Category Archives: Remembering

Toward the Future

Poetry, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote

5 July 2016 – ASTRO-WEATHER – The orange-colored Mars is easy to spot in the south in the evenings, the brightest object in the heavens. To the upper right of Mars shines a pair of moderately bright stars. The higher of the two stars is Zubeneschamali, & the lower one, Zubenelgenubi, Arabic names meaning the “northern claw” & “southern claw” of the Scorpion.

Zub stars mars

Ramadan ends at twilight

283 BC – Deathday of Demetrius I of Macedon

328 – The official opening of Constantine’s Bridge built over the Danube between Romania & Bulgaria by the Roman architect Theophilus Patricius

815 BC – Birthday of Saints Cyril & Methodius – Brothers credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic, venerated with the title of “equal-to-apostles”. In 867, Pope Nicholas I (an earlier incarnation of Helmuth von Moltke, who died 100 years ago on June 18th) invited the brothers to Rome.

815 BC – Deathday of Hoseas, one of the Twelve Prophets of the Old Testament. Hosea is often seen as a “prophet of doom”, but underneath his message of destruction is a promise of restoration. The Talmud claims that he was the greatest prophet of his generation. The period of Hosea’s ministry extended to some sixty years & he was the only prophet of Israel of his time who left any written prophecy

1687 – Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica

1811 – Independence Day for Venezuela from Spain

1817 – Birthday of Carl Vogt a German scientist, philosopher & politician who published a number of notable works on zoology, geology & physiology,  rejecting the beliefs of Darwin

1827 – Emancipation Day of enslaved Africans in New York City

1892 – Andrew Beard was issued a patent for the rotary engine

1934 – “Bloody Thursday“: Police open fire on striking longshoremen in San Francisco

1935 – The National Labor Relations Act, which governs labor relations in the United States, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt

1962 – Independence Day for Algeria from France

1971 –The 26th Amendment lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years, is formally certified by President Richard Nixon

1996 – Dolly the sheep becomes the first mammal cloned from an adult cell

***

weaving Remedios VaroRemedios Varo

Destiny

“I bear within me what has been

I feel within me what is becoming

In willing, I carry both toward the future

Faith looks upon what has been

And is founded upon truth

Trust looks upon what will be

And is founded upon hope

Love embraces here and now

Eternal becoming

Eternal Being”

– Rudolf Steiner

***

stars spin threads

More thoughts gleaned from The “School of the Sounds”

During the Arcturus Summer Intensive “The Stars once Spoke”, Kim Snyder-Vine pointed out that no one had ever specifically asked Rudolf Steiner about the curative aspects of Speech Formation. Of course there is a connection with curative Eurythmy. And so I have decided it is about time to tune into Herr Dr. & experiment on myself by working with sound.

Many of you may know that I was recently diagnosed with a deformity in my spine which may have been there since birth, but has now become an issue. Yesterday I woke up with the thought that doing U would be helpful for my condition, so I will incorporate this sounding into my daily routine & keep you posted on this.

I am also feeling called to do something to activate & strengthen my memory.

Rudolf Steiner speaks about training our memory: “If we keep in mind the 3 basic principles:

  1. Concepts burden memory
  2. What is artistic educates memory
  3. Will activity grounds memory

Then we have the three golden rules for educating our memory.” ~A modern Art of Education 

This made me think, that memory has to do with the element of movement in us, the process in the etheric body that preserves the experiences & thoughts that have imprinted themselves in us. To ‘learn it by heart’ we need to set up a rhythm that enlivens the dead world of concepts.

The gift of the 3 pre-earthly deeds of Christ that form our humanness – the source of walking, speaking, thinking, must be taken hold of consciously as adults or they will vanish.

To re-awaken the awareness that speech moves on the breath, & in the pulsation of the blood, rouses elemental weaving  within us, as we walk & talk & think. Fully conscious repletion cultivates the will, building resolve. As an added bonus, Joy arises in me as an inner movement when I recite poetry, or sing, which refreshes my soul.

The central nervous system, which mirrors thoughts, is the one related to the etheric body. The spinal nervous system is the home of the astral body & the solar plexus is related to the ‘I’. The astral body, the light-bearing part of the soul, works thru the etheric body into the physical. The Logos lives as light in the astral body, & spoken word, (as well as singing, I would think) has its seat there. So speech practice accompanied by movement (especially walking with the swinging of the arms etc) can nourish & awaken the forces of thinking & remembering, because the breath is stimulated too, & the primary source of healing is found in the breath.

Let’s see where this takes us tomorrow

Until soon

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

 

We the People…

Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Speaking with the Stars, Summer
freemason_burning_heart

“We can rise with the fire of freedom
Truth is the fire that burns our chains
& we can stop the fire of destruction
Healing is the fire running through our veins.”
~Starhawk

Dear Freinds – What opportunities open for us today with a New moon on The 4th of July…?

As the power of ‘The 4th ’ Reverberates in our Collective Consciousness –
Let’s Imagine Peace – Think Love & Activate Understanding – all the while envisioning that the “bombs bursting in air” are beautiful, gentle fireworks of Realization & Enlightenment, going off like light bulbs in American minds – Working towards a Global Inter-dependence Independence Day. A mutual dependency upon the independence of every nation & its people – Imagine everyone celebrating our differences with great admiration & respect…

Betsy-Ross sewing

Every July 4th I think of Betsy Ross; remember her?
I admire this enterprising woman, who led a very interesting life. She was actually disowned as a Quaker because she married an Episcopalian, who was later ironically killed while guarding a munitions dump.

So here she was this young widow, telling George Washington that she thought the 5 pointed-star would look much better on the flag then his idea of having 6- pointed stars – true story. I can just picture her sitting in the back room of the small upholstery business she ran by herself, with this mighty symbol, that she helped design, laid out on her sweet lap, sewing away.

Now I’m not much for nationalism with all its borders & power over others kind of patriotism, but I will admit that I love to see a well-made flag flapping in the breeze. All flags are cool – family crests with their ancient symbols, & especially those colorful banners you see on porches, shaped like butterflies or autumn leaves. I’m just a sucker for a glyph in the wind, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good flag burning – now don’t get me wrong I love America – I just think fire rituals are very powerful & impacting.

As a matter of fact, at the BBQ I went to on The 4th a few years ago, the wind blew the table cloth decorated with American flags into a candle where it caught fire & I was the 1st (& only one) to shout, Woo-hoo!  Yeah, burn the flag, burn the flag…I don’t think the Ginsberg’s totally get my sense of the dramatic…but I digress…

We all know what we’re talking about when we say ‘The 4th’ right – But when was the last time you stopped to think about what ‘The 4th’ is really all about. When I looked it up on the internet it gave me hit after hit on picnic ideas, & recipes for apple pie, hints on BBQ techniques, free patriotic screen savers, many downloadable versions of the “rockets’ red glare” with animated fireworks displays; & yet somehow they forgot to mention the fact that fireworks were a Chinese invention, an ancient art form that we took & made into gun powder. I’m serious, is baseball & burnt weiners all there is?

Does anyone want to give us some history here, or a brief overview of the meaning of Independence Day? I was never much good with all the details, the dates & names & such, exoteric history isn’t my strong point, but I’m always able to get the big picture, & it seems to me that The 4th is about freedom from oppression – ‘No taxation without representation’ & all that – The center point being the Declaration of Independence. When was the last time you read this important document of our countries origin? You can print it off the net.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are, Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

Now before we all jump up & start pledging allegiance here, let’s remember that these ‘founding fathers’ with all their Masonic symbolism & righteousness, denied women the right to vote, & considered the Native American people to be “savages”. There is a direct reference to them as such in the document itself, & they felt justified in the systematic genocide of these highly spiritual people in the name of gentrifying the frontier. And of course most of these men were slave owners, participating in the unjustifiable atrocity of buying & selling human beings, virtually destroying the royal kingdom of the African people, employing many hideous human rights violations, enslaving them, raping, beating or working them to death. Can these sickening offences ever truly be rectified? Such a bitter legacy to add to our melting pot.

The rest of the document goes on to give a laundry list of the crimes against the colonists by the king of Great Britain, whose name happens to be George the 3rd…! Who says history doesn’t repeat itself, many of these same crimes were perpetrated not so long ago by George Bush & his dynasty.

Have we gained independence from one tyranny all those years ago, only to allow it to happen again on a world scale? Having come through so much pain in the birth of our nation, it is now time to let go of the nationalism, so we can come to true Freedom…We must open our eyes to read the fine print of our birthright as human beings, reclaiming our rights to go forward as a united community of world people, in peaceful justice, in equity, with common sense & reason, with compassion…We need to, not just declare our independence, but our Inter-dependence.

We have a strong voice…this is our world…our sacred space & we can sing any reality we want to! And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather sing ‘America the beautiful’, or even something like, ‘”My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”, then the war worshiping ‘Star Spangled Banner’ any day…

So for our next song, I’ll get off the soap box, & let the power of the united rhythm in our collective heart-beat, be our anthem – to bring healing & forgiveness to the old wounds…& hope for the future…

Blessed Bee…
~hag

Check out these videos on Columbia The Goddess of America:

‘Let Freedom Ring -Reclaiming the Wisdom of Columbia – Folk Soul of America’.

Reclaiming the Wisdom of America

July 4th, 2016 – “Speaking with the Stars”: New Moon occurs at 10:01 a.m. CDT. At its new phase, the Moon crosses the sky with the Sun & so remains hidden in our star’s glare.

new moon bluewoman!

If you ever thought the Sun’s distance controlled temperatures here on Earth, today should convince you otherwise. Earth reaches aphelion- its most distant point from the Sun at noon CDT. The Northern Hemisphere’s warm temperatures at this time of year arise because the Sun passes nearly overhead at noon; during winter, the Sun hangs low in the sky

Today at 3:49pm CDT, the dwarf planet Pluto comes to opposition– That’s when we on Earth pass more or less between the Sun & Pluto, placing this distant world opposite the Sun in our sky

When Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930, it was in front of the constellation Gemini. In the 86 years since then, the planet has traveled only a short distance around our sky, to appear in front of the constellation Sagittarius in 2016. Pluto’s entire orbit takes 248 years. Pluto will remain in front of Sagittarius until 2023

Also today: The ‘Juno probe’ is scheduled to enter orbit around Jupiter after a nearly five-year trek through deep space

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 

1054 – A supernova, called SN 1054, is seen by Chinese Song dynasty, Arab, & Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula

1744 – The Iroquois are forced to cede lands between the Allegheny Mountains & the Ohio River to the British colonies

We the People

1776 – American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress

When three presidents died on the Fourth of July, Americans saw the work of God - Los Angeles Times

1826 – Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, dies the same day as John Adams, second president of the United States, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence.

1831 – Deathday of former president James Monroe

1827 – Slavery is abolished in New York State

Library of Congress

1855 – In Brooklyn, New York City, the first edition of Walt Whitman‘s book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published

1862 – Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg: Confederate Army surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege

1863 – American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia withdraws from the battlefield after losing the Battle of Gettysburg, signaling an end to the Southern invasion of the North

1886 – The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States

1914 – The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand & his wife Sophie takes place in Vienna, six days after their assassinations in Sarajevo

1918 – Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia & his family

1934 – Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb

1934 – Deathday of Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist & chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

1941 – Nazi troops massacre Polish scientists & writers in the captured Ukrainian city of Lviv

1941 – World War II: The Burning of the Riga synagogues with 300 Jews locked in the basement

1943 – World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history & the world’s largest tank battle, begins in Prokhorovka village

1950 – Radio Free Europe first broadcasts

1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act

~Mine is
A heart of ruby-red –
A Crimson hot
dark as murder on a Holy Day
pulsing sense organ.
Mine is a fist of emerald & gold –
the gnarled roots
of a rosewood burstingwith thorns
& bright blossoms
in the Sun…
~hag

 

 

 

“You are now entering the school of the sounds”

Poetry, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Summer

2 July 2016 – This day is the midpoint of the year. There are 182 days before & 182 days after. The exact time of the middle of the year is at noon.

summer triangle

Perhaps no month better epitomizes summer in the Northern Hemisphere than July. The Summer Triangle is on prominent display. The trio’s brightest member, Vega in the constellation Lyra the Harp, stands nearly overhead shortly after midnight. The asterism’s second-brightest star, Altair in Aquila the Eagle, then lies more than halfway from the southeastern horizon to the zenith. Deneb, the luminary of Cygnus the Swan, marks the Summer Triangle’s third corner. Although it is the dimmest star, it’s the brightest point of light in the northeastern sky.

Maria Heimsuchung – Rudolf Steiner lists this in his original Calendar of the Soul, as an ancient German Feast day celebrating the Visitation Of Mary to Elisabeth.

437 – Emperor Valentinian III begins his reign over & ongoing dismemberment the Western Roman Empire.

1566 – Deathday of Nostradamus, French astrologer & author

1698 – Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine

1778 – Deathday of Procopius of Caesarea the last major historian of the ancient Western world. He Accompanied the Roman general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian, writing the Wars (or Histories), the Buildings of Justinian & the celebrated (& infamous) Secret History discovered centuries later in the Vatican Library.

The Secret History reveals his deep disillusion with the emperor Justinian & his wife, Empress Theodora, as well as Belisarius, his former commander & patron, & Antonina, Belisarius’ wife. The anecdotes expose the secret springs of their public actions, as well as their private lives. Justinian is portrayed as cruel, venal, prodigal & incompetent; as for Theodora, the reader is treated to the most detailed & titillating portrayals of vulgarity & insatiable lust combined with shrewish & calculating mean-spiritedness:

“Often, even in the theatre, in the sight of all the people, she removed her costume and stood nude in their midst, except for a girdle about the groin: not that she was abashed at revealing that, too, to the audience, but because there was a law against appearing altogether naked on the stage, without at least this much of a fig-leaf. Covered thus with a ribbon, she would sink down to the stage floor and recline on her back. Slaves to whom the duty was entrusted would then scatter grains of barley from above into the calyx of this passion flower, whence geese, trained for the purpose, would next pick the grains one by one with their bills and eat.”

Her husband Justinian, meanwhile, was a monster whose head could suddenly vanish—at least according to this passage:

“And some of those who have been with Justinian at the palace late at night, men who were pure of spirit, have thought they saw a strange demoniac form taking his place. One man said that the Emperor suddenly rose from his throne and walked about, and indeed he was never wont to remain sitting for long, and immediately Justinian’s head vanished, while the rest of his body seemed to ebb and flow; whereat the beholder stood aghast and fearful, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. But presently he perceived the vanished head filling out and joining the body again as strangely as it had left it.”

wraft of Medusa JEAN LOUIS THÉODORE GÉRICAULTGéricault

1816 – The French frigate Méduse struck the Bank of Arguin & 151 people on board had to be evacuated on an improvised raft, a case immortalised by Géricault’s painting The Raft of the Medusa

1822 – Thirty-five slaves are hanged in South Carolina, including Denmark Vesey, after being accused of organizing a slave rebellion

1839 – Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the slave ship Amistad

1897 – British-Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London

1900 – The first Zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany

1921 – World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Imperial Germany

1934 – The Night of the Long Knives, sometimes called Operation Hummingbird, or in Germany, sometimes mockingly called Reichsmordwoche (Reich Murder Week), a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political executions. Leading members of the left-wing Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), along with its figurehead, Gregor Strasser, were killed, as were prominent conservative anti-Nazis (such as former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher & Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who had suppressed Adolf Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch in 1923). Many of those killed were leaders of the Sturmabteilung (SA) – the paramilitary Brownshirts.

Hitler moved against the SA & its leader, Ernst Röhm because he saw the independence of the SA as a direct threat to his newly gained political power. Hitler was uncomfortable with Röhm’s outspoken support for a “second revolution” to redistribute wealth.

At least 85 people died during the purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds, & more than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. Most of the killings were carried out by the Schutzstaffel (SS) & the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei), the regime’s secret police. The purge provided a legal grounding for the Nazi regime, as the German courts & cabinet quickly swept aside centuries of legal prohibition against extra-judicial killings to demonstrate their loyalty to the regime. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government. It established Hitler as “the supreme judge of the German people,” as he put it in his July 13, 1934 speech to the Reichstag. “The New York Times”stated that Hitler had acted to crush a revolt & that SA leader Ernst Röhm had committed suicide.

1947 – World UFO Day, commemorating the supposed UFO crash at Roswell

1964 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places

1976 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.

2001 – The AbioCor self-contained artificial heart is first implanted

~   ~   ~

cernunnos Susan Seddon BouletSusan Seddon Boulet

~O Soul of an ancient creature

Come here to drink at my pond

Let me caress your velvet horns of sense & reason

Implanted in your forehead like lightning rods to the sky…

O King, your dusty hoofs tramp a new trail

Worn smooth by my ritual dance to you…

~hag

~   ~   ~

speechdrama_175

Greetings Friends, I’ve missed you!

I have been studying Speech Formation with Kim Synder-Vine this last week. She is a force of nature. When she spoke the consonants, in my mind’s eye I saw the animals of the Zodiac coming alive, like they were walking off Noah’s Ark.

“You are now entering the school of the sounds” She told us, from ~Rudolf Steiner – his Speech & Drama Course of 1924, where he describes the revelation of speech as relating to the Greek Gymnastics. Every time we speak, the words run, leap off the diaphragm, wrestle off the vocal cords, hit the discus of the tongue, to fly like the javelin out the mouth with intention toward the goal, landing the target like a shot-put.

We started out with Vowels – “Soundings of the Soul”, our inner reaction to life, the planets, their colors, our organs. Vowels rise up from the root chakra to the heart then thru the larynx to the mouth.

Ah – Venus, Green, Kidneys

A – Mars, Red, wakes up our nerve center, Gallbladder

E – Mercury, Yellow, Lungs (good for to vibrate for teeth & gums)

O – Jupiter, Orange, Liver

UU – Saturn, Blue, Spleen

AE – Moon, Silver/Purple, Reproductive Organs, reflective quality to the teeth & bones

AOU – Sun, Gold/White, Heart/Head

Then consonants (the constellations forming us) I will write out a chart for tomorrow.

We must see it before we say it, to Re-cite it,  before it becomes a concept, to let it stream forth, forming itself like an etheric arm reaching out into the world.

We did breath-work & placement in the mouth…KLSFM… Karl Let Sophie Fetch May. May Fetch Sophie & Let Karl Go!

“Hoom, Hahm, Hem, Him…Brooding Proofs…Droopy Troops…Gruesome Crooners…”

OUTBREATH – Declamation -spit it in the bucket – “Reforging Gales”…etc…Feelings into the will, (I feel it so I got to say it: Opera) connected to the Northern Mysteries.

INBREATH – Recitation, consonants, thinking into will, connected to the Southern Mysteries. “In the vast unmeasured world-wide spaces”…etc…

Hexameter – a health tonic from the Greeks, good for circulation, helps us speak the consonants.

I love the idea that we create a vacuum then fill it with cosmic substance…forming & letting go…

We started working with Lyric, Dramatic & Epic poetry & some speech chorus stuff with some Steiner & other verses…Iambic sonnets…

It’s been revealing to check-in to discover what my own propensities are. We were instructed to ‘Check Our Soul Mood’. I am by nature a Declamation ‘E’ type for sure…So I need to work on the more softer sounds of the Southern Mysteries…

Let’s explore Speech Formation further tomorrow…

Until soon

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

“Substances are densified, Faults are judged & rectified, Hearts are sifted – Receive the light”

Chicago Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote

26 June 2016, ASTRO-WEATHER Pluto passes just due south of the star Pi Sagittarii in northeastern Sagittarius.

363 – Julian the Apostate murdered. Rudolf Steiner speaks a lot about him as Tycho Brahe, astronomer, astrologer & alchemist & Herzeloyde, Percival’s mother, in Karmic Relationships Vol. 4 Lec. 5

405 – St. Vigilius murdered in Rendena Valley, Italy, where he had been preaching against the worship of the god Saturn. Vigilius said Mass & overturned a statue of the god into the River. As punishment, he was stoned to death. Ironically, a statue of the god Neptune stands in front of Vigilius’ shrine in Trent today.

699 – En no Ozuno, a Japanese mystic said to have supernatural powers, regarded as the founder of the folk religion Shugendō, is banished to Izu Ōshima.

1295 – Przemysł II crowned king of Poland. The white eagle is added to the Polish coat of arms.

1407 – Ulrich von Jungingen becomes Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.

1409 – Western Schism: Three men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance.

1483 – Richard III becomes King of England

MichelangeloJeremiahwholex1

1510 – Michelangelo completes his painting of Jeremiah on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  Michelangelo once remarked that “In painting, the idea is an image that the intellect of the painter has to see with interior eyes in the greatest silence and secrecy”. That’s why the prophet Jeremiah has his mouth covered & finger extended in the ‘signum harpocraticum’, an ancient gesture of silence signifying profound esoteric knowledge.

Origen, Christianity’s first theologian, states that you will not understand the prophet’s wisdom “if you do not listen in a hidden manner”. Jeremiah’s books in the Old Testament, like all scripture & art, require an esoteric interpretation.

cycloneconey

(For Fuji) 1927 – The Cyclone roller coaster opens on Coney Island

1945 – The United Nations Charter is signed by 5o nations

1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall

2000 – Pope John Paul II reveals the third secret of Fátima

2015 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution

***

Sun Maiden ROXANA VILLARoxana Villa

Calendar Of The Soul, 14th Week [June 26, 2016 – July 02, 2016]

SUMMER                 

Surrendering to senses’ revelation

I lost the drive of my own being,

And dreamlike thinking seemed

To daze and rob me of myself.

Yet quickening there draws near

In sense appearance cosmic thinking.

***

john-the-baptist-preaching

Who is this John the Baptist? (continued)

Before JB baptizes Jesus, opening the way for the cosmic Christ, he brings about an opening for many people, preparing them for their roles as disciples of Christ. By baptizing with water, JB brought about an initiatory near death experience, loosening the etheric body, so they could remember their life as a spiritual being. Into this experience of the past, John spoke his mighty admonition: “Change your hearts and minds!”

After the dove descended on Jesus & He became the Christ, & John the Baptist said, “He must increase and I must decrease’” JB was in prison until his beheading. Then his role changed from that of the “voice of one calling in the wilderness“, to a more inward voice, heard in the stillness of the soul.

Herod who had made him prisoner is haunted by this inner voice. Herod’s wife is also affected & wants to silence this uncomfortable voice, so she has John the Baptist beheaded.

The spirit, or angel, of John the Baptist, becomes the guardian of the apostles, appearing especially in the “rich young man” -Lazarus, continuing his mighty task thru him. It is Lazarus, who undergoes the first initiation in the ‘New Mysteries’, accomplished thru Christ Jesus, achieving the name John. But Instead of being performed in the secret inner sanctum of the temple, as it was in the past, this new initiation was done as an example, out in plain sight. It is not coincidence that they both take on the name John, because Johannes E-O-Ah is a powerful title sounding a high stage of initiation.

Lazarus John, ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’, is the only one who is able to remain mindful thru the events of Passion Week. He is there in full consciousness on Golgotha at the “Turning Point of Time” with Mary the Mother. And, along with Mary Magdalene, he is able to behold the Risen Christ on Easter Sunday.

He becomes the writer of the Gospel of St. John, the most spiritual book in the New Testament. He lives a long life, taking Mother Mary with him to the island of Patmos in Greece, where he is able to receive the prophetic vision of the Book of Revelation, with help from John the Baptist & other heavenly sources, bringing us a vision of the future destiny of humankind.

And the voice of John the Baptist can still be heard today, reminding us to, ‘Make Straight the path’.

Tomorrow I will try to bring a synthesis to this theme

Until soon

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

***

uriel RS 2

“For what lies inside the human being is the whole spiritual cosmos in condensed form. In our inner organism we have an image of the entire cosmos”.~ Rudolf Steiner

Come Join us for our St. John’s Festival – Sunday June 26th, 2pm – 4pm

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

He Must Increase but I Must Decrease–  Exploring the Mysteries of Midsummer   

Hammer Dulcimer – Dr. Elaine Wagner

Guest Speaker Robert Karp  Co-Director of the Biodynamic Association

Rudolf Steiner’s Summer Mantra, Read by Elisabeth Swisher

Labyrinth Walk with  Hazel Archer Ginsberg

*PLEASE BRING YOUR JOURNAL, & eurythmy shoes if you have them*

From-The St. John Imagination: The Four Seasons and The Archangels Lecture IV:

“…Thus there arises an imagination of the Trinity, which is really the St. John Imagination. The background of it is Uriel…”

Schaue unser Weben

Das leuchtende Erregen

Das wärmende Leben } The Heights

Lebe irdisch Erhaltendes

Und atmend Gestaltetes –

Als wesenhaft Waltendes } The Depths

Fühle dein Menschengebeine

Mit himmlischen Scheine

Im waltenden Weltenvereine } The Midst, The inner being of Man

Es werden Stoffe verdichtet

Es werden Fehler gerichtet

Es werden Herzen gesichtet. } The Whole, sounding as song & trumpet

The Heights:

Behold our weaving, the kindling radiance, the warming life.

The Depths:

Live in the earth’s sustaining, and in the form-giving breathing,

with the power of true being.

The Midst, The inner being of humanity:

Feel your very bones suffused with heavenly glory

in the sovereign yoga of the worlds.

The Whole:

Substances are densified,

Faults are judged and rectified,

Hearts are sifted – Receive the light

~Rudolf Steiner, Dornach 1923

For more info. Contact Hazel ReverseRitual@gmail.com

Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

I Am a Thought Made manifest

Chicago Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Speaking with the Stars

25 June 2016 – ASTRO WEATHER: Look high in the northwest after darkness falls & you’ll be greeted by the familiar sight of the Big Dipper. It forms the body & tail of Ursa Major the Great Bear. Use the Pointers, the two stars at the end of the Dipper’s bowl, to find Polaris, which lies due north. Polaris marks the end of the Little Dipper’s handle. On June evenings, the relatively faint stars of this dipper arc directly above Polaris.

big dipper june

1767 – Mexican Indians riot sending the Jesuit priests home

1767 – Deathday of Georg Philipp Telemann, a German Baroque composer & multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family’s wishes. Telemann one of the most prolific in history, was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time—he was compared favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather & namesake of his son & to George Frideric Handel. Telemann made an important link between the late Baroque & early Classical styles.

1822 – Deathday of E. T. A. Hoffmann, a Prussian Romantic author of fantasy & horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman & caricaturist. His stories form the basis of Jacques Offenbach’s famous opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He is also the author The Nutcracker of which the famous ballet is based.

1876 – Battle of the Little Bighorn & the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.

1900 – The Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts that are of great historical & religious significance.

1910 – Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird is premiered in Paris

1924 – Beginning of the Curative Pedagogical Course by Rudolf Steiner in Dornach

1940 –France officially surrenders to Germany

1947 –The Diary of Anne Frank is published

1950 – The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea

1978 – The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade

1991 – Croatia & Slovenia declare independence from Yugoslavia

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weaving-garlands carl herpferCarl Herpfer

~Weaving garlands of wort & hibiscus,

I am a thought made manifest

~hag

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john-the-baptist fore

Who is this John the Baptist?

Studying Rudolf Steiner’s work on the Gospels, we gain profound insights that have the power to touch deep truths buried in the unconscious regions of our soul, regarding one of the most powerful personalities in the history of humankind. In the Gospel of St. John the Evangelist, right after the mighty description of the evolution of the cosmos, we read: “There came a man, send from God, his name was John.” (John 1.6.)

In the original Greek, Johannes, is made up of the vowels “E – O – Ah“, three very powerful Eurythmy gestures. The “E” represents the upright human being – one arm pointing toward heaven, the other grounding toward the earth; an admonition to be here now. The “O” is a round gesture of “inwardness”, an embracing of the soul. The “Ah” is an opening to heavenly revelation; both arms raised in a V, becoming a vessel that opens to heaven, a gesture of “vision”.

The Gospel of St. Luke describes the birth of John; how an angel appeared to the priest Zechariah, telling him, “your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, & you shall  call him John.” (Luke 1.13.) The angel also foretells the task of this being John: “… even from his mother’s womb will he be filled with the Holy Spirit. And he will turn many sons of Israel to the Lord their God again. He will be his forerunner and will pave his way, bearing within him the spirit and power of Elijah, to change men’s hearts so that fathers shall rediscover the meaning of childhood, and those who have become alienated from God shall find the meaning of Good again. So shall he make a well-prepared people ready for the Lord “(Luke 1.15-17.)

The birth of John takes place just after the height of Summer, on June 24th, framed by the births of the two Jesus children. On the one hand, the birth of the Matthew Jesus child on January 6th, with the visitation of the ‘three wise men from the East’, taking place in Bethlehem. And months later, we hear of the other birth, of the Luke Jesus child, on December 24th, with the heavenly revelation to the shepherds.

In another mystery, we see the spiritual body or angel of Gautama Buddha, which appears in the etheric-astral realm, first, in the meeting between Elizabeth, (just before John the Baptist is born), with Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1.39-56.) & then also at the revelation to the shepherds (Luke 11.8-15.).

Rudolf Steiner tells us that the Gospel of St. Luke brings us a new form of Christ-centered Buddhism, expressing the kind of love & compassion, that can be understood by even the simplest souls. The connection of the Buddha to JB & his mysterious influence on Christianity can be seen throughout the life of John the Baptist.

After his life as an ascetic, JB begins publicly preaching & baptizing. In the 5th Gospel, Steiner describes how JB was close to the community of the Essenes, as well as with his young cousin, Jesus of Nazareth. John the Baptist’s sermon at the river Jordan shows how the teachings of Buddha come forward in a new form. – Just like the Buddha declared certain truths & warnings in his famous sermon at Benares some five hundred years before, so too did JB speak in a similar way. Buddha says: “Do not think, because you are a Brahman, you are able to advance …“, John changes this admonition to fit his time, saying: “Do not think, because you are children of Abraham …” Buddha gave the teaching of love & compassion – JB gave the parable of the man who has two coats, how we must share with those that have none. And just as the monks came to Buddha with questions, now the tax collectors & soldiers come to John the Baptist.

Yep there’s more tomorrow

Until soon

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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veil fantasie in f minor mozart

Join our community gathering:

Sunday June 26th, 2pm -4pm at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL. 60618. MAP

He Must Increase but I Must Decrease–  Exploring the Mysteries of Midsummer 

with special guest Robert Karp, Co-Director of the Biodynamic Association.

How do we stand wakefully within the sublime mysteries of summer and St. John’s tide? Who is the mysterious archangel of Midsummer described by Rudolf Steiner and what is his relationship to John the Baptist? Can we trace his influence in modern culture, in modern America? What transformation does he seek to bring into our souls and into our communities?

These are some of the questions we will explore in this talk and, in a series of social-artistic exercises that will be incorporated into the talk.

***PLEASE BRING YOUR JOURNAL if you have one***

Hammer Dulcimer  by Dr. Elaine Wagner

Rudolf Steiner’s Summer Mantra, Read by Elisabeth Swisher

Labyrinth Walk with ~hag

For more info. Contact Hazel ReverseRitual@gmail.com