Dr. Rudolf Steiner 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925
Today,Dear Friends – on this eve of the New Moon, 30 March 2022, we mark the 97th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s rebirth into the Spiritual World.
After the burning of the 1st Goetheanum 100 years ago this year, at the Christmas Conference in 1923, when Rudolf Steiner re-founded & joined the Anthroposophical Society with the ‘movement’ ie. the good spirits working thru Anthroposophia, he also took on the karma of all its members. Starting just after that Dr. Steiner showed signs of illness. Yet he continued to lecture & travel like never before. He was often giving 4 lectures a day for the various courses taking place concurrently. Many of these focused on practical anthroposophy, such as education, agriculture, medicine & the Christian Community. He gave his last in-person lecture on Michaelmas September 1924. Yet even after that, Rudolf Steiner continued to work on his autobiography & the Leading Thoughts during the last months of his life until he died on 30 March 1925 with the Sun in Pisces & the Moon in Taurus.
From “The Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner’ by Guenther Wachsmuth: “Even the last weeks in March 1925, during which he had to endure unspeakable suffering, were devoted in the most intense concentration to spiritual research, creative work, & bestowal…
…the beginning of his shared anthroposophical work with Marie von Sivers stood before his inner eye. It had not been easy for Marie Steiner to live with the increasing intense collaboration between Rudolf Steiner & Ita Wegman over the course of the last few years. Ita Wegman was so entirely different than she was. Now she was forced to deny herself the opportunity to care for the person she loved the most. Trouble with her legs inhibited her from doing this. That they had spoken about this with each other is evident from a letter he wrote her in Berlin on his official birthday:
“I write you these lines at about the same time that you would usually be sitting at my side. Thinking about how beautiful it is to listen to you speck about your activities & to speak with you about various aspects of your work moves me deeply. And when I know that you have now & again been able to read my Autobiography the description of our shared work, I feel deeply how closely connected we are. That destiny has brought other people close to me is simply the way destiny works. And my sickness has shown just how incisive this destiny can be. But you found the way to understanding; this is a blessing for me. To feel the unity of feeling & thinking in discernment is something I can do only with you. That I was not able to show you the last pages of the Steffen article before it went to the printer was a hardship for me. Then for myself, I find inner competence only in your judgement. Through you art is raised into the realms of the hierarchies. I gaze with wonder upon everything you achieve & with such devotion. In my thoughts I am with you” ~RS
Shielded under the devoted care of Dr. Ita Wegman, he still communicated many a spiritual message received, & he had us to report to him what was occurring on the hill of Dornach. He loved the living noise of hammering & scaffold-building which penetrated from the building place of the Goetheanum into the quiet of his sickroom, announcing the building in the process of coming into being. He was united through his council & help with this work to his last breath & beyond death.
“March 1925 was cold and foggy. It became quite windy in the last week of the month, and then the storms began. From the South and the West, the rain whipped against the walls of the studio. On March 29th, Rudolf Steiner awoke in pain. “No work was done that morning. It was the 1st time. We spoke at length about the pain. There was no reason to be worried. The pains disappeared in the course of the day. He was extraordinarily still and patient that day and gave new suggestions for his care” (Wegman and Nachrichtenblatt 1925)
Albert Steffen, who visited Rudolf Steiner regularly throughout his illness, recalled this time: “I visited him March 28th at 5 pm in his studio, where he lay in his sickbed. It was a tall room with skylights. Nothing of the earth looks in: no tree, no mountain, no house, only the light of the heavens. Sculptural and architectural models that he has made himself stand on the shelves along with some busts he has sculpted; at the foot of his bed, the noble statue of Christ, carved by his own hand, soars high above him. All around him are tables covered with books and manuscripts…Up to the last day of his life, his interest was for the entire world. In his studio, which he had not left for half the year, he had collected an entire library”
Rudolf Steiner was writing his “Letters to the Members” up to a few days before he died! The last missive is like a preview of what was to come in the 21st Century. It is titled “From Nature to Sub-Nature.” In it, Rudolf Steiner characterizes the dangers of the technological age & the task that has arisen for humanity thru greed driven technological developments, which rob human beings of a direct experience with nature, placing the artificial there instead. At 4 pm on March 29th, the pain returned. Yet Rudolf Steiner asked again if the adjoining studio was ready for him to work on the model for the 2nd Goetheanum. Both doctors, Wegman & Noll, kept watch throughout the night.
In his recollections of Rudolf Steiner D.N.Dunlop recalled, “A few weeks before his final illness, during the summer conference in Torquay, I spoke to him about my concerns for his physical health. He drew me aside, vigorously but with infinite friendliness, and made me aware that his situation could not be explained in terms of our usual notions of disease”.
It has been publicly stated that he died of stomach cancer. But one of Ita Wegman’s closest colleagues, Dr. Margarete Kirchner-Bockholt vehemently rejected this conjecture. And Dr. Ita Wegman had reported that Rudolf Steiner’s etheric body was no longer able to work in the digestive organs in the appropriate manner. “The result was that these organs were subjected too strongly to the physical forces, which are forces of degeneration.” (Wegman and Nachrichtenblatt 1925)
The last moments in his earthly life were free from all struggle with the physical entity, free from all uncertainty such as characterizes the death of so many human beings; his countenance spoke of peace, grace, inner certitude, spiritual vision. He folded his hands over his breast; his eyes were shiningly & strongly directed into worlds with which in vision he was united. As he drew his last breath, he himself closed his eyes; but this filled the room not with the experience of an end, but with that of a most sublime spiritual action. An exalted, transfigured wakefulness spoke out of his countenance, out of the praying strength of the hands. As the great artists of the Middle Ages gave to the pictures of the knights resting upon the sarcophagus the expression indicating that their closed eyes were still beholding, their resting form was still able to stride forward, so did the figure here resting speak of a super-terrestrial wakefulness, of a striding forward into the spheres of the spirit.
The forward striding figure of the Christ statue, pointing into the expanses of the universe, which he himself had created & at whose feet he now lay, spoke for the eye of those left behind on earth what was taking place for the spirit of a great human being who had dedicated his life to the annunciation of the Christ. Even in dying, Rudolf Steiner bestowed upon humanity the most sublime gift of consolation: the certitude that death is a waking entrance into worlds of life & action.
From Friedrich Rittelmeyer speaking about his death: “None of us had expected that Rudolf Steiner would succumb to the illness. The mortal sheath, just abandoned by the spirit setting out on its far journey, was resting on the death-bed at the foot of the Christ statue which stood there almost completed. Those who looked at the face of the dead could see what the spirit can make of the body in the life of a truly great man on earth. The sublimity and purity of his features was equal to every test and unsurpassed. Perhaps the death mask, if it is ever reproduced as a picture, will be a means of convincing many. Again and again one’s gaze turned from the forsaken earthly body to the great Christ figure which points with compelling gesture into the future. The disciple had fallen at the feet of the Master. It was as if Christ were taking the disciple to Himself with sheltering arms while He Himself went forward with unceasing step towards the future of the world. The disciple’s mission was fulfilled. The Master’s brow was radiant with the light of divine world-purposes. When, at the wish of Frau Dr. Steiner, and in the solemnly decorated hall where Dr. Steiner had given most of his great lectures, I was performing the burial service according to the ritual of The Christian Community, a drop of the sprinkled water fell in the centre of the forehead and shone there through the whole service like a sparkling diamond. The light of many candles was reflected in this glittering star – even as the revelations of light from higher worlds had been reflected in his spirit. Thus adorned, the body sank into the coffin. To me it was as if higher Spirits had indicated in an earthly picture what it had been our lot to experience. When the service was at an end, one impression lived mightily within my soul: “This work is now completed. Like a great question it stands there before mankind. If all who belong to that work dedicate their powers to it with single purpose, it will prevail!”
According to Ita Wegman’s report right before he crossed the threshold, Rudolf Steiner was very still sad & silent. She recalled, “It seemed to me as though he had a very difficult problem to solve. The forces of light in his eyes appeared weaker than usual”.
From Ita Wegman Nachrichtenblatt 1925: “At 3 am, I noticed a slight change in his breathing. I approached his bed; he was awake. He looked at me & asked whether I was tired. This question touched me. His pulse was not as strong as it had been, but much faster. I called Dr. Noll in order to speak with him about what ought to be done. Herr Steiner was not astonished to see him there in the middle of the night & greeted him amiably. “I don’t feel too bad” he said “I just can’t sleep.” We turned the light out again. At 4 am, he called me because the pain had reappeared. He said, “As soon as the day comes, we want to continue the treatment that I suggested”…Naturally, we didn’t wait for the day to come but did what was necessary. But then the situation changed quickly – his pulse grew weaker, his breathing more rapid. And we had to experience how his life was gradually extinguished…He went as though it were the obvious thing to do. It seemed to me as though the dice had been thrown for a last decision. When they fell, there was no struggle, no attempt to remain upon the earth any longer. He gazed calmly into the space before him for a time, said a couple of tender words to me, consciously closed his eyes & folded his hands”
Again from “The Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner’ by Guenther Wachsmuth: In the lofty darkened space of the studio stood the bier of him who had completed this earthly life, surrounded by a sea of flowers, by the light of candles, the death watch by his side day & night. Many hundreds of persons came in soundless silence for the last visit, went back into life comforted, trusting, having received in their affliction assurance of the virtuousness of the Spirit, of rebirth. On the 3rd day the body was brought into the great workshop, to lie in state finally in the lecture hall, at the place from which he had for decades proclaimed the knowledge of the spirit. At the request of Frau Marie Steiner, Fredrich Rittelmeyer conducted the funeral service which was the gift of Rudolf Steiner to the Christian Community.
The next morning the coffin was carried away for cremation. When it was passing by the newly erected structure of the new Goetheanum, the workers at the building stood still on the scaffolding & greeted the master builder & friend. At the cremation ritual, Albert Steffen united us with our beloved teacher in a picture of his being which only the artist could draw in such shining perfection. He spoke of “the friend of God and leader of humanity”. And what has come into being in us earthly persons through the leadership & schooling of Rudolf Steiner as a certitude, what we are called upon to do in his spirit, he summarized in the following words:
“He has again showed the world to us in such a way that we know it has come forth out of god. He has died in such a way that we feel: Christ lives in this death. May his immortal Spirit be resurrected in our deeds. We will, as well as we can, make them holy.”
“His last thoughts were of the work to which he had in love dedicated himself” ~Rudolf Steiner, from the last act of the 4th Mystery Drama.
“To create centres of peace & love in which the Christ can resurrect.” ~written on the urn that holds the ashes of Rudolf Steiner
What a blessing to receive the teachings of this great initiate. May we continue our connection with him in the spiritual worlds & ever enliven our Michaelic work with The Christ & the Being of Anthroposophia.
The ‘Great Physician’ is felt in the presence of the Healing Spirit – Rising from the caduceus of The Archangel Raphael – Pulsing out into the world every Spring. If we allow this active imagination to arise in our thinking it can lead directly to a way of life that engenders a Living Ritual – embracing this Holy Spirit, which must be cherished & preserved on Earth – thru our human being. These health giving powers redeem great evil. The hardening or the dissolving of our breathing – the forces which make for illness – can be a catalyst for catharsis & change, when we meet them in Christ consciousness.
~hag – Inspired from Rudolf Steiner’s The Breathing Process of the Earth
Venus and the Moon – Bella Luna floats near the planet Venus amid the blue-black of the night sky scattered with clouds in this stunning shot from Champaign, Illinois by Jeff Bryant
The Feast of the Annunciation, also known as the Feast of the Incarnation (Festum Incarnationis), Conceptio Christi (Christ’s Conception) -This beloved Marian Festival commemorates the day that the Archangel Gabriel announced that the Luke Mary, the Christian form of The Virgin Sophia, was pregnant with the Son of God – born 9 months later, on the 25th of Dec. How’s that for a nice little spring fertility symbol. This Feast of The Conception is also known by the more ancient name, Lady Day.
The archangel Gabriel’s salutation: “Hail, Mary full of grace, the LORD is with thee” (Luke 1:28; gratia plena Dominus tecum), & Mary’s response to God’s will, “be it done to me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum). The “angelic salutation” is the origin of the Hail Mary prayer & the Angelus; the second part of the prayer comes from the salutation of Saint Elizabeth to Mary at the Visitation.
1655 – Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.
1801 – Deathday of Novalis. From Rudolf Steiner: “…Novalis could glance back to a time in which gods moved among men, when everything took place spiritually because spirits and souls had not yet descended into earthly bodies. He perceived a point of transition: how death hit the world and how the human beings during this time placed death as their earthly shadowing and how he tried to brighten it up through fantasy and art. But death remained a riddle.
Then something of universal significance happened. Novalis could perceive the universal meaning of what had happened at that time on earth. Souls from the kingdoms of nature descended to the earth. Forgotten were the memories of their spiritual original existence, yet a unique spiritual Being remained in this universal womb of creation from which everything descended. One Being provisionally held back; it had held itself above and only provisionally sent its gift of grace downward, and then, when human beings needed it the most, it also descend into the earthly sphere. It remained in the spiritual spheres above the being of the spiritual light, this Being was hidden behind the physical sun. It held itself in heavenly spheres and descended when human beings needed to once again be able to rise up to spiritual worlds. It descended with the Mystery of Golgotha when Christ appeared in a physical body.
Humanity understands Christ in His universal unfolding when the life of Jesus of Nazareth is followed back to His spiritual origins, to the unsolvable riddle of death. The Greek spirit of death appears as a pondering muse, as an enigma which cannot be solved. Even the Greeks sensed that the riddle which is hidden in the youth’s soul, found its solution with the Event of Golgotha, that here victory overcomes death and as a result a new impulse is given to humanity.
This Novalis could see and as a result there appeared to him, from the mystery of faith and the mystery wisdom, the Star which the old Magi had followed. As a result he understood the actual essence of what the Christ death implied. In the night of the soul the riddle of death revealed itself to him, the riddle of the Christ. This was it, which this extraordinary individual wanted to learn — through the memory of earlier lives — what the Christ, what the event of Golgotha signified for the world.” ~ Novalis and his “Hymns to the Night” Lecture by Rudolf Steiner in Berlin, “Matinee” 26 October 1908
1867 – Birthday of Arturo Toscanini, Italian-American cellist & conductor
1918 – Deathday of Claude Debussy, French composer
Kathy Copeland Padden
1957 – United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” on obscenity grounds.
1965 – Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama
~talk is cheap… uncover your face… thru your own light come remembering that the god you seek is within – the truth you chase lives behind your eyebrows look again… Give from your body birth to all time & its seasons… hum a song that lives in the quiet cypher of rain sing for the gods hidden in tears & laugh to find peace… ~hag
Tune in to our Zoom broadcasts, brief presentations of aspects of this course, with lots of time for Q&A. Intended to total 20 minutes in length. These are given on different days so you might find one that would work best for you. Each of these brief sessions will be different!
March 14, Monday, 6 PM Mtn.
March 28, Monday, 9 AM Mtn. (morning)
Star Wisdom comes alive through active embodiment within each participant, made possible by working together in the instrument of the StarHouse—or within your sacred imagination in your own home. This immersion facilitates each participant forming conscious relationships with zodiacal and planetary beings.
Join us for an exploration, based on spiritual science and star wisdom, into the following themes:
This course, to train practitioners in Star Wisdom will take place in the StarHouse June 2022. It is designed to train beginners who are willing to ride a steep learning-curve, and long-time astrologers.
Our teaching weaves experiential activities (embodiment) and conceptual learning so you learn it more thoroughly.
On-line too: The course will also be on-line (live-streamed, interactive). A manager on our end will coordinate actively with those attending via Zoom, including relaying questions to the presenters for comment. (We plan that the event will be filmed and edited, and parts of it made available as a course through our website.)
Our approach to astrology is informed and inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s indications found sprinkled throughout his six thousand lectures, as it has been developed by a small group of astrosophers over several decades. This deeper understanding of, and interaction with, the heavens is based on:
A sidereal (star-based) view of the heavens, emphasizing the active and dynamic role of the beings working from stars and constellations
Equal length zodiacal signs (relating to the lineage of Zarathustra), equal houses, and recognizing the Earth’s role and significance to the birth chart
Anthroposophy (thus called astrosophy, with its particular guidance for understanding the beings indwelling the zodiacal and planets)
Identifying and working with spiritual themes in our lives in a way made practical by the research of Robert Powell, and the indications of cosmic Christianity, as understood through Anthroposophy.
And other features that we will teach.
Some topics that we will cover:
New and traditional methods for interpreting a birth chart
Zodiacal constellations in the birth chart
Understanding the meaning in the patterns of the moving planets
Planetary aspects in the birth chart
The important role of the twelve equal houses, in the birth chart
How transiting planets interplay in the time-stream of life, presenting challenges and opportunities
Determining the time of conception and its own chart
The care necessary to regard the information of a person’s sacred birth moment with reverence and understanding
The importance of understanding reincarnation and karma for human development
The journey between death and rebirth, and why that is important for human destiny
Human Life phases: the 7-year periods of our life biography and the relation of those periods to the planetary spheres
The role of self-development for a practitioner of New Astrology
Commitment: This intensive requires participation in five-plus full days.
Dates: Begin Thursday evening, June 23, 2022, 7 PM, through midday Tuesday June 28. On June 24-27, we will go from 9 AM to 5 PM. Evenings are for homework, integration, and optional study groups. Lunches will be provided, including the last day, Tuesday.
Limits: Enrollment will be limited to 24 in-person participants and others will participate on-line. In-person will go through an application process. More important than years practicing astrology is your motivation to learn. Our present on-line courses (New Astrology, series 1 and series 2) will be made available to all registered participants and can provide a strong foundation to a motivated person with little experience. After application for In-person participants, one of our team will arrange a phone call to interview you.
Scholarship program: We plan to have a scholarship program to which those of means can contribute. Please consider contributing to this fund to support others taking this course.
Costs: Cost of on-site/in-person for the whole course $1100. On-line (live-streaming) $800. A deposit will hold your place.
Meals and Snacks: Lunches provided every day including Tuesday (just after the end of the course). Dietary restrictions are queried on the application. Snacks and tea are provided mid-morning and mid-afternoon every day.
Lodging: You will need to find your own lodging and transport. Some lodging is available in nearby residences, and the Retreat Cabin near the StarHouse. These can fill up quickly, so please make your request soon. Other lodgings nearby are the Boulder Adventure Lodge (a-lodge.com), which fills up in summertime quickly. More information will be sent after registration.
The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC Mysteries of the Holy Grail – from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation April 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
“The pupils of the Grail were told of a state which humans would attain in future. Possessed of clear, alert consciousness, their being would be purified, the substance of the human body would become as pure and chaste as that of the plant, and their organs of reproduction transformed.”~ from Chapter 12 Rudolf Steiner, The Mysteries of the Holy Grail, Chapter 12“The Higher Calyx” and Chapter 13“The Resonant Chalice,” excerpts from Steiner’s lectures given at Nuremberg on 2 December 1907 (GA 92) and Stuttgart 16 September 1907 (GA 101) … will be the focus of the April 6 meeting.
Chapters 12 and 13 in the book can be found online at the CRC’s website by clicking this link A transcript of the 2 December 1907 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link A transcript of the 16 September, 1907 lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link * Please considergiving to the development and maintenance of the digital library of Rudolf Steiner’s work. Scroll to the bottom of this message to read more about the RSArchive.org and SteinerLibrary.org
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among two 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 will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference:
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106 One tap mobile +13017158592,,81116556762# US (Germantown) +13126266799,,81116556762# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
7:15 Welcome and Introductions 7:18 Verse 7:25 Study led by volunteers Note: CRC team will ID volunteers Michael – Chapter 12 Tom – Chapter 13 7:50 Conversation 8:25 ID volunteers for next meeting 8:28 Close with verse
The Anthroposophical Society in America presents: Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human in Santa Fe, New Mexico ~ April 21-24, 2022 Hotel Santa Fe Hacienda and Spa
Join us in New Mexico, the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia. Join together in community as Sophia emerges and rises in her many facets and expressions- past, present, and future.
Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other.
VENUE & TRAVEL
Our gathering will take place at the lovely Native American-owned Hotel Santa Fe. We recommend you book your stay with the hotel to create a connected communal atmosphere for our gathering. The hotel has a full restaurant, pool, hot tub, and spa, as well as kivas and cozy sitting areas. Please call or email to make reservations with our special room rate for suites at $179/night. Each suite includes a refrigerator, microwave and sitting area. So much of what Santa Fe has to offer is within walking distance from the hotel.
**Ask for ASA Gathering to book with our special rate of $179/night for a suite. **
Registrants will receive suggested activities from our local organizers to explore in Santa Fe before or after our gathering. Extending your stay? The special ASA hotel rate is available for 3 days prior to and 3 days after the ASA gathering.
HOTEL and VENUE ADDRESS: 1501 Paseo de Peralta Santa Fe, NM 87501 Phone: (877) 259-3409
TICKETS The ticket price includes access to all conference activities, snacks, coffee/tea and beverages, dessert reception Thursday, dinner Friday, lunch Saturday and brunch on Sunday.
Early Bird Only with Room Booking – After 2/26 more tickets will be released!
SCHEDULE (subject to minor changes)
THURSDAY, April 21
7 pm Gathering Together – with a dessert reception
7:30- 8:30 pm ArtActs: Past – Present – Future Eurythmy, and Singing,
FRIDAY, April 22
Explore Santa Fe on your own and continued arrivals
1:00 – 2:30 pm Welcome: Spirit of Placewith organizers
WEAVING EARTH Opening Ceremony with Angela Foster and friends
2:30pm-3:00pm Break
3:00-4:30 pm Encountering the Celestial Goddess Anthroposophia with Mary Stewart Adams
HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
4:30-4:45 pm Break
4:45- 6:00 pm WEAVING AIR ArtActs Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech
6:00-7:30 pm Dinner Together*
7:30 pm Fireside Chats – Story and Sharing – Breakout circles led by friends and organizers 8:30 pm
Stargazing with Mary Stewart Adams
SATURDAY, April 23
Breakfast – On your own
8:30 – 9:30 am WEAVING ETHER Eurythmy
9:30 – 10:00 am Break
10:00 -11:15 am The Virgin of Guadalupe: Sophia Rising in the Americaswith Stephanie Georgieff – The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the first recorded apparitions in the Americas. Revealing herself to a Nahuatl Native and ultimately to the Bishop of New Spain and his entourage in December of 1531, this image has continued to inspire countless souls for nearly 500 years. The symbolism and timing of her appearance presents deep mysteries for our age, and points to the ultimate Sophianic impulse for the present and future of Humanity.
11:30 – 12:30 pm WEAVING STORIES Biography Work
12:30 – 2:00 pm Lunch Together*
2:00 – 4:00 pm ‘ANTHROPOSOPHIA: OUR ALCHEMICAL WEDDING’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends. At the heart of this convergence isa Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know Thyself’’ – A Temple Experience in the New Mysteries, built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions, preparing us to enter a deeply intensive initiatory experience – a ‘Movable Feast’ with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, Steiner verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth. Passing through Trials of the Soul we meet powerful Spiritual Beings on the way to our sacred marriage – a union of Warmth and Light, so that we can unveil the ‘Sophia Rising’ within ourselves, and the world.
4:00 – 4:30 pm Break
4:30 – 5:30 pm WEAVING COLOR Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic within the Earthly Pastels with Helen-Ann Ireland
8:00-9:30 pm WEAVING COMMUNITYSophia Rising- Past, Present, and FutureMC’d by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer. Sign up to bring something to share! Poetry, Instruments, Story
SUNDAY, April 24
8:00 – 9:00 am WEAVING LIGHT Bathe in the Natural Warmth and Harmony of the Metal Gold with Helena Hurrell – A metal color light therapy experience inspired by the glass windows at the Goetheanum
9:00-10:30 am WEAVING FIRE with Carrie Schuchardt HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
10:30 – 12:00pm Brunch Together*
12:00-1:00 pm WEAVING WATERWater Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends WEAVING WHOLENESSClosing with Angela Foster and Friends
Notes: *Meals marked with an asterisk are included in the price of the ticket – Coffee, tea, and snacks will also be provided through the conference
A quiet ‘Sanctuary Room’ will be provided for contemplation
PRESENTERS AND GUIDES (Not a full list-more to come!)
Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian, and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast “The Storyteller’s Night Sky”. Through her research in spiritual science and her education in literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars. Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas of contemporary astronomy in order to understand the new star wisdom of astrosophy.
Eyahnna DalBo (artist of the Sophia Rising painting) came to anthroposophy 30 years ago when her daughter attended a Waldorf school. Her studies have included an undergraduate degree in fine art and graduate work in psychology using the arts for healing. In her private practice, she developed various energetic modalities. Her experience with subtle energy fields gave her the opportunity to teach and take part in designing a curriculum for a 2-year program focusing on energy healing. As a consultant, she initiated numerous therapeutic programs to assist in pioneering the field of art therapy. Through the gift of an apprenticeship with indigenous people she was able to bring their practices and ceremonies to what she offered deepening her ability to be of service. As an artist, she continues to utilize the spoken word, movement, sound, and visual imagery to honor and create a field that fosters awareness, growth, and transformation.
Angela Foster has been an active student of anthroposophy since 2008. After growing up in Texas, Angela is now embracing life in Atlanta, Georgia as an artist, teacher, and mom of two daughters, shepherd to two mini sheep. As a conscious practitioner of “beginner’s mind”, Angela has completed programs in foundation studies in Anthroposophy numerous times and is currently enrolled in Foundation Studies in Goethean Science through the Nature Institute. She and her husband manage the Anthroposophical Resource Center (ARC) an initiative in Decatur, Georgia that offers space for community events and serves as a little house for Anthroposophia.
Stephanie Georgieff, MS is an author, podcaster and pilgrim. Residing mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, she has written several books on The Divine Feminine as presented through the genre of The Black Madonna, The Virgin of Guadalupe and The Divine Sophia. She has spoken at conferences and venues throughout North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. The Black Madonna Speaks is her latest endeavor, a weekly podcast exploring the mysteries of The Black Madonna from an Anthroposophical and Esoteric Chritian perspective, along with artists, poets, authors and scholars on the subject.
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 Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings.
Helena Hurrell joyfully met Anthroposophy in San Fransisco in 1977 and has been working with individuals and groups as a Waldorf educator since 1981 and then throughout her life trained to become a therapist while living in Australia, the UK and North America. She is currently in private practice in Colorado blending the therapeutic work she offers through her love of color ~ as an Art and Metal Color Light Glass Therapist trained in the UK and Germany. Both of these trainings are certified by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. Metal Color Light Therapy is a relatively new initiative originated by the late Marianne Altmaier who developed this therapy and training out of her deep interest in and knowledge of the Goetheanum windows in Dornach. Helena’s website: www.helioscenter.org
Helen-Ann Ireland has been involved in anthroposophical studies for over 30 years as a Waldorf teacher, member of the School for Spiritual Science, Class holder, and now as chair of the Anthroposophical Society of America. A special interest has been in the area of the Divine Feminine and the Being of Sophia.
Michele Mariscal has 30 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She is a skilled facilitator in soft skills, speaker, coach and author. She is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist as well as a Trainer and Coach with the Institute of HeartMath. She facilitates greater heart-based living for individuals and organizations Michele is also a five-time author with her most recent publication of Growing Through Grief – The Alchemy of Healing from Loss.
Joyce Reilly Joyce studied psychology in college and was fascinated by the idea of a therapeutic community. She has worked in Camphill for many years, and is trained as a Waldorf and Therapeutic teacher. She founded Gheel House, a therapeutic community near Kimberton Pennsylvania, still thriving after 37 years. Joyce’s interests expanded to international conflict work and refugee resettlement. She works with organizations such as the Janusz Korczak Association, Karuna Peacebuilders, Kiwimbi International, Good Grief, the Worldwide Storytelling and Puppetry Association, and especially with the New York Anthroposophical Branch, and also works part-time at the local public library. Joyce is also trained in Psychosynthesis therapy and Anthroposophical psychology – currently practicing as a life coach and counselor.
Carrie Schuchardt co-founded The House of Peace in 1990, a home that is a physical and spiritual refuge for victims of war in a community with adults with special needs. In the last 15 years over 400 refugees from approximately 30 countries have been received in the healing embrace of The House of Peace, giving supportive assistance in establishing themselves in the US. In addition to the daily work of The House Peace, Carrie participates in many activities for the conversion of consciousness and policies from war to peace. Carrie has begun a network of women who witness publicly, Women Weeping, where women dress in mourning carrying symbolic lifeless children in order to help people feel what is rarely expressed in the media: the grief of hundreds of thousands of mothers in war zones around the world who lose their children to the terrible violence of war.
Maria Ver Eecke is presently the therapeutic eurythmist for the School of Eurythmy, Spring Valley, NY. She taught eurythmy for forty years in Waldorf schools, a charter school, and a home-school program. Maria met anthroposophy in Maseru, Lesotho, when she was a class teacher in an English-medium preparatory school. Currently she is the editor of the newsletters for the Eurythmy Association of North America and the Association of Therapeutic Eurythmy in North America.
~Can you hear the name of light? In every finite body lusters the star Of immortality. All things call out for adoration & respect. In each child an old man lies dying, And in old men fresh children are singing. The sky is unbound. And the quiet that settles on our skin before dawn Keeps company with those whose dreams are troubled. ~hag
4 March 2022 “Speaking with the Stars”: With only a sliver of a crescent Moon in the sky this evening, it’s the perfect time to go comet hunting. 19P/Borrelly is currently in the constellation Aries. You’ll find it slowly sinking in the west after sunset, while the comet’s short, stubby tail stretches south. Borrelly will be visible all month, although its magnitude is fading and a bright Moon will wash it away for two weeks in mid-March. You can come back to get some of your last good views later in the month. ~astronomy.com
Meditation given to Ita Wegman from Rudolf Steiner
1943 – Death day of Dr. Ita Wegmanco-founder of Anthroposophical Medicine with Rudolf Steiner. In 1921, she founded the first anthroposophical medical clinic in Arlesheim, Switzerland.
Ita Wegman, was born in Karawang, West Java, the first child of a Dutch colonial family. Around the turn of the century, she went to Europe & studied therapeutic gymnastics & massage. In 1902, when she was 26, she met Rudolf Steiner, who encouraged her to become a medical doctor. She began at the University of Zurich, where women were allowed to study medicine.
She developed a special form of massage therapy, called rhythmical massage, & other therapeutic treatments. In 1917, having opened an independent practice, she developed a cancer treatment using an extract of mistletoe following indications from Steiner. This first remedy, which she called Iscar, was later developed into Iscador & has become an important cancer treatment
By 1919 she had a joint practice together with two other doctors, also women. In 1920 she purchased land in Arlesheim, where she opened her own clinic, the Klinisch-Therapeutisches Institut, or Clinical-Therapeutic Institute, the next year. A number of other doctors joined the institute, which grew steadily over the next years as a first center for anthroposophical medicine. In 1922 she founded a therapeutic home for mentally handicapped children, Haus Sonnenhof, also in Arlesheim, & co-founded a pharmaceutical laboratory, Weleda, that has since grown into a significant producer of medicines & health-care products.
In the following year, Rudolf Steiner asked Wegman to join the Executive Council of the newly reformed Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. Steiner also named her as the head of the First Class of the School of Spiritual Science. She also directed the Medical Section of the research center at the Goetheanum.
Together, Wegman & Steiner wrote what was to be Steiner’s last book, Extending Practical Medicine (earlier editions were published as Fundamentals of Therapy), which gave a theoretical basis to the new medicine they were developing. The book was partly written while Wegman cared for Steiner, who was already terminally ill. Wegman founded a new medical journal, Natura, the following year.
In 1936, the clinic opened a second home in Ascona, Switzerland. Shortly thereafter, difficulties between Wegman & the rest of the Executive Council flared up,& Wegman was asked to leave the Council; in addition, she& a number of supporters had their membership in the Anthroposophical Society itself withdrawn.
Her medical work & personal inner development flourished, however, & Wegman travelled extensively in support of the rapidly growing movement to extend medicine’s limits; she was especially active in the Netherlands & England during this time.
Dr. Ita Wegman died in Arlesheim in 1943, at the age of 67.
Memory Pictures of Ita Wegman on her Death Day by Norbet Glas, the founder of the Lucas Clinic next to the Wegman Clinic in Arlesheim: ‘The request to write about Dr. Wegman has moved me deeply and given me such cause for thought. I have come to the conclusion that there must be very few people whose personality is so difficult to describe as hers. For example, to write a personal account of Dr. Wegman, one must have the gift to create a real and vivid life picture in any description of her. For such she always was : full of a natural, unquenchable source of life – a complete human being, with all the truly human qualities. And such people are admired by many, loved by many, but also misunderstood and even hated by many. Who, then, is right?Like an answer to this question a memory-picture arises of Dr. Wegman in a room with Rudolf Steiner. Her figure was erect; she was wearing a brightly colored dress. With shining eyes she watched a little group of doctor-friends who had gathered together there. I observe Rudolf Steiner keenly. Never had I seen him like this. He looked at her with an infinitely loving expression. He seemed to me like a father who, with admiration and respect was watching his grown up daughter, and at the same time was very proud of her.With this picture in mind, one knows for certain, that as long as confidence in Rudolf Steiner remains, one must think of Dr. Wegman too, with admiration and thankfulness.
Simpler pictures ruse up in my memory: the breakfast table in the early days of the Arlesheim Clinic. There of us often sat there together. She was generally first, and waited for us. She did not like one to come late, though I hardly ever heard a direct remark about it. She often read the morning newspaper with the greatest interests, and I know that this rather surprised me. It had been my opinion that Anthroposophists concerned themselves very little with newspapers! But it was characteristic of her, that she had the greatest interest in everything that was happening in the world. It seemed to her just as important to read the Basler Nachrichten as to hear the reports about the patients from us or from the nurses. At times, indeed, something like indignation came over me that she seemed to be more interested in an article in the newspaper than in the report of the night nurse. She did not pay attention to the report, but read and read, and only when she had finished, asked the nurse to repeat it.
Her absolute unwearied activity in those days could only be marveled at. She organized the new Clinic, and saw the patients who were living in; she visited those outside; she held regular consultations in Basle at that time, in the afternoons. She concerned herself with the production of medicines and evolved plans for making them widely known. Her head was full of ideas for the Curative Education Institutes just being established. She sought for connections with many people, and developed these. And with the ingenuousness of someone who is herself unassuming, and asks for nothing for herself personally, she often convinced people how they could put their money to the right use, as she indeed hoped it was. No one can be surprised that many such undertakings went wrong. But she never grew weary of beginning again to discover fresh ways.
In the evenings she often went to Rudolf Steiner, told him of her experiences, asked his advice and listened to what he wished of her. She was late in coming back and we waited for her. Often she told us then what she wished and what Rudolf Steiner had advised. Her great sense of humour was one of her delightful qualities and hardly anyone in the Clinic could laugh as heartily as she. And as a keen observer, she found very many opportunities for laughter. I can still almost hear her hearty laughter when she once heard me trying awkwardly to say something in Swiss-German dialect to a patient from the village. If she had a plan in her mind, she tried every way to bring her thoughts to realization. She wanted to try it with everybody, expecting from each the capabilities that were necessary. She was eager to carry it through, and she had confidence in people. If they did not go with her, she soon let the matter drop, without being annoyed with them for long. The proposal was suddenly made to me once (I was then quite young) to become the director of a business. I felt neither the inclination nor had I the slightest ability to fill such a post. (At that time I had only contempt for everything in the business world.) she described to me in glowing colors how well I could do it. I did not wish to undertake it and she realized this at once. I spent a sleepless night. What should I do? The next morning I saw Dr. Wegman again. She was friendly and interested, as always – but nothing more was said about the ‘directorship’ – never a word more.
And here let another quality of hers be called to mind which I have hardly ever seen so wonderfully developed in anyone else: if people did not do what she asked, or behaved unfairly towards her, she never held it against them for long. She could be overpoweringly angry, so angry that one could only be astonished at it, but in a short time it was all over, and she was always ready to hold out the hand of reconciliation. She was so untiringly active that she never gave herself time really to feel seriously hurt. She was filled with a glowing will-power which communicated itself to others. Her one great wish was that the scientific world should recognize the significance of Anthroposophy. She thought that by far the best way would be to let the scientists make direct contact with Rudolf Steiner. In the last years of Rudolf Steiner’s life he came to Vienna. In the morning, Dr. Wegman talked over with us the possibility of arranging a meeting with the greatest scientists of Vienna. That was her plan. And we were so delighted, and so fired with her impulse that we let everything else stand aside, and did nothing but go in search of people who seemed to us important. We invited them, and tried to convince them that they would be missing a rare opportunity if they did not come to our meeting that evening. We succeeded, and Rudolf Steiner came together in the evening with the most eminent doctors and scientists of Vienna; he gave an address, followed by a discussion until late into the night which none of those present will ever have forgotten. She was so untiring in her efforts to carry Rudolf Steiner’s teaching far out into the world, because she felt the menacing approach of world catastrophes. Rudolf Steiner himself had given enough warning of it, and consciousness of the threatening evils would not let her rest.
Women as active as she often begin to display a certain hardness, and pride themselves on their virility. This was never so with Dr. Wegman; one was always aware of great womanhood. She never tried to imitate men, either, in her broad minded thinking. In fact, she lived entirely in certain plans for the future, as to how a great medical and pedagogical movement, on the basis of Rudolf Steiner’s ideas, might be brought to realization. In the realizing of these ideas, she would allow nothing to disturb her. And the many ‘clever’ men, who so often wanted to show her, by rigid logic, how impossible everything would be or what mistakes she had made – all these she really disliked, and was bored by them. People were offended by this trait in her, for they did not understand it. She would not allow her ardour to be quenched or her untiring zeal to make good use of the time as long as it was still possible to do something. If she had spoken her mind, however, to the person concerned, and he had been very vexed, she was truly sorry. But she would bear with no narrowness, and therefore could not endure certain qualities, such as egoism, vanity, and – most of all – stupidity. If she had been very angry and had spoken in a temperamental way, she would suddenly stop, begin to laugh, and say: ‘But really, it is so stupid!’ And usually it was very stupid. She simply hated that kind of logic by which the spirit is restricted.
She had in her something of a power with which she could make the impossible possible. This is needed in true medical work and she had this will to heal as no one else. This fire in her nature stimulated the doctors who were round her, and for that we shall be eternally thankful to her. She was ready to help at any moment. If she was not immediately ready with the advice she wanted to give, she went to Rudolf Steiner, asked him and at once brought the answer. In Vienna I often received word from her within twenty four hours from Basle as to what to do in this or that case. Like all magnanimous people, she was full of praise and appreciation for good work. I remember how she came once to one of the Homes which indeed had been founded at her suggestion, but had not yet been seen in full working order. In the morning – having arrived the night before – she looked all round, and said, with warm admiration: ‘I could not have believed that Rudolf Steiner would be so alive here!’ And she praised everything. We even felt that it was more than we deserved. But it was such a joy for her when something succeeded, that she found no limits to her praise. Those who accompanied her were not always too pleased about this! But if she noticed it – and she generally did notice – then she made a point of expressing her appreciation all the more!
The last time I was able to see her – shortly before the outbreak of war – she seemed to have greatly changed. One felt a great power of peace flowing from her. But it was no longer the earthly, warrior-nature which used formerly to show itself: now it was deep pain and wisdom. She wanted to help everyone for whom there was something she could do. More people from Germany and Austria asked help from her than she could undertake. How moved she was when one day I brought to her a doctor from Vienna who had fled and waded through a stream in the night, so as to be able to cross the border at an unguarded spot! He possessed nothing but his soaked clothes, and he was quite destitute. She had never seen the man before. All her warm heartedness broke through at such a moment and she did everything that was possible at that time. Long afterwards this doctor wrote with admiration of our ‘Colleague’ at Arlesheim.
If these few pictures from her life help to indicated something of the character of Dr. Wegman, the aim and intention of the writer is achieved. Their purpose has been to bring to remembrance those great human qualities which made her want to lead us towards lofty goals.’ ~Norbet Glas, Gloucester, England
1868 – Birthday of Harry Collison, the 1st General Secretary of the British Anthroposophical Society. In his early days Collison was a Freemason & Theosophist, he founded a group called the ‘Myrdhin’ Group, which was then renamed the ‘Zarathustra’ Group, at the suggestion of Rudolf Steiner.
Collison translated many of Steiner’s works into English, & was involved with the arrangements for many summer conferences held at Oxford, feathering ‘eurhythmy’ in the hall of Keble College.I n 1914 Collison arranged for several performers from Dornach to visit the UK & demonstrate the art to the study groups. The performers were Lori Maier-Smits, her younger sister Ada, Elisabeth Dollfus & Flossy von Sonklar. His exposure to eurhythmy had begun the previous year, when he had participated in the premier of f Steiner’s mystery play, The Soul’s Awakening, put on in Munich. Collison was one of the gnomes.
Even with his heavy involvement with Anthroposophy from 1910, Collison did not give up his artistic interest; in fact he described his subsequent career as “fairly successful”
Due to its continued loud support for Wegman & Vreede, the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain was expelled from the General Anthroposophical Society in 1935. The British Society finally rejoined the General Anthroposophical Society in 1963.
He was variously described by those who knew him as charming, humorous, whimsical & genial, a delightful companion with whom to take a walk in the country or a tour of an art gallery, a provider of wise advice & counsel. He could also be excitable in conversation, authoritarian in his approach to dealing with issues & curt in manner if he lost patience. As Marie Steiner von Sivers, wrote, he enjoyed a rich life.
Star Wisdom comes alive through active embodiment within each participant, made possible by working together in the instrument of the StarHouse—or within your sacred imagination in your own home. This immersion facilitates each participant forming conscious relationships with zodiacal and planetary beings.
Join us for an exploration, based on spiritual science and star wisdom, into the following themes:
This course, to train practitioners in Star Wisdom will take place in the StarHouse June 2022. It is designed to train beginners who are willing to ride a steep learning-curve, and long-time astrologers.
Our teaching weaves experiential activities (embodiment) and conceptual learning so you learn it more thoroughly.
On-line too: The course will also be on-line (live-streamed, interactive). A manager on our end will coordinate actively with those attending via Zoom, including relaying questions to the presenters for comment. (We plan that the event will be filmed and edited, and parts of it made available as a course through our website.)
Our approach to astrology is informed and inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s indications found sprinkled throughout his six thousand lectures, as it has been developed by a small group of astrosophers over several decades. This deeper understanding of, and interaction with, the heavens is based on:
A sidereal (star-based) view of the heavens, emphasizing the active and dynamic role of the beings working from stars and constellations
Equal length zodiacal signs (relating to the lineage of Zarathustra), equal houses, and recognizing the Earth’s role and significance to the birth chart
Anthroposophy (thus called astrosophy, with its particular guidance for understanding the beings indwelling the zodiacal and planets)
Identifying and working with spiritual themes in our lives in a way made practical by the research of Robert Powell, and the indications of cosmic Christianity, as understood through Anthroposophy.
And other features that we will teach.
Some topics that we will cover:
New and traditional methods for interpreting a birth chart
Zodiacal constellations in the birth chart
Understanding the meaning in the patterns of the moving planets
Planetary aspects in the birth chart
The important role of the twelve equal houses, in the birth chart
How transiting planets interplay in the time-stream of life, presenting challenges and opportunities
Determining the time of conception and its own chart
The care necessary to regard the information of a person’s sacred birth moment with reverence and understanding
The importance of understanding reincarnation and karma for human development
The journey between death and rebirth, and why that is important for human destiny
Human Life phases: the 7-year periods of our life biography and the relation of those periods to the planetary spheres
The role of self-development for a practitioner of New Astrology
Commitment: This intensive requires participation in five-plus full days.
Dates: Begin Thursday evening, June 23, 2022, 7 PM, through midday Tuesday June 28. On June 24-27, we will go from 9 AM to 5 PM. Evenings are for homework, integration, and optional study groups. Lunches will be provided, including the last day, Tuesday.
Limits: Enrollment will be limited to 24 in-person participants and others will participate on-line. In-person will go through an application process. More important than years practicing astrology is your motivation to learn. Our present on-line courses (New Astrology, series 1 and series 2) will be made available to all registered participants and can provide a strong foundation to a motivated person with little experience. After application for In-person participants, one of our team will arrange a phone call to interview you.
Scholarship program: We plan to have a scholarship program to which those of means can contribute. Please consider contributing to this fund to support others taking this course.
Costs: Cost of on-site/in-person for the whole course $1100. On-line (live-streaming) $800. A deposit will hold your place.
Meals and Snacks: Lunches provided every day including Tuesday (just after the end of the course). Dietary restrictions are queried on the application. Snacks and tea are provided mid-morning and mid-afternoon every day.
Lodging: You will need to find your own lodging and transport. Some lodging is available in nearby residences, and the Retreat Cabin near the StarHouse. These can fill up quickly, so please make your request soon. Other lodgings nearby are the Boulder Adventure Lodge (a-lodge.com), which fills up in summertime quickly. More information will be sent after registration.
Questions about the course
Tune in to our Zoom broadcasts, brief presentations of aspects of this course, with lots of time for Q&A. Intended to total 20 minutes in length. These are given on different days so you might find one that would work best for you. Each of these brief sessions will be different!
The Anthroposophical Society in America presents: Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human in Santa Fe, New Mexico ~ April 21-24, 2022 Hotel Santa Fe Hacienda and Spa
Join us in New Mexico, the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia. Join together in community as Sophia emerges and rises in her many facets and expressions- past, present, and future.
Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other.
VENUE & TRAVEL
Our gathering will take place at the lovely Native American-owned Hotel Santa Fe. We recommend you book your stay with the hotel to create a connected communal atmosphere for our gathering. The hotel has a full restaurant, pool, hot tub, and spa, as well as kivas and cozy sitting areas. Please call or email to make reservations with our special room rate for suites at $179/night. Each suite includes a refrigerator, microwave and sitting area. So much of what Santa Fe has to offer is within walking distance from the hotel.
**Ask for ASA Gathering to book with our special rate of $179/night for a suite. **
Registrants will receive suggested activities from our local organizers to explore in Santa Fe before or after our gathering. Extending your stay? The special ASA hotel rate is available for 3 days prior to and 3 days after the ASA gathering.
HOTEL and VENUE ADDRESS: 1501 Paseo de Peralta Santa Fe, NM 87501 Phone: (877) 259-3409
TICKETS The ticket price includes access to all conference activities, snacks, coffee/tea and beverages, dessert reception Thursday, dinner Friday, lunch Saturday and brunch on Sunday.
Early Bird Only with Room Booking – After 2/26 more tickets will be released!
SCHEDULE (subject to minor changes)
THURSDAY, April 21
7 pm Gathering Together – with a dessert reception
7:30- 8:30 pm ArtActs: Past – Present – Future Eurythmy, and Singing,
FRIDAY, April 22
Explore Santa Fe on your own and continued arrivals
1:00 – 2:30 pm Welcome: Spirit of Placewith organizers
WEAVING EARTH Opening Ceremony with Angela Foster and friends
2:30pm-3:00pm Break
3:00-4:30 pm Encountering the Celestial Goddess Anthroposophia with Mary Stewart Adams
HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
4:30-4:45 pm Break
4:45- 6:00 pm WEAVING AIR ArtActs Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech
6:00-7:30 pm Dinner Together*
7:30 pm Fireside Chats – Story and Sharing – Breakout circles led by friends and organizers 8:30 pm
Stargazing with Mary Stewart Adams
SATURDAY, April 23
Breakfast – On your own
8:30 – 9:30 am WEAVING ETHER Eurythmy
9:30 – 10:00 am Break
10:00 -11:15 am The Virgin of Guadalupe: Sophia Rising in the Americaswith Stephanie Georgieff – The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the first recorded apparitions in the Americas. Revealing herself to a Nahuatl Native and ultimately to the Bishop of New Spain and his entourage in December of 1531, this image has continued to inspire countless souls for nearly 500 years. The symbolism and timing of her appearance presents deep mysteries for our age, and points to the ultimate Sophianic impulse for the present and future of Humanity.
11:30 – 12:30 pm WEAVING STORIES Biography Work
12:30 – 2:00 pm Lunch Together*
2:00 – 4:00 pm ‘ANTHROPOSOPHIA: OUR ALCHEMICAL WEDDING’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends. At the heart of this convergence isa Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know Thyself’’ – A Temple Experience in the New Mysteries, built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions, preparing us to enter a deeply intensive initiatory experience – a ‘Movable Feast’ with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, Steiner verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth. Passing through Trials of the Soul we meet powerful Spiritual Beings on the way to our sacred marriage – a union of Warmth and Light, so that we can unveil the ‘Sophia Rising’ within ourselves, and the world.
4:00 – 4:30 pm Break
4:30 – 5:30 pm WEAVING COLOR Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic within the Earthly Pastels with Helen-Ann Ireland
8:00-9:30 pm WEAVING COMMUNITYSophia Rising- Past, Present, and FutureMC’d by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer. Sign up to bring something to share! Poetry, Instruments, Story
SUNDAY, April 24
8:00 – 9:00 am WEAVING LIGHT Bathe in the Natural Warmth and Harmony of the Metal Gold with Helena Hurrell – A metal color light therapy experience inspired by the glass windows at the Goetheanum
9:00-10:30 am WEAVING FIRE with Carrie Schuchardt HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
10:30 – 12:00pm Brunch Together*
12:00-1:00 pm WEAVING WATERWater Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends WEAVING WHOLENESSClosing with Angela Foster and Friends
Notes: *Meals marked with an asterisk are included in the price of the ticket – Coffee, tea, and snacks will also be provided through the conference
A quiet ‘Sanctuary Room’ will be provided for contemplation
PRESENTERS AND GUIDES (Not a full list-more to come!)
Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian, and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast “The Storyteller’s Night Sky”. Through her research in spiritual science and her education in literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars. Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas of contemporary astronomy in order to understand the new star wisdom of astrosophy.
Eyahnna DalBo (artist of the Sophia Rising painting) came to anthroposophy 30 years ago when her daughter attended a Waldorf school. Her studies have included an undergraduate degree in fine art and graduate work in psychology using the arts for healing. In her private practice, she developed various energetic modalities. Her experience with subtle energy fields gave her the opportunity to teach and take part in designing a curriculum for a 2-year program focusing on energy healing. As a consultant, she initiated numerous therapeutic programs to assist in pioneering the field of art therapy. Through the gift of an apprenticeship with indigenous people she was able to bring their practices and ceremonies to what she offered deepening her ability to be of service. As an artist, she continues to utilize the spoken word, movement, sound, and visual imagery to honor and create a field that fosters awareness, growth, and transformation.
Angela Foster has been an active student of anthroposophy since 2008. After growing up in Texas, Angela is now embracing life in Atlanta, Georgia as an artist, teacher, and mom of two daughters, shepherd to two mini sheep. As a conscious practitioner of “beginner’s mind”, Angela has completed programs in foundation studies in Anthroposophy numerous times and is currently enrolled in Foundation Studies in Goethean Science through the Nature Institute. She and her husband manage the Anthroposophical Resource Center (ARC) an initiative in Decatur, Georgia that offers space for community events and serves as a little house for Anthroposophia.
Stephanie Georgieff, MS is an author, podcaster and pilgrim. Residing mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, she has written several books on The Divine Feminine as presented through the genre of The Black Madonna, The Virgin of Guadalupe and The Divine Sophia. She has spoken at conferences and venues throughout North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. The Black Madonna Speaks is her latest endeavor, a weekly podcast exploring the mysteries of The Black Madonna from an Anthroposophical and Esoteric Chritian perspective, along with artists, poets, authors and scholars on the subject.
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 Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings.
Helena Hurrell joyfully met Anthroposophy in San Fransisco in 1977 and has been working with individuals and groups as a Waldorf educator since 1981 and then throughout her life trained to become a therapist while living in Australia, the UK and North America. She is currently in private practice in Colorado blending the therapeutic work she offers through her love of color ~ as an Art and Metal Color Light Glass Therapist trained in the UK and Germany. Both of these trainings are certified by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. Metal Color Light Therapy is a relatively new initiative originated by the late Marianne Altmaier who developed this therapy and training out of her deep interest in and knowledge of the Goetheanum windows in Dornach. Helena’s website: www.helioscenter.org
Helen-Ann Ireland has been involved in anthroposophical studies for over 30 years as a Waldorf teacher, member of the School for Spiritual Science, Class holder, and now as chair of the Anthroposophical Society of America. A special interest has been in the area of the Divine Feminine and the Being of Sophia.
Michele Mariscal has 30 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She is a skilled facilitator in soft skills, speaker, coach and author. She is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist as well as a Trainer and Coach with the Institute of HeartMath. She facilitates greater heart-based living for individuals and organizations Michele is also a five-time author with her most recent publication of Growing Through Grief – The Alchemy of Healing from Loss.
Joyce Reilly Joyce studied psychology in college and was fascinated by the idea of a therapeutic community. She has worked in Camphill for many years, and is trained as a Waldorf and Therapeutic teacher. She founded Gheel House, a therapeutic community near Kimberton Pennsylvania, still thriving after 37 years. Joyce’s interests expanded to international conflict work and refugee resettlement. She works with organizations such as the Janusz Korczak Association, Karuna Peacebuilders, Kiwimbi International, Good Grief, the Worldwide Storytelling and Puppetry Association, and especially with the New York Anthroposophical Branch, and also works part-time at the local public library. Joyce is also trained in Psychosynthesis therapy and Anthroposophical psychology – currently practicing as a life coach and counselor.
Carrie Schuchardt co-founded The House of Peace in 1990, a home that is a physical and spiritual refuge for victims of war in a community with adults with special needs. In the last 15 years over 400 refugees from approximately 30 countries have been received in the healing embrace of The House of Peace, giving supportive assistance in establishing themselves in the US. In addition to the daily work of The House Peace, Carrie participates in many activities for the conversion of consciousness and policies from war to peace. Carrie has begun a network of women who witness publicly, Women Weeping, where women dress in mourning carrying symbolic lifeless children in order to help people feel what is rarely expressed in the media: the grief of hundreds of thousands of mothers in war zones around the world who lose their children to the terrible violence of war.
Maria Ver Eecke is presently the therapeutic eurythmist for the School of Eurythmy, Spring Valley, NY. She taught eurythmy for forty years in Waldorf schools, a charter school, and a home-school program. Maria met anthroposophy in Maseru, Lesotho, when she was a class teacher in an English-medium preparatory school. Currently she is the editor of the newsletters for the Eurythmy Association of North America and the Association of Therapeutic Eurythmy in North America.
“Knowledge of the connection between the physical and the astral world enables us to have a clear understanding of the world in its inner process of development; things are often connected in quite a different way from what people like to imagine. Many people deplore pain and suffering, but from a higher point of view this is quite unjustified, for if they are overcome and the person is ready for a new incarnation, suffering and pain are the sources of wisdom, prudence and comprehensiveness of vision.
There is something like “crystallised pain” in the face of every thinker. This has long been known to the occultist, for the greatest wisdom of the world is acquired by the quiet endurance of pain and suffering; this creates wisdom in the next incarnation“. ~Rudolf Steiner, Theosophy of the Rosicrucian – VI. The Law of Destiny – Munich, 30th May, 1907
Bosch
Opening verse for today’s AGM at the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago:
“To resolve our past requires knowledge, To forge our future we need courage, To experience the present we must develop dedication. Our thinking needs riddles to wake up, Our feeling needs pain to mature, Our willing needs resistance to become strong.“ ~Rudolf Steiner
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans–that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no one could have dreamed would have come one’s way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.” ~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
space.com
27 February 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bright Venus (occult Mercury) red Mars and Bella Luna as a crescent Moon continue to call our attention.
If you’re up around 5 am CST, be sure to head outside and look to the southeast. By the time the sun rises the three worlds will be above the horizon and well visible above many buildings.
THE CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated – with added titles – by Roy Sadler LENT Memory, Arise v46 The world is threatening to numb, my soul’s own inborn force. Now memory, companion me, and in my sight enhance the penetration of my glance vitality of will alone sustains.
Today is the Sunday before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Verses 44 & 45 have each had to last for two weeks to wait for this week’s transition to the lunar dated calendar from the solar one. Verse 45 is the octave of the Christmas Spirit-birth in v38, and the final verse in Holy Week is the octave of v45.
In v45 sense revealing must receive thinking’s light. Now, in v46, memory is asked to arise from spirit’s depths and strengthen perception. And then come the final three thought verses.
In v47 ‘may joy of growth find strength of thought defended by the strength of God’. In v48 thinking becomes Cosmic Thought and focuses its radiance in human hearts to awaken love. This, in the week before Passiontide, is the Soul calendar’s climax, the last mention of the heart and love until next midwinter. It’s the octave’s fourth verse. The eurythmy gesture of the 4th tone streams out horizontally and can be pictured awakening love from the heart.
In v49 the clarity of thought, feeling the force of Cosmic Being, recalls its own spiritual growth in world nights’ darkness. After being told in the summer to dream and not think… thinking began in the third Michaelmas verse, v28, 21 verses, three octaves, before its final mention in v49.
There is a movement from the mind shining on the world in v45, doing so with memory in v46, with divine strength in v47, receiving Cosmic Thinking to awaken love in v48, and recalling its own spiritual growth as it feels Cosmic Being in v49.
It is a movement from the mind’s focus on the world to the world’s on the mind. And on Mothering Sunday the world’s joy of growth, bringing its life into the human self, reaches its true aim. In v51 the Cosmic Spirit finds itself in human eyes and in Holy Week life’s force, streaming from the heavens, invigorates the human body.
This last octave of the Soul Calendar – in memory of the Spirit’s Christmas birth in v38 that began the octave leading to v45 that begins ‘In concert with the Spirit’s birth the mind grows firm’ – will unfold the full measure of the heaven’s gift to humanity.
May the memory of the Spirit’s birth companion us in this transition week into nature’s new spring birth.
272 – Birthday of Constantine the Great, Roman emperor
407 – Deathday of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his preaching & public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical & political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, & his ascetic sensibilities. The epithet Χρυσόστομος (Chrysostomos, anglicized as Chrysostom) means “golden-mouthed” in Greek & denotes his celebrated eloquence. Chrysostom was among the most prolific authors in the early Christian Church exceeded only by Augustine in the quantity of his surviving writings. John was born in Antioch in 349 to Greco-Syrian parents. His mother Anthusa as a pagan & his father was a high-ranking military officer. John’s father died soon after his birth & he was raised by his mother. As a result of his mother’s influential connections in the city, John began his education under the pagan teacher Libanius. From Libanius, John acquired the skills for a career in rhetoric, as well as a love of the Greek language & literature.
A late medieval legend relates that, when John Chrysostom was a hermit in the desert, he was approached by a royal princess in distress. The Saint, thinking she was a demon, at first refused to help her, but the princess convinced him that she was a Christian & would be devoured by wild beasts if she were not allowed to enter his cave. He therefore admitted her, carefully dividing the cave in two parts, one for each of them. In the morning she had given birth to a child she claimed was his. He then went to Rome to beg absolution, which was refused. Chrysostom made a vow that he would never rise from the ground until his sins were expiated, & for years he lived like a beast, crawling on all fours & feeding on wild grasses & roots. One day the princess reappeared, suckling the saint’s baby, who miraculously pronounced his sins forgiven. This last scene was very popular from the late 15th century onwards as a subject for engravers & artists.
1775 – Birthday of Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him between Johann Gottlieb Fichte, his mentor in his early years, & Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, his former university roommate, early friend, & later rival. Some later philosophers such as Martin Heidegger & Slavoj Žižek have shown interest in re-examining Schelling’s body of work. Quotes:
“Nature is visible Spirit; Spirit is invisible Nature.” (Ideen, “Introduction”)
“History as a whole is a progressive, gradually self-disclosing revelation of the Absolute.” (System of Transcendental Idealism, 1800)
“Has creation a final goal? And if so, why was it not reached at once? Why was the consummation not realized from the beginning? To these questions there is but one answer: Because God is Life, and not merely Being.” (Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature of Human Freedom, 1809)
“Only he who has tasted freedom can feel the desire to make over everything in its image, to spread it throughout the whole universe.” (Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature of Human Freedom, 1809)
“As there is nothing before or outside of God he must contain within himself the ground of his existence. All philosophies say this, but they speak of this ground as a mere concept without making it something real and actual.” (Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature of Human Freedom, 1809)
“God then has no beginning only insofar as there is no beginning of his beginning. The beginning in God is eternal beginning, that is, such a one as was beginning from all eternity, and still is, and also never ceases to be beginning.” (Quoted in Hartshorne & Reese, Philosophers Speak of God, Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1953, p. 237.)
1807 – Birthday of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
1861 – The emergency Baptism of Rudolf Steiner
1901 – Deathday of Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi an Italian opera composer. Verdi was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, & developed a musical education with the help of a local patron. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera . In his early operas Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also participated briefly as an elected politician. An intensely private person, Verdi however did not seek to ingratiate himself with popular movements & as he became professionally successful was able to reduce his operatic workload & sought to establish himself as a landowner in his native region. He surprised the musical world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida (1871), with three late masterpieces: his Requiem (1874), & the operas Otello (1887) &Falstaff (1893). His operas remain extremely popular, especially the three peaks of his ‘middle period’: Rigoletto, Il trovatore & La traviata.
1922 – A challenge to the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court
1939 – United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes violate property owners’ rights & are therefore illegal
2004 – The initial version of the John Jay Report, with details about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the United States, is released. The report determined that, during the period from 1950 to 2002, a total of 10,667 individuals had made allegations of child sexual abuse. Of these, the dioceses had been able to identify 6,700 unique accusations against 4,392 clergy over that period in the USA, which is about 4% of all 109,694 ordained clergy i.e. priests or deacons or members of religious orders, active in the USA during the time covered by the study. Roughly 4% of them were accused. However, of these 4392 accused, only 252 (5.7% of those accused or less than 0.1% of total clergy) were convicted. The number of alleged abuses increased in the 1960s, peaked in the 1970s, declined in the 1980s, & by the 1990s had returned to the levels of the 1950s. In summary, over a 50-year period, out of more than 100,000 priests deacons & religious order clergy, 4,392 (~4.4%) were accused of sexual abuse, 252 (<0.26%) were convicted & 100 (<0.1%) sentenced to prison
The Anthroposophical Society in America presents: Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human
***Early Bird Rate Until February 26 ~ Exclusively For Those Who Book With Hotel Santa Fe***
Join us in New Mexico, the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia. Join together in community as Sophia emerges and rises in her many facets and expressions- past, present, and future.
Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other.
VENUE & TRAVEL
Our gathering will take place at the lovely Native American-owned Hotel Santa Fe. We recommend you book your stay with the hotel to create a connected communal atmosphere for our gathering. The hotel has a full restaurant, pool, hot tub, and spa, as well as kivas and cozy sitting areas. Please call or email to make reservations with our special room rate for suites at $179/night. Each suite includes a refrigerator, microwave and sitting area. So much of what Santa Fe has to offer is within walking distance from the hotel.
**Ask for ASA Gathering to book with our special rate of $179/night for a suite. **
Registrants will receive suggested activities from our local organizers to explore in Santa Fe before or after our gathering. Extending your stay? The special ASA hotel rate is available for 3 days prior to and 3 days after the ASA gathering.
HOTEL and VENUE ADDRESS: 1501 Paseo de Peralta Santa Fe, NM 87501 Phone: (877) 259-3409
TICKETS The ticket price includes access to all conference activities, snacks, coffee/tea and beverages, dessert reception Thursday, dinner Friday, lunch Saturday and brunch on Sunday.
No refunds after March 21, 2022
EARLY BIRD with ROOM BOOKING (until 2/26): $295* Must book at Hotel Santa Fe to receive this special early bird rate! Email stay@hotelsantafe.com or call 877-259-3409 to book. Please specify your reservation is for the ASA Gathering.
Early Bird Only with Room Booking – After 2/26 more tickets will be released!
SCHEDULE (subject to minor changes)
THURSDAY, April 21
7 pm Gathering Together – with a dessert reception
7:30- 8:30 pm ArtActs: Past – Present – Future Eurythmy, and Singing,
FRIDAY, April 22
Explore Santa Fe on your own and continued arrivals
1:00 – 2:30 pm Welcome: Spirit of Placewith organizers
WEAVING EARTH Opening Ceremony with Angela Foster and friends
2:30pm-3:00pm Break
3:00-4:30 pm Encountering the Celestial Goddess Anthroposophia with Mary Stewart Adams
HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
4:30-4:45 pm Break
4:45- 6:00 pm WEAVING AIR ArtActs Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech
6:00-7:30 pm Dinner Together*
7:30 pm Fireside Chats – Story and Sharing – Breakout circles led by friends and organizers 8:30 pm
Stargazing with Mary Stewart Adams
SATURDAY, April 23
Breakfast – On your own
8:30 – 9:30 am WEAVING ETHER Eurythmy
9:30 – 10:00 am Break
10:00 -11:15 am The Virgin of Guadalupe: Sophia Rising in the Americaswith Stephanie Georgieff – The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the first recorded apparitions in the Americas. Revealing herself to a Nahuatl Native and ultimately to the Bishop of New Spain and his entourage in December of 1531, this image has continued to inspire countless souls for nearly 500 years. The symbolism and timing of her appearance presents deep mysteries for our age, and points to the ultimate Sophianic impulse for the present and future of Humanity.
11:30 – 12:30 pm WEAVING STORIES Biography Work
12:30 – 2:00 pm Lunch Together*
2:00 – 4:00 pm ‘ANTHROPOSOPHIA: OUR ALCHEMICAL WEDDING’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends. At the heart of this convergence isa Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know Thyself’’ – A Temple Experience in the New Mysteries, built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions, preparing us to enter a deeply intensive initiatory experience – a ‘Movable Feast’ with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, Steiner verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth. Passing through Trials of the Soul we meet powerful Spiritual Beings on the way to our sacred marriage – a union of Warmth and Light, so that we can unveil the ‘Sophia Rising’ within ourselves, and the world.
4:00 – 4:30 pm Break
4:30 – 5:30 pm WEAVING COLOR Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic within the Earthly Pastels with Helen-Ann Ireland
8:00-9:30 pm WEAVING COMMUNITYSophia Rising- Past, Present, and FutureMC’d by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer. Sign up to bring something to share! Poetry, Instruments, Story
SUNDAY, April 24
8:00 – 9:00 am WEAVING LIGHT Bathe in the Natural Warmth and Harmony of the Metal Gold with Helena Hurrell – A metal color light therapy experience inspired by the glass windows at the Goetheanum
9:00-10:30 am WEAVING FIRE with Carrie Schuchardt HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
10:30 – 12:00pm Brunch Together*
12:00-1:00 pm WEAVING WATERWater Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends WEAVING WHOLENESSClosing with Angela Foster and Friends
Notes: *Meals marked with an asterisk are included in the price of the ticket – Coffee, tea, and snacks will also be provided through the conference
A quiet ‘Sanctuary Room’ will be provided for contemplation
PRESENTERS AND GUIDES (Not a full list-more to come!)
Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian, and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast “The Storyteller’s Night Sky”. Through her research in spiritual science and her education in literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars. Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas of contemporary astronomy in order to understand the new star wisdom of astrosophy.
Eyahnna DalBo (artist of the Sophia Rising painting) came to anthroposophy 30 years ago when her daughter attended a Waldorf school. Her studies have included an undergraduate degree in fine art and graduate work in psychology using the arts for healing. In her private practice, she developed various energetic modalities. Her experience with subtle energy fields gave her the opportunity to teach and take part in designing a curriculum for a 2-year program focusing on energy healing. As a consultant, she initiated numerous therapeutic programs to assist in pioneering the field of art therapy. Through the gift of an apprenticeship with indigenous people she was able to bring their practices and ceremonies to what she offered deepening her ability to be of service. As an artist, she continues to utilize the spoken word, movement, sound, and visual imagery to honor and create a field that fosters awareness, growth, and transformation.
Angela Foster has been an active student of anthroposophy since 2008. After growing up in Texas, Angela is now embracing life in Atlanta, Georgia as an artist, teacher, and mom of two daughters, shepherd to two mini sheep. As a conscious practitioner of “beginner’s mind”, Angela has completed programs in foundation studies in Anthroposophy numerous times and is currently enrolled in Foundation Studies in Goethean Science through the Nature Institute. She and her husband manage the Anthroposophical Resource Center (ARC) an initiative in Decatur, Georgia that offers space for community events and serves as a little house for Anthroposophia.
Stephanie Georgieff, MS is an author, podcaster and pilgrim. Residing mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, she has written several books on The Divine Feminine as presented through the genre of The Black Madonna, The Virgin of Guadalupe and The Divine Sophia. She has spoken at conferences and venues throughout North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. The Black Madonna Speaks is her latest endeavor, a weekly podcast exploring the mysteries of The Black Madonna from an Anthroposophical and Esoteric Chritian perspective, along with artists, poets, authors and scholars on the subject.
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 Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings.
Helena Hurrell joyfully met Anthroposophy in San Fransisco in 1977 and has been working with individuals and groups as a Waldorf educator since 1981 and then throughout her life trained to become a therapist while living in Australia, the UK and North America. She is currently in private practice in Colorado blending the therapeutic work she offers through her love of color ~ as an Art and Metal Color Light Glass Therapist trained in the UK and Germany. Both of these trainings are certified by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. Metal Color Light Therapy is a relatively new initiative originated by the late Marianne Altmaier who developed this therapy and training out of her deep interest in and knowledge of the Goetheanum windows in Dornach. Helena’s website: www.helioscenter.org
Helen-Ann Ireland has been involved in anthroposophical studies for over 30 years as a Waldorf teacher, member of the School for Spiritual Science, Class holder, and now as chair of the Anthroposophical Society of America. A special interest has been in the area of the Divine Feminine and the Being of Sophia.
Michele Mariscal has 30 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She is a skilled facilitator in soft skills, speaker, coach and author. She is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist as well as a Trainer and Coach with the Institute of HeartMath. She facilitates greater heart-based living for individuals and organizations Michele is also a five-time author with her most recent publication of Growing Through Grief – The Alchemy of Healing from Loss.
Joyce Reilly Joyce studied psychology in college and was fascinated by the idea of a therapeutic community. She has worked in Camphill for many years, and is trained as a Waldorf and Therapeutic teacher. She founded Gheel House, a therapeutic community near Kimberton Pennsylvania, still thriving after 37 years. Joyce’s interests expanded to international conflict work and refugee resettlement. She works with organizations such as the Janusz Korczak Association, Karuna Peacebuilders, Kiwimbi International, Good Grief, the Worldwide Storytelling and Puppetry Association, and especially with the New York Anthroposophical Branch, and also works part-time at the local public library. Joyce is also trained in Psychosynthesis therapy and Anthroposophical psychology – currently practicing as a life coach and counselor.
Carrie Schuchardt co-founded The House of Peace in 1990, a home that is a physical and spiritual refuge for victims of war in a community with adults with special needs. In the last 15 years over 400 refugees from approximately 30 countries have been received in the healing embrace of The House of Peace, giving supportive assistance in establishing themselves in the US. In addition to the daily work of The House Peace, Carrie participates in many activities for the conversion of consciousness and policies from war to peace. Carrie has begun a network of women who witness publicly, Women Weeping, where women dress in mourning carrying symbolic lifeless children in order to help people feel what is rarely expressed in the media: the grief of hundreds of thousands of mothers in war zones around the world who lose their children to the terrible violence of war.
Ultra-Violet Archer – Songwriter and Music Producer, exploring music as a tool for healing and storytelling. I am currently studying at Columbia College of Chicago, after spending a year with the International Youth Initiative Program in Sweden; and before that, two years at Oberlin College and Conservatory. Here https://linktr.ee/UltraVioletArcher you can find the links to my original releases and YouTube channel. I also sing and produce for the band Circle’s Edge. When I’m not making music, you can find me foraging for edible plants, reading fantasy novels, or hosting women’s circles!
For questions or inquiries please email programs@anthroposophy.org or call the office at 734-662-9355
Standing on the cornerstone Stretched out on the Rose Cross I feel the Presence Of the Trinity Pouring in Thru the Architect of Freedom – The Good Doctor Steiner – Bringing the healing medicine – A radiant dose of Sophianic Wisdom – Fortified with Cosmic Iron – Held with Love In the Christic Matrix… Ready… To reveal the Divine Plan Thru my whetted willing That I may co-create The human Becoming ~hag
Greetings friends on this 161st Birthday of Dr. Rudolf Steiner.
In our Applied Anthroposophy Chrysalis Group: ‘The Cycle of the Year as Path of Initiation’ I gave a little overview of Rudolf Steiner’s biography, & we all shared how Rudolf Steiner came into our lives. Here is the video.
And here is My humble attempt to create a more extensive Biography
25 February 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waning Moon now visits Venus (occult Mercury) and Mars low at dawn.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
138 – The Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, to be his successor
777 – Deathday of Saint Walpurga The earliest representation of Walpurga, in the early 11th-century Hitda Codex, made in Cologne, depicts her holding stylized stalks of grain. The grain attribute represents the older pagan concept of the Grain Mother. Peasant farmers fashioned her replica in a corn dolly at harvest time & told tales to explain Saint Walpurga’s presence in the grain sheaf. St. Richard, when starting with his two sons on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, entrusted Walburga, then 11 years old, to the abbess of Wimborne. Walpurga was educated by the nuns of Wimborne Abbey, Dorset, where she spent 26 years as a member of the community. She then travelled with her brothers, Willibald & Winebald, to Francia to assist Saint Boniface, her mother’s brother, in evangelizing among the still-pagan Germans. Because of her rigorous training, she was able to write her brother Winibald’s vita & an account in Latin of his travels in Palestine. As a result, she is often called the first female author of both England & Germany. Walpurga became a nun in the double monastery of Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm, which was founded by her other brother, Willibald, who appointed her as his successor. Following his death in 751, she became the abbess
1631 – François de Bassompierre, a French courtier, is arrested on Richelieu’s orders
1841 – Birthday of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter & sculptor
1848 – Provisional government in revolutionary France, by Louis Blanc’s motion, guarantees workers’ rights
1856 – A Peace conference opens in Paris after the Crimean War
1861 – Birthday of Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner
1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress
1901 – J. P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.
1921 – Tbilisi, capital of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, is occupied by Bolshevist Russia
1932 – Adolf Hitler obtains German citizenship by naturalization, which allows him to run in the 1932 election for Reichspräsident
1948 – The Communist Party takes control of government in Czechoslovakia & the period of the Third Republic ends
1956 – In his speech On the Cult of Personality & Its Consequences, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union denounces the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin
1968 –135 unarmed citizens of Hà My village in South Vietnam’s Quảng Nam Province are killed & buried en mass in the Hà My massacre
1986 – People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines’ first woman president
1991 – The Warsaw Pact is declared disbanded
1992 – Khojaly massacre: About 613 civilians are killed by Armenian armed forces during the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan
1994 – Mosque of Abraham massacre: In the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing 29 Palestinian worshippers & injuring 125 more before being subdued & beaten to death by survivors
The Anthroposophical Society in America presents: Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human
***Early Bird Rate Until February 26 ~ Exclusively For Those Who Book With Hotel Santa Fe***
Join us in New Mexico, the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia. Join together in community as Sophia emerges and rises in her many facets and expressions- past, present, and future.
Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other.
VENUE & TRAVEL
Our gathering will take place at the lovely Native American-owned Hotel Santa Fe. We recommend you book your stay with the hotel to create a connected communal atmosphere for our gathering. The hotel has a full restaurant, pool, hot tub, and spa, as well as kivas and cozy sitting areas. Please call or email to make reservations with our special room rate for suites at $179/night. Each suite includes a refrigerator, microwave and sitting area. So much of what Santa Fe has to offer is within walking distance from the hotel.
**Ask for ASA Gathering to book with our special rate of $179/night for a suite. **
Registrants will receive suggested activities from our local organizers to explore in Santa Fe before or after our gathering. Extending your stay? The special ASA hotel rate is available for 3 days prior to and 3 days after the ASA gathering.
HOTEL and VENUE ADDRESS: 1501 Paseo de Peralta Santa Fe, NM 87501 Phone: (877) 259-3409
TICKETS The ticket price includes access to all conference activities, snacks, coffee/tea and beverages, dessert reception Thursday, dinner Friday, lunch Saturday and brunch on Sunday.
No refunds after March 21, 2022
EARLY BIRD with ROOM BOOKING (until 2/26): $295* Must book at Hotel Santa Fe to receive this special early bird rate! Email stay@hotelsantafe.com or call 877-259-3409 to book. Please specify your reservation is for the ASA Gathering.
Early Bird Only with Room Booking – After 2/26 more tickets will be released!
SCHEDULE (subject to minor changes)
THURSDAY, April 21
7 pm Gathering Together – with a dessert reception
7:30- 8:30 pm ArtActs: Past – Present – Future Eurythmy, and Singing,
FRIDAY, April 22
Explore Santa Fe on your own and continued arrivals
1:00 – 2:30 pm Welcome: Spirit of Placewith organizers
WEAVING EARTH Opening Ceremony with Angela Foster and friends
2:30pm-3:00pm Break
3:00-4:30 pm Encountering the Celestial Goddess Anthroposophia with Mary Stewart Adams
HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
4:30-4:45 pm Break
4:45- 6:00 pm WEAVING AIR ArtActs Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech
6:00-7:30 pm Dinner Together*
7:30 pm Fireside Chats – Story and Sharing – Breakout circles led by friends and organizers 8:30 pm
Stargazing with Mary Stewart Adams
SATURDAY, April 23
Breakfast – On your own
8:30 – 9:30 am WEAVING ETHER Eurythmy
9:30 – 10:00 am Break
10:00 -11:15 am The Virgin of Guadalupe: Sophia Rising in the Americaswith Stephanie Georgieff – The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the first recorded apparitions in the Americas. Revealing herself to a Nahuatl Native and ultimately to the Bishop of New Spain and his entourage in December of 1531, this image has continued to inspire countless souls for nearly 500 years. The symbolism and timing of her appearance presents deep mysteries for our age, and points to the ultimate Sophianic impulse for the present and future of Humanity.
11:30 – 12:30 pm WEAVING STORIES Biography Work
12:30 – 2:00 pm Lunch Together*
2:00 – 4:00 pm ‘ANTHROPOSOPHIA: OUR ALCHEMICAL WEDDING’ with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends. At the heart of this convergence isa Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know Thyself’’ – A Temple Experience in the New Mysteries, built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions, preparing us to enter a deeply intensive initiatory experience – a ‘Movable Feast’ with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, Steiner verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth. Passing through Trials of the Soul we meet powerful Spiritual Beings on the way to our sacred marriage – a union of Warmth and Light, so that we can unveil the ‘Sophia Rising’ within ourselves, and the world.
4:00 – 4:30 pm Break
4:30 – 5:30 pm WEAVING COLOR Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic within the Earthly Pastels with Helen-Ann Ireland
8:00-9:30 pm WEAVING COMMUNITYSophia Rising- Past, Present, and Future Sign up to bring something to share! Poetry, Instruments, Story
SUNDAY, April 24
8:00 – 9:00 am WEAVING LIGHT Bathe in the Natural Warmth and Harmony of the Metal Gold with Helena Hurrell – A metal color light therapy experience inspired by the glass windows at the Goetheanum
9:00-10:30 am WEAVING FIRE with Carrie Schuchardt HeartMath with Michele Mariscal
10:30 – 12:00pm Brunch Together*
12:00-1:00 pm WEAVING WATERWater Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends WEAVING WHOLENESSClosing with Angela Foster and Friends
Notes: *Meals marked with an asterisk are included in the price of the ticket – Coffee, tea, and snacks will also be provided through the conference
A quiet ‘Sanctuary Room’ will be provided for contemplation
PRESENTERS AND GUIDES (Not a full list-more to come!)
Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian, and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast “The Storyteller’s Night Sky”. Through her research in spiritual science and her education in literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars. Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas of contemporary astronomy in order to understand the new star wisdom of astrosophy.
Eyahnna DalBo (artist of the Sophia Rising painting) came to anthroposophy 30 years ago when her daughter attended a Waldorf school. Her studies have included an undergraduate degree in fine art and graduate work in psychology using the arts for healing. In her private practice, she developed various energetic modalities. Her experience with subtle energy fields gave her the opportunity to teach and take part in designing a curriculum for a 2-year program focusing on energy healing. As a consultant, she initiated numerous therapeutic programs to assist in pioneering the field of art therapy. Through the gift of an apprenticeship with indigenous people she was able to bring their practices and ceremonies to what she offered deepening her ability to be of service. As an artist, she continues to utilize the spoken word, movement, sound, and visual imagery to honor and create a field that fosters awareness, growth, and transformation.
Angela Foster has been an active student of anthroposophy since 2008. After growing up in Texas, Angela is now embracing life in Atlanta, Georgia as an artist, teacher, and mom of two daughters, shepherd to two mini sheep. As a conscious practitioner of “beginner’s mind”, Angela has completed programs in foundation studies in Anthroposophy numerous times and is currently enrolled in Foundation Studies in Goethean Science through the Nature Institute. She and her husband manage the Anthroposophical Resource Center (ARC) an initiative in Decatur, Georgia that offers space for community events and serves as a little house for Anthroposophia.
Stephanie Georgieff, MS is an author, podcaster and pilgrim. Residing mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, she has written several books on The Divine Feminine as presented through the genre of The Black Madonna, The Virgin of Guadalupe and The Divine Sophia. She has spoken at conferences and venues throughout North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. The Black Madonna Speaks is her latest endeavor, a weekly podcast exploring the mysteries of The Black Madonna from an Anthroposophical and Esoteric Chritian perspective, along with artists, poets, authors and scholars on the subject.
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 Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings.
Helena Hurrell joyfully met Anthroposophy in San Fransisco in 1977 and has been working with individuals and groups as a Waldorf educator since 1981 and then throughout her life trained to become a therapist while living in Australia, the UK and North America. She is currently in private practice in Colorado blending the therapeutic work she offers through her love of color ~ as an Art and Metal Color Light Glass Therapist trained in the UK and Germany. Both of these trainings are certified by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. Metal Color Light Therapy is a relatively new initiative originated by the late Marianne Altmaier who developed this therapy and training out of her deep interest in and knowledge of the Goetheanum windows in Dornach. Helena’s website: www.helioscenter.org
Helen-Ann Ireland has been involved in anthroposophical studies for over 30 years as a Waldorf teacher, member of the School for Spiritual Science, Class holder, and now as chair of the Anthroposophical Society of America. A special interest has been in the area of the Divine Feminine and the Being of Sophia.
Michele Mariscal has 30 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She is a skilled facilitator in soft skills, speaker, coach and author. She is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist as well as a Trainer and Coach with the Institute of HeartMath. She facilitates greater heart-based living for individuals and organizations Michele is also a five-time author with her most recent publication of Growing Through Grief – The Alchemy of Healing from Loss.
Joyce Reilly Joyce studied psychology in college and was fascinated by the idea of a therapeutic community. She has worked in Camphill for many years, and is trained as a Waldorf and Therapeutic teacher. She founded Gheel House, a therapeutic community near Kimberton Pennsylvania, still thriving after 37 years. Joyce’s interests expanded to international conflict work and refugee resettlement. She works with organizations such as the Janusz Korczak Association, Karuna Peacebuilders, Kiwimbi International, Good Grief, the Worldwide Storytelling and Puppetry Association, and especially with the New York Anthroposophical Branch, and also works part-time at the local public library. Joyce is also trained in Psychosynthesis therapy and Anthroposophical psychology – currently practicing as a life coach and counselor.
Carrie Schuchardt co-founded The House of Peace in 1990, a home that is a physical and spiritual refuge for victims of war in a community with adults with special needs. In the last 15 years over 400 refugees from approximately 30 countries have been received in the healing embrace of The House of Peace, giving supportive assistance in establishing themselves in the US. In addition to the daily work of The House Peace, Carrie participates in many activities for the conversion of consciousness and policies from war to peace. Carrie has begun a network of women who witness publicly, Women Weeping, where women dress in mourning carrying symbolic lifeless children in order to help people feel what is rarely expressed in the media: the grief of hundreds of thousands of mothers in war zones around the world who lose their children to the terrible violence of war.
For questions or inquiries please email programs@anthroposophy.org or call the office at 734-662-9355