardennes) where the memory of the cult of the bear was still very present. There is also the Aosta Saint-Ours, & Saint Blaise (which means “bear”). Candlemas is also the beginning of the carnival period; the bear is the carnival animal par excellence.

Fate of the Cave Bear | History | Smithsonian Magazine

The existence of an ancient bear cult among Neanderthals in Western Eurasia in the Middle Paleolithic has been a topic of discussion spurred by archaeological findings. The Neanderthals worshiped the cave bear& ancient bear bones have been discovered arranged in a ritualistic way as part of a ceremony, found in Switzerland & in Slovenia.

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Volos

Bears were the most worshipped animals of Ancient Slavs. During pagan times, it was associated with the god Volos, the patron of domestic animals. Slavic folklore describes the bear as a totem personifying strength. Legends about turnskin bears appeared, it was believed that humans could be turned into bears for misbehavior.

In Finnish pagan culture, the bear was considered a taboo animal and the word for “bear” (oksi) was a taboo word. Euphemisms such as mesikämmen “honey-hand” were used instead. The modern Finnish word karhu (from karhea, rough, referring to its rough fur) is also such a euphemism. Calling a bear by its true name was believed to summon the bear. Ceremonies intended to show that the bear would be a “honored guest” were held in order to not to anger the bear’s spirit. The skull of the bear was hung into a tree, which was venerated as a totem.

Bear worship in ancient Finland and Siberia | PHOSPHORUS

There are annual bear festivals that take place in various towns & communes in the Pyrenees region. In Prats-de-Mollo, the Fête de l’Ours – A French”festival of the bear” was held on Candlemas (February 2) in a ritual in which men dressed up as bears brandishing sticks & dancing in an elaborate staging. The Arles-sur-Tech version (Fête de l’ours d’Arles-sur-Tech involves a female character named Rosetta (Roseta) who gets abducted by the “bear”. The “bear” would bring the Rosetta to a hut raised on the center square of town (where the victim would be fed sausages, cake, & white wine). The event finished with the “bear” being shaved & tamed.

According to legend, Ungnyeo (literally “bear woman”) was a bear who turned into a woman, & gave birth to Dangun, the founder of the first Korean kingdom, Gojoseon. Bears were revered as motherly figure & a symbol of patience.

The bear festival is a religious festival celebrated by the indigenous Nivkh in Russia’s fareast. A Nivkh Shaman (ch’am) would preside over the Bear Festival, celebrated on the 1st of February. Bears were captured & raised in a corral for several years by local women, treating the bear like a child. The bear is considered a sacred earthly manifestation of Nivkh ancestors & the gods in bear form. During the Festival the bear is dressed in a ceremonial costume & offered a banquet to take back to the realm of gods to show benevolence upon the clans. The festival was arranged by relatives to honor the death of a kinsman. The bear’s spirit returns to the gods of the mountain ‘happy’ & rewards the Nivkh with bountiful forests. Generally, the Bear Festival was an inter-clan ceremony where a clan of wife-takers restored ties with a clan of wife-givers upon the broken link of the kinsman’s death. The Bear Festival was suppressed in the Soviet period; since then the festival has had a modest revival, albeit as a cultural rather than a religious ceremony.

The Ainu people, who live on select islands in the Japanese archipelago, call the bear “kamuy” in their language, which translates to mean “god”. While many other animals are considered to be gods in the Ainu culture, the bear is the head of the gods. For the Ainu, when the gods visit the world of man, they put on fur & claws & take on the physical appearance of an animal. To return a god back to his country, the people would sacrifice & eat the animal sending the god’s spirit away with civility. Omante occurred when the people sacrificed an adult bear, but when they caught a bear cub they performed a different ritual which is called Iomante, in the Ainu language, or Kumamatsuri in Japanese. Kumamatsuri translates to “bear festival” & Iomante means “sending off”. The event of Kumamatsuri began with the capture of a young bear cub. As if he was a child given by the gods, the cub was fed human food from a carved wooden platter & was treated better than Ainu children for they thought of him as a god. If the cub was too young & lacked the teeth to properly chew food, a nursing mother will let him suckle from her own breast. When the cub reaches 2–3 years of age, the cub is taken to the altar & sacrificed. Usually, Kumamatsuri occurs in midwinter when the bear meat is the best from the added fat. The villagers will shoot it with ceremonial arrows, make offerings, dance, & pour wine on top of the cub corpse. The words of sending off for the bear god are then recited. This festivity lasts for three days & three nights to properly return the bear god to his home.

Bear worship was commen in North America and North Eurasian

THE FEAST OF THE BEAR – A NEW RITUAL IN A TRADITIONAL CONTEXT:

The “Bärentag” (Feast of the Bear), founded 21 years ago in Basel, is open to everyone, especially inclusive of immigrants, women & children, & focuses on solidarity & social integration. In 1998, the Bear Society was re-founded with the aim of promoting a sense of harmony amongst the inhabitants of Lesser Basel. As the Bear costume is always worn by women, just as the Bear dance is traditionally performed alongside female drummers. A key element of the Feast of the Bear is a dance-filled procession through the city.

“Diryff-dyff-dyff” resounds from a distance. We are standing with the children on the bank of the Rhine River in Basel. We hear the loud booms of the cannonballs and soon see the rapidly approaching wooden raft being propelled by the force of the river. A man wearing a Wild Man (Wilde Maa) mask and costume stands on the raft, spinning a fir tree slung over his shoulder and performing a dance while facing Lesser Basel and shaking his behind at Greater Basel. He is accompanied by drummers on the boat, smoke from the canons rises around them. The year is 2019 and we are in the heart of Europe, at the northern border of Switzerland. However, this is a special moment—a moment in which “the past and the present converge.”

The first part of the Day of the Bear is dedicated to children (they practice singing and dancing the jazz song Dr Bär isch zrugg in school in preparation for the festival) Some of the children accompany the Bear in the parade wearing furry vests and colourful balloons over their heads. The procession takes them through spots where the children can even stop and play on the playground. The Vogel Gryff costumes also spark the interest of children, though there is something sinister about them. “The Wild Man drives the children away by waving around his fir tree,” says current drummer for the Bear Festival, Lars Handschin. “The Bear costume,” on the other hand, “is a welcoming presence. The Bear gives the children a hug at the end of the parade and plays with them, even though she also commands respect.” The afternoon portion of the program culminates in a communal banquet attended by approximately two thousand residents and boasts a wide offering of cultural dishes. The atmosphere is one of acceptance, solidarity, and harmonious coexistence. “At a time when real walls are being built around the world, the Bear Society tries to tear down the figurative walls between people.” The procession then continues on into the night and is also accompanied by the sound of the piccolo and drums together with illuminated lanterns bearing the Bear Society emblem. (quoted from the link)

Bear Worship - Drawception
Riley Peterson

Here is a folk tale: “The Bear Feast Story

May we celebrate The Bear: from god to Teddy – an interesting totem to embrace

~hag

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Star chart with arrow from Big Dipper to North Star Polaris
https://earthsky.org/tonight/use-the-pointers-to-find-polaris

1 February 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The Magical Legacy of Johannes Trithemius – Zero Equals Two!

1462 – Birthday of Johannes Trithemius, German lexicographer, historian, and cryptographer

1861 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.

13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States | National Museum of  African American History and Culture



1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Oxford English Dictionary turns 90: How it took 71 years to compile and its  latest project to include regional words - Education Today News

1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.

Edison's Black Maria - Wikipedia

1893 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey

Groenkloof Nature Reserve

1895 – Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.

February 1, 1896: Poor People of Paris – Wretched Richard's Almanac

1896 – La bohème premieres in Turin at the Teatro Regio (Turin), conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini.

Franklin McCain led Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter sit-in | Charlotte  Observer

1960 – Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Valborg Werbeck-Svärdström - Wikidata

1972 – Deathday of Valborg Werbeck-Svärdström, a Swedish singer, voice teacher, & anthroposophist. When she was ten, her family moved to Stockholm, where the music educator Alice Tegnér discovered her talent. She was already performing at the age of eleven. After completing school & her studies at the Conservatory, she gave her debut & was received into the Ensemble of the Royal Swedish Opera. She was hailed as the new Jenny Lind” – the Swedish nightingale. As a concert & opera singer she experienced enormous success in many of the European countries. In 1906 she married Louis Michael Julius Werbeck, the German writer & musician from Hamburg & moved with him to Germany.

In 1908 she met Rudolf Steiner and received from him indications for her work & encouragement not to give up her successful singing career, but rather to pursue it against her original intentions. Her studies with experienced teachers had certainly guided her to a successful operatic career, but it had shown her that these methods of instruction also endangered her natural voice. She began searching for new methods of developing the voice, & remained in close contact about this with Rudolf Steiner until his death. At the same time she began to build up a method of singing therapy that she later was later to develop further together with Eugen Kolisko, who took singing lessons with her from time to time, & with Ita Wegman. In 1938 her book ‘’Uncovering the Voice: The Cleansing Power of Song’’ appeared in German. The rise of National Socialism in Germany made her work increasingly difficult. Eventually she had to close her school & spent the War years in semi-isolation in Silesia. The years following the War she devoted totally to her therapeutic work & to the instruction of a circle of young musicians that had gathered around her.

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Footsteps in the snow Photograph by Sonya Kanelstrand

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~my footsteps imprint possibility
on the unique shapes that gather together as fallen snow
that which is
follows in stride
& that which is not yet
flows in front
with the wind…
~hag

***

Candlemas – St. Mary's Episcopal Church

‘Tree of Life’ Feast & ‘Candlemas’ Festival 2 February 2021 – 5:30-7pm
In the Schreinerei of the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4248 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago

The RSB Festivals Committee invites you to celebrate the Cross-quarter between Winter Solstice & Spring Equinox, called by some: Groundhogs Day, Brigid’s Day
or Imbolc – the lambing season, The Feast of the Purification of Mary, & Tu’B’Shavat*- the “New Year for the Trees”.

All are invited to a Potluck consisting of fruits & nuts & seeds-the gifts of the trees. And then Nancy Melvin will facilitate a beeswax candle making workshop – a Candlemas tradition.

The Seven Species Quilt Blocks Machine Embroidery Designs set for 5x5 hoop  | Embroidery design sets, Machine embroidery quilts, Free machine  embroidery designs

*Tu B’Shvat offers a unique opportunity for insight into life & personal growth. Throughout the centuries, Kabbalists have used the tree as a metaphor to understand the One relationship to the spiritual & physical worlds. The higher spiritual realms are roots that ultimately manifest their influence through branches & leaves in the lower realms. In the 16th century, the Kabbalists compiled a Tu B’Shvat “Seder,” somewhat similar to the Seder for Passover. It involves enjoying the fruits & discussing philosophical & Kabbalistic concepts associated with the ‘Tree of Life’. Among other things, the Seder is a great way to appreciate the bounty that we so often take for granted, & to develop a good & generous eye for the world around us.

Suggestions for this special POTLUCK: lots of fruit! including: The seven species:
Figs, Dates, Pomegranates, Olives, Grapes (or raisins) wheat (Challah bread) &
Barley. Various nuts with the shells (walnuts, almonds, pistachios, coconut),
and fruits with peels (oranges, pomegranates, avocado)
Other fruits with edible seeds (e.g. blueberries)
Other fruits with inedible pits (e.g. peaches, plums)

Donations Welcome http://donate.rschicago.org/

For more info. contact Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg hag@rschicago.org

The Bee — Celtic Spirit Books

Invitation: Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021, 6-8pm eastern (online using zoom)

“Candlemas Time with the Bee”

We will be celebrating a quiet and beautiful festival with the Bee. This ceremony will include artistic and meditative activity as we journey with the Bee into her connection to the Earth, the Cosmos, and the Human Soul. 

Please have ready: some real honey and a spoon, a beeswax candle and matches, some seeds you plan to plant this year, paper and colored pencils.

Please email “ineshoneybee@yahoo.com” before to registerand we will send you a zoom link. You may register any time before 5pm eastern on February 3rd.

May Humanity and Earth be Each Other’s Medicine 

Celebrating Life during the nodal points of the seasons has given Humanity the opportunity to realign with the rhythms of Earth and the Cosmos for thousands of years… the “Festival Year” emerged, spanning all time and all cultures, traditions, and religions of the world. Today, possibly due to the increase in technology and fast pace, consumer-driven lifestyles, many people have found it difficult to connect with the seasons and rhythms of Life or have given up the culture of festival and ceremony altogether.  

Yet we have entered a time during which our realignment with the Earth is more crucial than ever before… not only for our own health and wellbeing, but also for the renewal of the Earth herself. An opportunity for healing is created when we can hold in our conscious attention the nodal points of the year and the interconnected rhythms of Life… the animal, plant, and mineral beings.

These beings we share this planet with are ready for our consciousness and care. And when we create a space of openness and communication, we may just discover that they more than happily participate… for all of us do share the same “Festival Year” of Earth.

May the Peace of the Heavens in our Earth-home we find… for all Stones, Plants, and Animals, and all of Humankind.

Warmly, Ines Katharina Kinchen ineshoneybee@yahoo.com

‘Sailing to Byzantium’

lovers eye | Terry Dresbach
Fatima Ronquillo

~This skin I wear is luminous imagination…
Light slants in thru the clerestory windows of my eyes,
& curls like incense thru my words…
‘…in purest love
outpours the god-hood of my soul
…’
~hag

Fatima Ronquillo - Arden Gallery
Fatima Ronquillo

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

Roger Landau

28 January 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Full Wolf Moon (exactly so at 1:16 pm CST). It shines this evening in dim Cancer, below Castor & Pollux, far above late-rising Regulus

Colorado Artist Kellie Day | Mixed Media, Watercolor & Illustrations
Kellie Day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Melibeus on Twitter: "The death of Charlemagne #OTD 814 @BLMedieval Royal  16 G VI f. 194r… "

814 – The Deathday of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor

1521 – The Diet of Worms conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521 – a formal deliberative assembly of the Holy Roman Empire called by Emperor Charles V & conducted in the Imperial City of Worms. Martin Luther was summoned to the Diet in order to renounce or reaffirm his views in response to a Papal bull of Pope Leo X. In answer to questioning, he defended these views & refused to recant them. The Emperor issued the decree which condemned Luther as “a notorious heretic” & banned citizens of the Empire from propagating his ideas.

A royal obsession with black magic started Europe's most brutal witch hunts  | National Geographic

1591 – Execution of Agnes Sampson, accused of witchcraft in Edinburgh

Jane Austen 1817-2017: A Bicentennial Exhibit | Pride and Prejudice ·  Online Exhibits

1813 – Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom

The Unsung Russian Forerunner of the Death Penalty's Demise in Catholic  Teaching | Church Life Journal | University of Notre Dame

1853 – Birthday of Vladimir Solovyov, Russian philosopher, poet

O mistress earth! Before thee have I knelt,
And through the fragrances that thee begird,
The glowing of a kindred heart I felt,
The throbbing of a living world I heard.
In noon-tide beams with such enraptured blaze
The bounty of the radiant skies was sent,
With whose still lustre the responsive lays
Of rippling streams and rustling woods were bleat.
To me the sacrament reveals again
Earth’s soul with the unearthly sheen unite,
And from the fire of love all earthly pain
Is borne away like passing smoke in flight.

1855 – A locomotive on the Panama Canal Railway runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

1897 – Birthday of Norbert Glas, doctor & Author of ‘Reminiscence’s of Rudolf Steiner’ “HOW TO LOOK AT ILLNESS: It will be clear that in order to understand illness we have to consider the whole of man’s life. We must look more deeply into the subject of illness than is possible if we consider only chance, heredity, or the germ theory; or take the superficial view associated with euthanasia.

The diseases which attack us in our childhood — those occurring as a result of the crises of puberty are particularly significant — may be regarded not as a misfortune but as a blessing, since they provide opportunities for our development.

The deeper reasons for our illnesses at various ages, reviewed in the light of the threefold being of man, show that the forces of Thinking, Feeling and Willing must work harmoniously if we are to enjoy better health.

An understanding of our destiny will be of the greatest help, for as Rudolf Steiner points out, “The conception of karma does not paralyse our activities in regard to healing. On the contrary, it will bring us into harmony with regard to the hardest fate, with regard to the incurability of a certain disease …

“The understanding of karma alone makes it possible for us to comprehend the course of an illness in the right way, and to understand that in our present life we see the karmic effects of our previous life.” (Rudolf Steiner)

Of the greatest importance is our attitude to the suffering which arises from illness, and our understanding of what steps we have to take when disease comes, when we may be disabled through some accident or when we face old age. If we can be rid of the strange idea that death ends everything and can understand and live with the idea of reincarnation, which gives such a broader view of life, we shall be inwardly fortified to meet blows of fate which may befall us.”

William Butler Yeats And Cannabis | by Irish Hemp History | Medium

1939 – Deathday of W. B. Yeats, Irish poet playwright, Nobel Prize laureate. The young William Butler Yeats was introduced to the study & practice of the occult while in art college in Dublin – when he met the poet, dramatist, & painter George Russell who inspired his interest in mysticism, giving him a copy of A.P. Sinnett’s Esoteric Buddhism. This instant fascination with metaphysics & paranormal activities was to remain with him throughout his life. His passion for mysticism &the occult sciences was displayed through his poetry & writings.

The Muses of W.B. Yeats | Irish America

He spent a lifetime seeking contact with the spirit world through occult researches & practices that informed much of what he did & wrote. His involvement in the occult was intimately bound up in his complex relationships with a series of women who shared these beliefs & almost all the women who inspired his poems were involved in the occult.

His occultism fits into an Irish Protestant literary tradition that includes Sheridan Le Fanu, Charles Maturin, Bram Stoker & Elizabeth Bowen.

Reincarnation, communication with the dead, mediums, supernatural systems & Oriental mysticism fascinated Yeats through his life. In 1885, he became a founding member of the Dublin Lodge of the Hermetic Society with Russell.

William Butler Yeats and the Occult: An Essay by Adam Sedia | Society of  Classical Poets

When the Yeats family moved back to London in 1887, the young poet paid a visit to Madame Helena Blavatsky, the famous occultist & founder of the Theosophical Society which he joined & was later expelled from.

In March 1890, still seeking deeper answers, he joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in London, a secret & rather shady society that practiced ritual magic. Other members included his great love Maud Gonne, the actress Florence Farr, Welsh author Arthur Machen & English authors Evelyn Underhill & Aleister Crowley.

Maud Gonne | Irish patriot | Britannica
Maude Gonne

At one point, Yeats & Gonne conducted a ‘spiritual marriage’ thru the Golden Dawn, to channel his frustrations at the lack of a physical one. His future wife, Georgie Hyde-Lees joined the order in 1914.

At one point Yeats sought occult guidance for a crisis in his private life. He had been seeing the actress Mabel Dickinson who wrote to tell him she was pregnant. He asked for the advice of the spirit world through a medium and a message came through to say he had been deceived and “should not take the action I had all but decided on“.

Gonne girls: The women who fired WB Yeats's passion - Independent.ie

Dickinson, as it turned out, was not pregnant & his faith in the supernatural had, in his eyes, been vindicated. Yeats remained an active member of the Golden Dawn for over 30 years becoming involved in the order’s power struggles, both with Farr & McGregor Mathers.

After the organization ceased & splintered into various offshoots, Yeats remained with the Stella Matutina until 1921. Influence of the occult on Yeats’s poetry is infused with a sense of the otherworldly, the spiritual & the unknown.

Mysticism figures prominently in his discussion of the reincarnation of the soul, as well as in his philosophical model of the conical gyres used to explain the journey of the soul, the passage of time, & the guiding hand of fate.

Mysticism & the occult occur again & again in his poetry, most explicitly in ‘The Second Coming’ but also in poems such as ‘Sailing to Byzantium’.

The Opal and The Pearl review: a voyage around four Irish writers

Yeats came to the marriage with Georgie Hyde-Lees partly as a way of escaping the emotional turmoil of his relationship with Maud Gonne, but he feared that domesticity would cost him his poetic inspiration. However four days into their honeymoon, his new bride astonished him by suddenly assuming the voice of a messenger from the other world, with secrets to impart.

This was the beginning of what would be a lengthy experiment with the psychic phenomenon called ‘automatic writing’, in which Georgie’s hand & pen served as instruments for the spirit world to send information.

A Vision: An Explanation Of Life Founded Upon The Writings Of Giraldus And  Upon Certain Doctrines Attributed To Kusta Ben Luka by YEATS, WILLIAM  BUTLER: Near Fine Hardcover (1925) First edition., Signed

Yeats & his wife held more than four hundred sessions of automatic writing, producing nearly 4,000 pages that he avidly & patiently studied & organized. From these sessions, Yeats formulated theories about life & history.

He created a complex system of spirituality, using the image of interlocking gyres (similar to spiral cones) to map out the development & reincarnation of the soul. Yeats believed that history was determined by fate & that fate revealed its plan in moments when the human & divine interact.

Poem for the New Year: The Second Coming by WB Yeats 1919 | Blog | Old Men  And Infidels Books

He published his intricate theories of personality & history in ‘A Vision’ in 1925 (which he substantially revised in 1937), & some of the symbolic patterns (gyres, moon phases) with which he organized these theories provide important background to many of the poems & plays he wrote during the second half of his career.

The Rosicrucian societies that formed in Germany in the early 17th century were based upon this principle of the unbroken transmission of the prisca theologia—the one true faith of which all organized religions are but pale, debased reflections.

From A Vision by William Butler Yeats | Occult, Alchemic symbols, Kill your  darlings

The hermetic tradition enjoyed a burst of vitality in the second half of the nineteenth century, beginning in France. Eliphas Lévi, the pen name of Abbé Alphonse Louis Constant, described the basic pitch in melodramatic terms, setting the tone for the esoteric groups that soon found a wide following. His first book, translated by Arthur Edward Waite as ‘Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual’, hooked readers throughout Europe with its phantasmagoric opening sentence, emphasizing images over ideas:

“Behind the veil of all the hieratic and mystical allegories of ancient doctrines, behind the darkness and strange ordeals of all initiations, under the seal of all sacred writings, in the ruins of Nineveh or Thebes, on the crumbling stones of old temples and on the blackened visage of the Assyrian or Egyptian sphinx, in the monstrous or marvelous paintings which interpret to the faithful of India the inspired pages of the Vedas, in the cryptic emblems of our old books on alchemy, in the ceremonies practiced at reception by all secret societies, there are found indications of a doctrine which is everywhere the same and everywhere carefully concealed”.

The Far Tower: Stories for W. B. Yeats – Swan River Press

The occult movements in the fin de siècle & the early decades of the twentieth century were furiously debated & attracted many public figures. Yeats’ involvement in the occult movement had begun two years before his move to London—the same year he published his first poems—when, at the age of twenty, he chaired the first meeting of the Dublin Hermetic Society; the agenda that day was “the wonders of Eastern philosophy.” Soon after his arrival in the capital, he joined the Theosophical Society, a group led by a Russian journalist & world traveler named Helena Petrovna Blavatsky that sought to unite the esoteric tradition of the West with Eastern mysticism. Madame Blavatsky, as she is usually known, claimed to have visited Tibet, where she met a brotherhood of supremely enlightened lamas who preserved the prisca theologia in their mountain fastnesses. Communicating with Madame Blavatsky by telepathy, these sages divulged their arcane knowledge to her & entrusted her with the task of disseminating the Secret Doctrine, as she called it, to the world.

When Yeats met her in London in 1887, she was then living in a house in south London, rebuilding her movement with just three faithful followers. “I was admitted,” Yeats wrote in his memoir, “and found an old woman in a plain loose dark dress: a sort of old Irish peasant woman with an air of humor and audacious power.”

Selections from the Golden Dawn Notebooks by W.B. Yeats | Enochian, Ritual  magic, Esoteric

Madame Blavatsky invited Yeats to join the inner circle of the Theosophical Society, the Esoteric Section, & groomed him for a high position in the hierarchy. Yeats’ main interest, however, was conducting magical experiments. He replicated one he had found in the works of an eighteenth-century astrologer; it involved burning a flower to ashes, then placing them under a bell jar in the moonlight for a certain number of nights. If the experiment was successful, “the ghost of the flower would appear hovering over its ashes.

When he finally parted ways with the Theosophists it wasn’t because of doubts about Madame Blavatsky’s sincerity—in his journal, he rejected the “fraud theory” because it was “wholly unable to cover the facts”—but because the society disapproved of his experiments.

The Theosophists expelled him in 1890, but Yeats had already joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an even more exotic cult, which claimed direct descent from the hermetic tradition of the Renaissance & into remote antiquity. When Yeats first met the order’s leader, MacGregor Mathers, in the British Museum reading room, Mathers, “in a brown velveteen coat, with a gaunt resolute face and an athletic body,” struck him as “a figure of romance”; later Yeats described the seer’s house in Forest Hill, London, as “a romantic place to a little group,” which included at various times Algernon Blackwood, Aleister Crowley, Bram Stoker, Arthur Edward Waite, & William Westcott, Coroner of the Crown. 

Magic notebook of William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) | Book of shadows,  Sketch book, Ritual magic

Yeats joined the Golden Dawn after witnessing impressive displays of Mathers’ magic powers, particularly his ability to stimulate visions. On one occasion he gave Yeats a cardboard symbol & told him to close his eyes. “There rose before me mental images that I could not control: a desert and black Titan raising himself up by his two hands from the middle of a heap of ancient ruins.” Mathers told him that he had seen “a being of the order of Salamanders.” Members took Latin mottoes as cult names; Yeats styled himself Demon Est Deus Inversus, the Devil Is God Inverted.

The Order experienced a crisis early in the new century after it was revealed that the Golden Dawn Cipher Manuscripts (said to have been found in a cupboard), the basis of its rituals & dogma, had been forged by William Westcott. The cult was disgraced, Mathers was expelled, & Westcott resigned to save his position with the Crown. In 1902 the order changed its name to Stella Matutina, “Morning Star.” Yeats was undeterred by the controversy & remained active in the cult as Imperator, a high grade of wizard, until it dissolved in 1922.

It makes more sense to see Yeats’ participation in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as one origin of his career in the theater. The order performed rites using props such as wands, cauldrons, & daggers, straight out of the Pre-Raphaelite school of painting. In W.B. Yeats, ‘Twentieth-Century Magus’, a study of the poet’s magical activities based upon his diaries, Susan Johnston Graf describes the rituals of the Golden Dawn: “Members wore traditional robes and symbolic regalia while they intoned elaborately staged dramatic liturgies that they had practiced and memorized. The rituals invoked deities like Isis and Osiris and sometimes involved staged hangings or entombments.”

WB Yeats – The Battle of Blythe Road – Loopline Film

By the time the Golden Dawn was in its final decline, Yeats had made a major breakthrough in his quest for communication with the spirit world, which took precedence over ritual magic & experimentation. He described this turning point in his life and art:

“On the afternoon of October 24th, 1917, four days after my marriage, my wife surprised me by attempting automatic writing. What came in disjointed sentences, in almost illegible writing, was so exciting, sometimes so profound, that I persuaded her to give an hour or two day after day to the unknown writer, and after some half dozen such hours offered to spend what remained of life explaining and piecing together those scattered sentences.”

On an American tour in 1919, in a sleeping compartment on a train in Southern California, the spirits manifested themselves to Georgie in a new way, when she began to talk in her sleep. From that point on, Yeats wrote, “almost all communications came in that way. My teachers did not seem to speak out of her sleep but as if from above it, as though it were a tide upon which they floated.” Sweet perfumes sometimes filled the room when the instructors spoke, “now that of incense, now that of violets or roses or some other flower.”

Georgie Hyde Lees - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Yeats & his bride, Georgie Hyde-Lees, made a strange match; he was fifty-two, she was twenty-five, & both presumably were virgins. Yeats had been obsessed throughout much of his adult life by a romantic infatuation with Maud Gonne, a charismatic beauty who zealously advocated the cause of Irish nationalism. She joined the Order of the Golden Dawn briefly, but resigned because she feared it would distract her from the Irish cause. Yeats proposed to her four times without success, though she did consent to a “spiritual marriage”; after she definitively rejected his suit in 1916, he redirected his passion toward her daughter, Iseult. It was only after Iseult refused him that Yeats proposed to Georgie.

Her revelations filled more than fifty notebooks, by Yeats’ count, & served as the basis of ‘A Vision’, the summa of his metaphysical thinking, which set forth what he called his “public philosophy.” It propounds an extraordinarily convoluted system that aims to integrate the human personality with the cosmos, a poetical astrology supplemented by charts & diagrams that look like figures in a geometry text. Yeats elaborates a scheme of the lunar phases to classify & categorize the human personality, out pictured in his poem: “The Second Coming.”

An In-Depth Guide to Yeats' 'The Second Coming'

Yeats’ magical avocation presents a paradox to contemporary readers: a disciplined poet, a Nobel laureate, the founder & first director of the Abbey Theatre, a senator of the Irish Free State. Yeats believed that his occult knowledge gave him the power to write verses that would partake of the eternal. The proof is in his poetry.

The Second Coming Poem by William Butler Yeats - Poem Hunter | The second  coming poem, Two by two, Poems