Category Archives: Speaking with the Stars

On the high tide of blessings

Poetry, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars

28 May 2017 – Astro-Weather: Look high in the northwest after darkness falls this week & you’ll be greeted by the familiar sight of the Big Dipper. The Dipper is the sky’s most conspicuous asterism. It makes up 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 evenings in late May, the relatively faint stars of this dipper arc directly above Polaris.

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

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

Remedios Varo

585 BC – the 1st prediction of a solar eclipse by the Greek philosopher & scientist Thales, which occurs while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in Halys, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other eclipse dates can be calculated

1892 – In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club

1961 – Peter Benenson’s article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

1995 – The 7.0 Mw Neftegorsk earthquake shook the Russian settlement of Neftegorsk, with 2,989 deaths &750 injured. The settlement was never rebuilt.

1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

Cecil Dee

~To my body I gave the power of my heart
Bee love & create I said
Beat within the grace of the world’s rhythm
A pulsing radiant sun
In tune with the music of becoming
A ferry thru dark churning waves
An oasis flowing with fresh waters
On the high tide of blessings
To open my head
In pure thought unfolded
~hag

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Chris Manvell

Ascension part 4

When the apostles experienced the Ascension, which was for them not merely the proof of the whole immeasurable significance of the Christ for the life of every human soul after death, but was at the same time, the event thru which they were able to attain the fullest most all-encompassing knowledge of the new relationship between microcosm & macrocosm.

Because of the Ascension the human soul can come into contact with the cosmic sphere where Christ derived the forces for His Resurrection Body. The sphere of the Father, where the Atma, or future Spirit Human, is derived.

Temple du Pont

And now, since in the resurrection, Christ has united the forces of the cosmic midnight hour directly with earth evolution, this created a bridge for all human beings over the cosmic abyss, unlocking the gate between the cosmic midnight hour & the midday moment of cosmic existence. 

The Ascension provided the opportunity for The Holy Spirit, who illuminates individual ego-consciousness, to be able to appear in earthly evolution among human beings at Whitsun, to pour into them the true knowledge of the Mystery of Golgotha & the Ascension in full wisdom.

Rachel Hammel

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is a direct consequence of the Resurrection & the Ascension.

The events of Easter, Ascension & Whitsun form the foundation of the only  moveable feasts in the cycle of the year, which succeed one another in accordance with a strictly cosmic law, having to do with the alignment of Sun, Full Moon & Earth after the Spring Equinox.

Ninette Sombart

At the Baptism the Christ Being united with the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth & therefore was united with earthly evolution as a whole.

At the Transfiguration Christ permeates the etheric body of Jesus. In the scene of the transfiguration, Christ reveals his higher sun nature –to the 3 chosen disciples – A visionary manifestation of the fully transformed etheric body, which radiates light like a Sun.

Alexandr Ivanov

Ascension relates to the Transfiguration & Whitsun to the Baptism. We see in the Ascension the metamorphosis of the scene of the Transfiguration; -& in Whitsun, the transformation of the Baptism by John in the Jordan.

In the Ascension Christ showed the connection to the spiritual Sun forces, which became manifest in the Transfiguration, with the etheric bodies of all human beings.

When Christ entered into Jesus at the Baptism, His Sun-Being took over the ego of Jesus. –After the resurrection the Christ impulse can live within mankind without taking over the ego-consciousness. But in order for this to happen Christ had to Ascend.

10 days after the Ascension or 50 days after the Resurrection, Christ sent the Holy Spirit- that Divine Being of the Trinity that does not overpower, but enhances the ego of humankind.

Now the Christ impulse can enter human souls thru the mediation of the Holy Spirit, so that we can retain ego-consciousness without being overwhelmed by Christ’s powerful sun nature. The benevolent Sun, that gives life generating warmth to all existence, is a bridge, connecting the macrocosm with the microcosm.

Friends, I hope you can stay with me on this, There is still 1 last part

Until soon ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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Sunday May 28th 2017 – 3 pm – 6 pm “I” See Heaven”The Closing Event for the New Art Exhibition by astrologer Victoria Martin

The heavens and stars are symbols of spirit and magic! Here in “I“ See Heaven” are large-scale illustrated paintings of mystic verses. Many stellar traditions are represented via Zoroastrian, Hebrew, Jain, Vedic, Arabian, Islamic and Mesopotamian sacred texts. Some paintings are interactive or provide pose-inside photo ops! Participate in an artistic exercise: “Aura Drawing”, Healing drinks & more…

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

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Art Opening Saturday June 10th 4 pm – 7 pm – The Englewood Arts Collective is Passionate about community work and the power of contemporary art to serve as a conduit for social awareness. Each of the artists are eager to use their skills to challenge public perception of Englewood and Chicago’s South Side, and to demonstrate a truer reflection of the community they all have deep connections with. They aim to inform the general public about the significance and importance of people within a community narrating their own story and image.

Artists:

Tonika Lewis Johnson: http://www.tonijphotography.com/ Her photography project, “From the INside,” seeks to challenge the negative perception of Englewood as  a crime-infested community plagued with poverty, by offering beautifully artistic images of happiness and normalcy from an “insider” perspective.


Sterling Price http://southsideweekly.com/whpk-veteran-pugs-atomz/ also known as Pugs Atomz, an internationally known rapper, Radio Host,  designer, and painter, raised in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. He has released numerous albums, and his music and art has been featured in movies, sports, and video games. Currently, he is also Creative Director of Iridium Clothing Co..

Joe Nelson https://www.joenelsonart.com/ painter, muralist, and graphic designer from Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. His works include large outdoor murals, wood sculptures, and customized vinyl toys to oil canvases. His pieces intersect humor, human behavior, and city life.

Jovanna Jackson is a mosaic, ceramic muralist, and knitter from Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. The content of her pieces varies from abstract to representations of nature, or to love and relationships, increasing self-love and peace. Some of her public art is located in Millennium Park, entitled “Lily a day.” And look for her most current work at Hamilton Park Cultural Center, where she completed a residency holding ceramic and mosaic workshops for the community.

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PDF Exploring the Mysteries of St John’s-Tide

Friday June 23rd 2017  – Zinniker Family Farm N 7399 Bowers Rd. Elkhorn, WI 53121

Pot Luck 6:30 pm – Bee & Stag Bon-fire & Drum Circle 8 pm

We begin with the setting Sun, in the dark of the New Moon.  Thru the drumming of our collective heart-beat, circle dancing, singing to the stars, & blessing the earth, we will celebrate the bright reflection of the Divine within ourselves & each other.

$10 – All Donations go to the Zinniker farm – Bring a folding-chair & your drum, shaker or music maker (or borrow one of ours)

For more info.  Hazel (at) ReverseRitual.com

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St. John’s Festival: Cosmic Rapture Grounded in Jubilant Hearts –

Understanding the evolving human consciousness, we move ecstatic-ritual into Heart-Thinking

SATURDAY June 24th 2017, 1 pm – 4 pm – at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL. 60618. MAP

To pass the test of Summer we will explore many questions:  

  • How do we stand wakefully within the sublime mysteries of the Summer-Tide, to consciously embody ‘the spiritual wisdom of the gods’?
  • Who is the ‘John’ of St. John’s-Tide?
  • What is the mystery of the Bee & Stag? The Dragon-fly, & other elemental beings?
  • Who is the mysterious Archangel of Summer?

Together with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg & Karen Hartz. We will work to strengthen our true “I” – Enlivening our Will Forces, with Social-Artistic Exercises

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The  Center of Anthroposhopyis holding a PDF foundation year training at Urban Prairie this summer

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The Central Regional Council is hosting a Bridging to the ‘Great American Eclipse’ in St. Louis – August 19-22, 2017 stay tuned f

BD Preps

Insight, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars

21 May 2017 – Astro-Weather: The thickening crescent Moon, now below the heads of the Gemini twins, shines near Gamma Geminorum (Alhena), the brightest star in the twins’ feet. Meanwhile, far to the Moon’s lower right, Mars is passing between the horn-tips of Taurus (Beta & Zeta Tauri) The 3 form a diagonal line

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Georges de La Tour.

Birthday of Mary Magdalene, sister of Martha & Lazarus.The Gospels of Luke & Mark say 7 demons were cast out of her by Jesus. She became one of Jesus’ most celebrated disciples. Within the four Gospels she is named at least 12 times, more than most of the apostles. She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, John 19:25–26 notes that she stood by the cross, near the Virgin Mary & the Apostle whom Jesus loved. According to all 4 Gospels,[Matthew 28:1–8] [Mark 16:9–10] [Luke 24:10] [John 20:18] she was, either alone or as a member of a group of women, the 1st to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 & Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.

“…As the Spiritual Soul is the principle in which the Spirit Self develops, this principle is called the “mother of Christ,” or, in the occult schools, the “Virgin Sophia.” Through the fertilisation of the Virgin Sophia the Christ could be born in Jesus of Nazareth. In the occult school of Dionysius, the Intellectual Soul was called “Mary,” and the Sentient Soul “Mary Magdalene.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Gospel of John (Basle): Lecture V

Sandro Botticelli

1265 – Birthday of Dante – according to Rudolf Steiner “…Dante became a seer at the age of thirty-five”. “…All leaders of mankind, who were aware of how the higher spiritual life of man arises out of his lower nature, have comprehended the significance of Easter. Dante therefore described his awakening — in his Divine Comedia — as taking place on Good Friday.”

“…Dante had a friend and teacher Brunetto Latini, who, as I think you will recognise from what we shall presently say, may be described as an Initiate in the true sense of the word.”

“…When you follow the teaching of the Templars, there at the heart of it is a kind of reverence for something of a feminine nature. This femininity was known as the Divine Sophia, the Heavenly Wisdom. Manas is the fifth principle. the spiritual self of man, that must be developed, for which a temple must be built. And, just as the pentagon at the entrance to Solomon’s Temple characterises the fivefold human being, this female principle similarly typifies the wisdom of the Middle Ages, This wisdom is exactly what Dante sought to personify in his Beatrice. Only from this viewpoint can Dante’s Divine Comedy be understood. Hence you find Dante, too, using the same symbols as those which find expression in the Templars, the Christian knights, the Knights of the Grail, and so on. Everything which is to happen [in the future] was indeed long since prepared for by the great initiates, who foretell future events, in the same way as in the Apocalypse, so that souls will be prepared for these events.” ~ Rudolf Steiner, The Temple Legend

1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian unification

1907 – Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco

1941 – World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing over 2,100 men

1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an “unlimited national emergency”

2006 – The 6.4 Mw Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java leaving more than 5,700 dead & 37,000 injured.

2016 – Barack Obama is the first president of United States to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park & meet Hibakusha.

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Susan Bale

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Steller is the golden seed from which the corn arises,
Earthly is the Sun on the hill from which springs god’s day…
My body nourishes some unfolding time & purpose
My heart lifts like the Moon
& power quivers on the water…
I shine bronze & gold
& silver in the mirror of the unveiled Isis…
Today
The fixed stars & the circling planets are glad…
~hag

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Ascension part 3

The festival of Ascension is a mystery not only of the forces of the macro-cosmic kingdom of the Son, into Earth-existence, but also the connection that opens us to the forces proceeding from the sphere of the Father.

The gospel of mark tells us: ‘Then the Lord, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into the heavenly spheres & sat down at the right hand of the World-Father as the fulfiller of His deeds’.

As a result of the conversations over the 40 days with the presence of The Risen Christ, the apostles were able to receive the primal sources of a new imaginative clairvoyance – removing the veil hiding the true image of death which is really a facet of the Father-God in the aspect of Creator – what is born must die, but thru Christ death becomes life.

The scene of the ascension brought to manifestation the inner content of death as a revelation of man’s higher, imaginative consciousness, which has its source in the kingdom of the divine Father.

According to the 5th gospel, the Ascension was for Christ Himself an event which is comparable only with death in human life, where the human becomes a fully spiritual being again.  –  At that moment the true meaning of death was made manifest to the apostles, they beheld it with their own eyes to be a process of union with the world of the Divine.

From that ‘turning point of time’ onward, Rudolf Steiner tells us that, one of the 1st experiences of every human being after death, is a contemplation of Christ’s Ascension, which can reveal to the person’s soul, the true picture of death & its connection to the spiritual world that lies closest to the earth, & with the highest sphere of the Father.

For the person who on earth worked to understand the mystery of Golgotha, this picture of the ascension after death becomes an affirmation, but for the soul that has not worked towards true spiritual knowledge, it is a picture of reproach.  Helping us seek in freedom to understand this mystery in our next life.

Rudolf Steiner tells us: ‘It is the Christ-impulse that works on after death; it is this impulse under whose influence man frees himself from the Moon-sphere, penetrates the starry Sun-sphere & from the impulses given to him by beings of the starry world, is there able to work upon the forming of the physical organism for his next earthly life’. Dornach 15 Sept. 1922

Christ takes our Moon-Karma upon Himself, enabling our soul to find the path of the true Ascension, which leads to the world of the fixed stars.

In the scene of the Ascension we have an indication of the all-encompassing influence of the Christ Being, as the Lord of Karma, upon the life of the human soul after death.

Tomorrow: yet another layer unveiled

Until soon

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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Current Festival & Program Events

Gain the powers of the Sun

Celestial Event, Poetry, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Spring

26 May 2917 – Astro-Weather: While twilight is still bright – Can you catch the thin crescent Moon just above the west-northwest horizon where she is about to set? And how about  Mars to her upper right?

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Devin Beal

“In the karma of every single Anthroposophist is written: Become a person of initiative; observe whether out of the hindrances of your body or any other hindrances that thwart you, you do not discover initiative to be the center of your being. Suffering and joy for you will actually depend on whether or not you can discover personal initiative. As if in letters of gold, there should always stand before the soul of the Anthroposophist: ‘Initiative is part of your karma; much of what meets you in life will depend on whether you can bring this initiative to consciousness.'”  —Rudolf Steiner

National Paper Airplane Day

604 – Deathday of St. Augustine of Canterbury

1293 – An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, killing about 30,000

1521 – Luther outlawed. Called for the burning of his books and called for his arrest. Frederick the Wise of Saxony protected Luther by hiding him in Wartburg Castle. Luther worked tirelessly on a complete translation of the Bible into German. Luther answering charges of heresy before the Diet of Worms in 1521.

1805 – Napoléon Bonaparte assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan Cathedral, the gothic cathedral in Milan.

1828 – Kasper Hauser appears in Nuremberg on Whit Monday “The Child Of Europe”

1830 – The Indian Removal Act is passed by the U.S. Congress; it is signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later.

1896 – Nicholas II becomes the last Tsar of Imperial Russia.

1976 – Deathday of German Philosopher Martin Heidegger

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Gabriela Garza Padilla

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~I have
Fallen face down upon the earth
To gain the powers of the stars…
~hag

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Ascension part 2

For 40 days after the Resurrection, the apostles received from the risen Christ his esoteric teachings, essentially the contents of the 5th Gospel given to us by Rudolf Steiner. -Then the apostles witnessed The Christ, being received into the clouds, passing out of their sight – an expansion of His being, like a flower unfolding into the universe.

John Martin

Rudolf Steiner tells us, that at the time of the Ascension the apostles beheld the vivid spiritual reality of what would have happened to earth existence if the mystery of Golgotha had not occurred. – It was revealed to them that human bodies would have so deteriorated that the whole of humanity would have perished.

Edvard Munch

Our physical bodies have earth-gravity, but our etheric bodies have sun levity, so if Christ’s deed had not taken place our etheric bodies would have left the physical for good & the existence of humankind would have inevitably come to an end, having no formative forces to give them life.

Image result for christ in the sun

We know that Until the Mystery of Golgotha, the sun was the dwelling place of The Christ. Because Christ’s deed unities his being with the earth, the etheric nature of the human being, in its upward striving, can unite itself with the power & impulse of Christ in the etheric of the earth.

The human etheric body, which was in danger of being drawn out towards the sun, like clouds, & dispersed –is held together, contained by Christ, thru His cosmic deed, so that we are not dispersed, but can remain individuals.

 

Christ remains in union with the earth, which rescues for the earth the sunward-striving etheric body. -But to be able to take effect in a human being’s spirit & soul nature, The Christ impulse must also be able to penetrate into the human soul during sleep. And this is only possible if a person consciously recognizes the significance of the Mystery of Golgotha. The spiritual effect can only proceed from a true recognition of its content.

Larry Young

Humankind must come to realize that on the one hand Christ holds back the etheric body in its urge towards the sun; but on the other hand, humankind’s ego & astral body, can receive the Christ impulse only in the time between falling asleep & waking – which is only possible when knowledge of this impulse has been acquired in waking life.

Tomorrow: Another layer

~Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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An invitation from Petra Zinniker (from the oldest Biodynamic farm in the USA) ‘We will have the 2017 spring prep day this Saturday, May 27th. This includes taking out the preps from last fall and stuffing the deer bladders with yarrow.

We will start at 1:30pm and end with a potluck supper. Bring clothes and shoes so you can “dig in” and a dish to pass. Hope to see you there’.

Zinniker Family Farm  – N 7399 Bowers Rd. Elkhorn, WI 53121 – 262-642-5775 zinnikers@zinnikerfarm.com www.zinnikerfarm.com

There will be some folks from the branch who will be taking the short road trip (about an hour) to attend. If you would like to join us contact Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

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Sunday May 28th 2017 – 3 pm – 6 pm “I” See Heaven”The Closing Event for the New Art Exhibition by astrologer Victoria Martin

The heavens and stars are symbols of spirit and magic! Here in “I“ See Heaven” are large-scale illustrated paintings of mystic verses. Many stellar traditions are represented via Zoroastrian, Hebrew, Jain, Vedic, Arabian, Islamic and Mesopotamian sacred texts. Some paintings are interactive or provide pose-inside photo ops! Participate in an artistic exercise: “Aura Drawing”, Healing drinks & more…

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

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PDF Exploring the Mysteries of St John’s-Tide

Friday June 23rd 2017  – Zinniker Family Farm N 7399 Bowers Rd. Elkhorn, WI 53121

Pot Luck 6:30 pm – Bee & Stag Bon-fire & Drum Circle 8 pm

We begin with the setting Sun, in the dark of the New Moon.  Thru the drumming of our collective heart-beat, circle dancing, singing to the stars, & blessing the earth, we will celebrate the bright reflection of the Divine within ourselves & each other.

$10 – All Donations go to the Zinniker farm – Bring a folding-chair & your drum, shaker or music maker (or borrow one of ours)

For more info.  Hazel (at) ReverseRitual.com

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St. John’s Festival: Cosmic Rapture Grounded in Jubilant Hearts

Sunday June 25th 2017, 2 pm – 4 pm – at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL. 60618. MAP

Come join our Initiatory Workshop/Ritual, to discover the New Mysteries of St. Johns-Tide. To pass the test of Summer we will explore many questions:

  • How do we stand wakefully within the sublime mysteries of the Summer-Tide, to consciously embody ‘the spiritual wisdom of the gods’?
  • Who is the mysterious Archangel of Summer?
  • Who is John the Baptist? What do his sayings “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” And “He must increase, but I must decrease.” really mean?
  • What is the secret to healing the ‘soul-fever’ so prevalent in society today?
  • What is the mystery of the Dragon-fly, & other elemental beings?
  • How can we understand the ‘Cycle of the Year as Breathing Process of the Earth’?

 Together we will work to strengthen our true “I”, enlivening our will forces with various social-artistic exercises, Including: ‘Seeing into the Etheric World’ thru the ‘After-Image’, Eurythmy, & an exploration of Karmic investigations.

$30– (or pay what you can, no one will be turned away for lack of funds, contact Hazel if you’d like to do work exchange) All materials included

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – is a Spiritual Midwife, and Trans-denominational Minister, working in an eclectic style that inspires connections – initiating us into the magic, waiting to be revealed, in the cycle of the seasons.   Festivals Coordinator & Council Member of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, and the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society. Founder of Reverse Ritual – Understanding Anthroposophy Through the Rhythms of the Year

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The  Center of Anthroposhopyis holding a PDF foundation year training at Urban Prairie this summer

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The Central Regional Council is hosting a Bridging to the ‘Great American Eclipse’ in St. Louis – August 19-22, 2017 stay tuned for details

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The Christ-will encircling us holds sway…

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Speaking with the Stars, Spring

25 May 2017 – Astro-Weather: New Moon exact  at 2:44 p.m. CDT. At its New phase, Bella Luna crosses the sky with the Sun,  & so remains hidden by our day star. Because the Moon reaches perigee, the closest point in its orbit around Earth, only six hours later (at 8:21 p.m. CDT), residents in coastal areas can expect higher than normal tides for the next few days. At perigee, the center of the Moon lies 221,958 miles from Earth’s center.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?” Cicero, Orator (46 BCE)

*Ascension – 40 days after Easter

Komet Halley 1910: Das Betreten der Milchstraße ist bei Strafe verboten!

240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.

1085 – Death-day of Pope Gregory VII – One of the great reforming popes, best known for the ‘Investiture Controversy’, attacking the practice of simony (trafficking for money in “spiritual things”- named after Simon Magus, who is described in Acts 8:9–24 as offering Peter & John, payment in exchange for their empowering him to impart the Holy Spirit to anyone he laid hands on) & his dispute with Henry IV. In Rudolf Steiner’s Karma Lectures Vol. I/12 he was revealed as Haeckel in a previous life.

“…We will take another very well-known personality, Ernst Haeckel. Ernst Haeckel is famous as an enthusiastic adherent of a certain materialistic Monism — enthusiastic, one may say, to the point of fanaticism. He is well enough known to you; I need not give you any description of Haeckel. Now when we are led back from this personality to a former incarnation, we come to Pope Gregory VII, the monk Hildebrand, who afterwards became Pope Gregory VII.

I have chosen this instance so that you may see how differently the same individuality may express himself externally, in accordance with the cultural “climate” of the period. One would certainly not expect to look for the reincarnation of Pope Gregory VII in the 19th century representative of materialistic Monism.

The things that a man brings to manifestation on the physical plane, with the means afforded by external civilisation, are far less important to the spiritual world than one is inclined to suppose. Behind the personalities of the monk Hildebrand and Haeckel lies something wherein they are alike and this is of much greater account than the differences between them. One of them fights to the utmost to enhance the power of Roman Catholicism, and the other fights to the utmost against Roman Catholicism, but for the spiritual world it makes little difference. These things, fundamentally speaking, are important for the physical world only; they are quite different from the underlying elements in human nature which count in the spiritual world…”

Ralph_Waldo_Emerson_Quote

1803 – Birthday of Ralph Waldo Emerson an American essayist, lecturer, & poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism.

1803- Birthday of  Edward Bulwer Lytton an English novelist, poet, playwright, & politician. Theosophists Annie Besant & especially Helena Blavatsky incorporated his thoughts & ideas, from: ‘The Last Days of Pompeii’, ‘Vril’, ‘The Power of the Coming Race’ & my fav. ‘Zanoni’, in her own books. He coined the phrases “the great unwashed”,”pursuit of the almighty dollar”, “the pen is mightier than the sword”, “dweller on the threshold”, as well as the well-known opening line “It was a dark and stormy night”.

1904 – Birthday of Wilhelm Jordan a German writer & politician, seen as “a precursor of Nietzsche and pioneer of Darwin in Germany”; Known for his books ‘Mysterium Demiurgos’ & his translation of the Edda.

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

Under the clouds
The Robins nod & bow & walk & fly…
All birds
Of the ethers spin
In countless exhaled breaths…
We are growing, remembering, forgetting, Becoming…
We are the many…
One face changing expression..

~hag

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*Ascension

William Blake

“…The Christ-will encircling us holds sway, In world rhythms, bestowing Grace upon souls…”

However closely heaven & earth are aligned, their relationship is not always the same. In this we see the miracle of the seasons –the breathing-in & breathing-out of the earth soul.

At the time of the Ascension of Christ, nature celebrates the ascension of the soul of the earth. It is not by chance that the 40 days between Easter & Ascension coincide with the spring season when the earth soul begins its out-breath. Every year, when the earth breathes out in springtime, the mystery of the Ascension of Christ, Who is the Spirit of the Earth, is renewed.

Ascension is a festival of the hierarchies. Remember, that when Christ descended thru the heavens, & came into human form, the hierarchies lost His presence. They could only find Him by looking into the depths  – bearing witness to  the God Who entered physical existence, to remind earthly humanity of its cosmic citizenship.

At the Ascension, the mystery of the resurrection was brought for the 1st time to the company of heaven – Signaling the return of the lost world of earth into the community of the stars. Since that time, the life of this planet is renewed with the cosmic forces that stream earthward. 

The sacrifice of Christ initiated on earth, was the antidote to the consequences of death brought on by the Fall – the redemptive deed that turns death into life.

The Concentrated seed of Christ’s deed, continues to grow in the earth thru the connection to the stars. When the Risen Christ returned ‘to sit at the right hand of the Father’, at the Ascension, He became the bridge between the above & below.

As the Christ has ascended, so too, in the fullness of time will humanity be transfigured. The company of the hierarchies wait, for us, their younger siblings to ascend in our thinking to meet them in fellowship, as they work all the while at our sides.

The Christ-Revelation ‘coming in the clouds’ is here- Showing us the bridge that brings a harmonizing spring-dialogue between the worlds. At the Ascension Christ becomes “Lord of the heavenly forces upon earth”. 

The fulfillment of the secret promise of the Ascension is the Second Coming. It was said to the apostles, “He will come again, in like manner, as you have seen Him go up into the clouds of heaven.”  The Ascension is the seed of this Second Coming, & the Second Coming is the fulfillment of the Ascension.

There is more to think & share –  Tomorrow

~Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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Current Festival & Program Events

3 Secrets-100 years after Fatima

Celestial Event, Chicago Event, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars

13 May 201 – Astro-Weather:  3 main stars shine after dark in May: Arcturus high in the southeast, Vega much lower in the northeast, & Capella in the northwest.

In early dawn Sunday morning, look for Saturn lower right of the Moon. Much farther to the lower right of this pair is fiery Antares.

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The 100 year anniversary of The Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima: Between May 13 & October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, in Portugal.

Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners & for the conversion of Russia. The third visionary, Lucia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun & died in 2005 at the age of 97.

Mary gave the children three secrets. Since Francisco died in 1919 & Jacinta the following year, both of the Spanish flu, Lucia revealed the first secret in 1927, concerning devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell.

Pope John Paul II was supposed to reveal the third secret in 2000; but we only received a part which spoke of a “bishop in white” who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets & arrows into him. Many people linked this to the assassination attempt against Saint John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981.

Yesterday, Pope Francis headed to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in northern Portugal to celebrate the centenary of the first appearances of the Virgin Mary as described by three shepherd children on May 13, 1917.

Fatima is a small city in central Portugal where the landscape is dry & rocky. For centuries, people made their living raising sheep & other animals Some people wonder about a connection to Islam because the village has the same name as the Prophet Muhammad’s favorite daughter.

In May 1917, three shepherd children — two girls & a boy — claimed they saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The children described Mary as “a lady dressed all in white, more brilliant than the sun.” Mary told the children that praying the rosary would end what was then called The Great War — World War I— which left 17 million dead.

According to the children, Mary appeared to them six times that year. In one appearance, Mary said a miracle would occur on Oct. 13, 1917. Initially the children were scolded & even threatened with death for spreading what were considered baseless stories. But pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Fatima on that date & awaited Mary’s appearance. In what came to be called the “Miracle of the Sun,” many reported seeing visions in the sky while others reported miracles of healing. A newspaper of the day reported, “Before their dazzled eyes the sun trembled, the sun made unusual & brusque movements, defying all the laws of the cosmos, & according to the typical expression of the peasants, ‘the sun danced.’”

In 1930, the Catholic Church declared the events at Fatima “worthy of belief,” & chapels, sanctuaries, shrines & other memorials to the events popped up.

Fatima attracts between 5 – 6 million pilgrims a year, making it one of the most popular shrines in the world. The largest numbers come on May 13 — the anniversary of the first apparitions.

Pope Francis will be the fourth pontiff to visit Fatima; Pope Paul VI marked the 50th anniversary in 1967, John Paul II went three times & Benedict XVI visited once.

While there, Pope Francis will canonize the shepherd children — Jacinta & Francisco, & Lucia dos Santos.

Lucia dos Santos became a Carmelite nun &, in 1941, wrote her memoirs. In them, she said Mary gave the children three secrets, or prophecies, two of which she revealed at that time. The first secret was a vision of hell that Mary showed to the children, full of lakes of fire with screaming souls in torment. The second was that World War I would end — it did, a little more than a year after the children saw their first apparition — & that another great war would come if the people of Russia were not converted to Catholicism. They weren’t, & World War II began in 1939. There was also a prediction that Russia would “spread her errors throughout the world,” which many believe is a reference to Soviet communism.

Sister Lucia wasn’t eager to share the third prophecy, but was compelled to write it down in the case of her untimely death. She told Rome the secret could be revealed in 1960, but the Vatican decided to keep it sealed to avoid inflaming the wild speculation that was already connected with the so-called Third Secret of Fatima. Sister Lucia died in 2005 at age 97.

In 2000, then-Pope John Paul II — now St. John Paul — ordered the secret published. The prophecy is said to be an apocalyptic vision of a terrible persecution. The publication hardly dampened the fervor over the Third Secret since the assassination attempt against John Paul took place on May 13, 1981 — the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima — as he rode around St. Peter’s Square wearing his white cassock, the traditional vestment of the Bishop of Rome. It seemed like a near-fulfillment of the prophecy & John Paul said that he believed the Virgin Mary saved his life by guiding the bullet past a major artery. He later sent the bullet to Fatima where it was placed in the crown of the original image of Our Lady of Fatima, fitting perfectly into the only empty space left available when the crown was made 40 years earlier.

But all of the Third Secret has not been published in full. And it is thought that people like Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — later Pope Benedict XVI — have worked to actively suppress it.

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

Sali Duren

~In the dream
A multitude of lights
Fluttered, becoming birds:
Hawks, herons, ibis, geese, flamingo, quail, vultures, lapwings & owls –
They stormed my head
Calling to each other
Then settled in the branches of my arms…
~hag

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TONIGHT: Saturday May 13th 2017, 7:30 pm – 9 pm

‘Proffered Words and the Landscape of Gratitude’ A poetic journey into the heart of a life written and performed by Joen Dealande (Barbara Danner)

$10 Love Donation

After the show Join us for an open conversation about the Elderberries Initiative

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 Harry Clark

Sunday, May 14, 2017- a Mother’s Day Treat

***12:30 pm at the Christian Community 2135 W. Wilson Ave, Chicago

Beat the Devil!  Performed by Glen Williamson

Based on Goethe’s play (Parts I and II) (Ninety minutes including an intermission. Yes, the whole story!)

$15

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Current Festival & Program Events