Category Archives: Spring

Swallow the light & praise the spectrum

Celestial Event, Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Festival, Insight, Lecture, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Spring

4 April 2017 – Astro-Weather : Near the end of twilight at this time of year, Arcturus, the bright “Spring Star” climbing in the east (well to the left of brighter Jupiter), shines at the same height as Sirius, the brighter “Winter Star” descending in the southwest’

Saturn rises shortly after 1am CDT & climbs high in the south by the time morning twilight begins. The ringed planet lies in the northwestern corner of Sagittarius the Archer, where it appears nearly stationary relative to the background stars, getting ready for its retrograde journey starting tomorrow!

***

Remedios Varo

“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.”~ H.G. Wells

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

El Greco

33 AD – The Easter Resurrection

1st day of Sham el-Nisim -an Egyptian national holiday marking the beginning of spring. The name of the holiday is derived from the Egyptian name of the Harvest Season, known as Shemu, which means a day of creation. According to annals written by Plutarch during the 1st century AD, the Ancient Egyptians used to offer salted fish, lettuce, & onions to their deities on this day.

After the Christianization of Egypt, the festival became associated with the other Christian spring festival, Easter. Over time, Shemu morphed into its current form & its current date, As Egypt became Arabized, the term Shemu found a rough phono-semantic match in Sham el-Nessim, or “Smelling/Taking In of the Zephyrs,” which represents the way in which Egyptians celebrate the holiday.

Early in the morning of this day, many folks, especially women, break an onion, & smell it; & in the course of the afternoon many of the citizens of Cairo ride or walk a little way into the country, or go in boats, generally northward, to take the air, or, as they term it, smell the air, which on that day they believe to have a wonderfully beneficial effect. People spend all day out picnicking in any space of green, public gardens, on the Nile, or at the zoo. Traditional food eaten on this day consists mainly of fesikh (a fermented, salted and dried grey mullet), lettuce, scallions or green onions, tirmis, and colored boiled eggs

April 5-6, 1909 – Rudolf Steiner laid the foundation stone for the Rosicrucian Temple of the “Francis of Assisi” Lodge in Malsch  

1969 –Massive antiwar demonstrations occur in many U.S. cities

“If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read “Vietnam.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967

***

Maria Gracia-Plotter

POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Drink the cup of heaven – She told me
Let grace roll down your head like the blessings of baptism
Drink in the Earth to let the young sprouts unfurl within
According to their purpose…
Swallow the light & praise the spectrum
That spills out the threads of eternity…
…Then you may Be the fire feed with breath Begotten...
~hag

***

Sarah Bettle

“The Harmony of the Universe at the Moment of the Mystery of Golgotha “ by Willi Sucher

“The moment of the (original) Mystery of Golgotha, that is, the time from the 3rd to the 5th of April 33 AD, displays a unique situation in the cosmos. During those days there existed a harmony throughout the heavens, right down to the Earth, which did not exist before and will not return (if at all) for 26,000 years.”

The essence of this essay by Astrosopher Willi Sucher is that the ‘3 Zodiacs’ were aligned:

  1. The Constellations (the fixed Stars or astral body of the cosmos – World Soul)
  2. The Signs (associated with the seasons, with the yearly rhythms of life in nature – an image of the etheric, or life forces, in the universe)
  3. The Houses (that which radiates as space segments from the geographical point where one stands – an image of the physical body)

“At the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, particularly on Easter Sunday just before sunrise, these space sectors were oriented into space in perfect harmony. This wonderful harmony of the three Zodiacs, between heaven and Earth, is a vivid symbol, or image of the resurrection body that was then re-established.

The disharmony before was connected with the ‘Fall’ of humanity, and with the corruption of the spirit body. The ‘Fall’ in Paradise did not mean that only Adam and Eve went through those experiences, the entire universe was affected and changed in that moment. The position of the Earth was changed.

We are faced in our work with the difference between the geocentric and heliocentric world conceptions. Rudolf Steiner, on the basis of his spiritual investigations, pointed out that in the medieval Rosicrucian schools the pupil was first introduced to the geocentric view. Then, when the pupil had learned this, he was told that this is how it should be, but that it is not so on account of the ‘Fall.’ The Earth had thereby lost its central position. That which happened in Paradise affected the entire Earth and therefore the possibility of disharmony entered cosmic history.

However, on that Sunday morning, 5 April 33 AD, just before sunrise, the original harmony was re-established. The cosmos was jubilant about what happened when the Christ rose from the grave of the Earth. At the same time it was the hope of all future Earth existence and of all future humanity. “~Summary & excerpt from Astrosopher Willi Sucher’s Cosmic Christianity

Jacopo di Cione

And so it is my friends, that the Easter garden begins to bloom, that our souls can behold, like the Magdalana before us, The Risen One as the gardener of the New Jerusalem.

The Tomb becomes the altar, a sacred place to commune with the gods – with the souls of the departed as our intermediaries. The tomb becomes the Round table, and the Parsifal question leads us to find Christ in the etheric.

This will be the subject of our Easter-Tide Discourse

Until soon

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

***

Kari Marie Olson

The Bridging Project
Between Life and Death from Soul to Soul
April 5, 2017 – 7:15 pm CST 

“This dulling of human feelings of wonder is connected with what was not taken up in the age approaching the twentieth century. If we wish to speak of the causes of our present catastrophic events, we will find that these causes are not human actions, but instead are sins of omission. This is the essential point.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Historical Necessity and Freewill, Lecture 6, “New Spiritual Impulses in History – Their Rejection by the Materialistic World Conception and the Result of the Catastrophic Events of World War I” … Our focus for the April 5 meeting

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided amongst six volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.

This collection of lectures has been republished under the title: “The Influence of the Dead on Destiny”, here is the link:
https://steiner.presswarehouse.com/books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=179577
The following is the link to the audio book and lectures:
http://www.rudolfsteineraudio.com/influencedeaddestiny1917/influencedestinydead1917.html

This will be a “go-to-meeting” 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:
Option 1.  Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended)
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/328407941
Option 2.  Call in using your telephone.
United States: +1 (312) 757-3117
Canada: +1 (647) 497-9373
Access Code: 328-407-941
Option 3. You can use a combination of Options 1 and 2 (computer and phone). If you use the phone, please turn off the audio on your computer.

Please join us!
Agenda for our Study Call

7:15 Verse
7:18 Welcome and Introductions
7:25 Study led by six volunteers
Alberto – beginning to page 79
Marianne D – page 79 to 81
Hazel – page 81 to page 83
Raven – page 83 to page 85
Marianne F-D – page 85 to 87
Travis – page 87 to end
8:05 Conversation
8:20 Identify volunteers for the next study call, June 14
8:25 Share initial thoughts regarding Central Region gatherings in August (time of the solar eclipse) and November (All Souls)
8:28 Close with verse

***

EASTER-TIDE EVENTS for 2017: (PLEASE NOTE: THE ENTIRE SCHEDULE HAS CHANGED FROM THE PRINTED CALENDAR)

Holy Week Gatherings:

This year we dedicate our study to those who have crossed the threshold. We will be reading to the dead from Chapter 5 of ‘An Outline of Esoteric Science’, entitled ‘Initiation’. We will incorporate ‘The Calendar of the Soul’ verse for Easter,  Group eurythmy, & focused discussion.

Study: 9 April 2017, Palm Sunday 2 pm – 3 pm

*SPECIAL EVENT: 3 pm – 6 pm – Work Party at the branch with Elisabeth Swisher & the youth from CWS – All are Welcome

Study: 13 April 2017, Maundy Thursday 7 pm – 8 pm  

Study: 14 April 2017, Good Friday 7 pm – 8 pm

***

15 April 2017, Holy Saturday – Our Easter-Tide Festival:
‘The Mystery of Golgotha – Then & Now’
2 pm – 4 pm

What was the Mystery of Golgotha?
What is the Mystery now?
What will it be for the future?
~Art Projections & Discourse with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Group work: Based on Baruch Urieli’s
‘Learning to Experience the Etheric World,
Empathy, the After-Image and a New Social Ethic’

$10 Donation & Snacks to Share Encouraged

***

16 April 2017, Easter Sunday – 4 pm – 6 pm

The Midwest Eurythmy Group will perform
The Easter Verse from the Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner & Bach Fugue Bb minor ‘5 Voices’ & Prelude #22

Then we will gather for our study & the reading to the dead from Chapter 5 of ‘An Outline of Esoteric Science’, entitled ‘Initiation’ – We will incorporate an Artistic Activity related to the study, Group Eurythmy, & Focused Discussion.

$10 Donation goes to support the Midwest Eurythmy Group
& Snacks to Share Encouraged
(Hazel will bring her famous slow cooked leg of lamb :

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

***

Pecking Seeds

Celestial Event, Chicago Event, Festival, Insight, Lecture, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Spring

3 April 2017 – Astro-Weather: First-quarter Moon (exact at 1:29 p.m. CDT). You can find the half-lit orb high in the southwest as darkness falls; it doesn’t set until about 2:30 AM tomorrow morning. Bella Luna is in south-central Gemini, shining under Pollux of the Castor-&-Pollux pair, & upper left there’s brighter Procyon. Look way below Procyon for Sirius, brighter still.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

3 April 33 is, according to the spiritual scientific research, the DeathDay of Christ Jesus

José de Ribera

421 – Deathday of Mary of Egypt, also known as Maria Aegyptica. In Goethe’s Faust Mary of Egypt is one of the 3 penitent saints who pray to the Virgin Mary for forgiveness for Faust. Her words are set by Mahler in his 8th Symphony, as the final saint’s appeal to the Mater Gloriosa.

Her Story: At the age of twelve she ran away from her parents to the city of Alexandria. Here she lived an extremely dissolute life. In her Vita it states that she often refused the money offered for her sexual favors, as she was driven “by an insatiable & an irrepressible passion,” and that she mainly lived by begging, supplemented by spinning flax.

After seventeen years of this lifestyle, she traveled to Jerusalem for the Great Feasts of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. She undertook the journey as a sort of “anti-pilgrimage,” stating that she hoped to find in the pilgrim crowds at Jerusalem even more partners in her lust. She paid for her passage by offering sexual favors to other pilgrims, & she continued her habitual lifestyle for a short time in Jerusalem. Her Vita relates that when she tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the celebration, she was barred from doing so by an unseen force. Realizing that this was because of her impurity, she was struck with remorse, & upon seeing an icon of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) outside the church, she prayed for forgiveness & promised to give up the world (i.e., become an ascetic). Then she attempted again to enter the church, & this time was permitted in. After venerating the relic of the true cross, she returned to the icon to give thanks, & heard a voice telling her, “If you cross the Jordan, you will find glorious rest.” She immediately went to the monastery of Saint John the Baptist on the bank of the River Jordan, where she received absolution & afterwards Holy Communion. The next morning, she crossed the Jordan & retired to the desert to live the rest of her life as a hermit in penitence. She took with her only three loaves of bread, & once they were gone, lived only on what she could find in the wilderness.

Approximately one year before her death, she recounted her life to Saint Zosimas of Palestine, who encountered her in the desert. When he unexpectedly met her in the desert, she was completely naked & almost unrecognizable as human. She asked Zosimas to toss her his mantle to cover herself with, & then she narrated her life’s story to him, manifesting marvellous clairvoyance. She asked him to meet her at the banks of the Jordan, on Holy Thursday of the following year, & bring her Holy Communion. When he fulfilled her wish, she crossed the river to get to him by walking on the surface of the water, & received Holy Communion, telling him to meet her again in the desert the following Lent. The next year, Zosimas travelled to the same spot where he first met her, some twenty days’ journey from his monastery, & found her lying there dead. According to an inscription written in the sand next to her head, she had died on the very night he had given her Communion & had been somehow miraculously transported to the place he found her, & her body was preserved incorrupt. He buried her body with the assistance of a passing lion. On returning to the monastery he related her life story to the brethren, & it was preserved among them as oral tradition until it was written down by St. Sophronius. In Italy, this Mary became associated with the patronage of fallen women much like Mary Magdalene, to whom similar traits were associated.

1682 – Deathday of Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus – There is a play by Helmina von Chézy, with music which Franz Schubert composed for it.

The story concerns the attempt of Rosamunde, who was brought up incognito as a shepherdess by the mariner’s widow Axa, to reclaim her throne. The long-established governor Fulgentius , who already has Rosamunde’s parents on his conscience, attempts to thwart Rosamunde, initially by intrigue, then by a marriage proposal & finally by an attempt at poisoning. Rosamunde, whose claim is backed by a deed in her father’s hand, enjoys the support of Cypriots & the Cretan Prince Alfonso, her intended husband. Finally, all the attempts of Fulgentius fail; he dies by his own poison, & Rosamunde ascends the throne.

1895 – The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality

1922 – Joseph Stalin becomes the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~I have wandered
Into empty temples at night
& looked at the rough faces of sleeping gods
& I have paused with wonder at the entrance of shallow caves
Where the god-seekers smile & wait
Clothed only in their own light…
I know the cool mind of blue sky
& the hot mysteries of earth
While I stand pecking seeds
Or resting on one leg
Watching reflections on the water…
That’s where I found you…
~hag

***

“…Let us bear in mind that the human brain is an actual human Imagination. We are indeed born with a brain, if not a fully developed one, at least with a brain containing the tendencies of growth. It tries to develop to the point of being a realized Imaginative world, to be the impression of an Imaginative world. This is, as it were, the ready-made aspect of our brain, namely, that it is the replica of an Imaginative world. Into this impression of the Imaginative world we then build the conceptual experiences attained during the time between birth and death. During this period we have conceptual experiences; we conceive, we transform the sense perceptions into thoughts; we judge, we conclude, and so on. We fit this into our brain. What kind of activity is this?…” ~Rudolf Steiner, Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy, LECTURE II, Dornach, April 3, 1921 

***

EASTER-TIDE EVENTS in Chicago for 2017:

Holy Week Gatherings:

This year we dedicate our study to those who have crossed the threshold. We will be reading to the dead from Chapter 5 of ‘An Outline of Esoteric Science’, entitled ‘Initiation’. We will incorporate ‘The Calendar of the Soul’ verse for Easter,  Group eurythmy, & focused discussion.

Study: 9 April 2017, Palm Sunday 2 pm – 3 pm

*SPECIAL EVENT: 3 pm – 6 pm – Work Party at the branch with Elisabeth Swisher & the youth from CWS – All are Welcome

Study: 13 April 2017, Maundy Thursday 7 pm – 8 pm 

Study: 14 April 2017, Good Friday 7 pm – 8 pm

***

 

15 April 2017, Holy Saturday –
Our Easter-Tide Festival:
‘The Mystery of Golgotha – Then & Now’
2 pm – 4 pm

What was the Mystery of Golgotha?
What is the Mystery now?
What will it be for the future?
~Art Projections & Discourse with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Group work: Based on Baruch Urieli’s
‘Learning to Experience the Etheric World,
Empathy, the After-Image and a New Social Ethic’

$10 Donation & Snacks to Share Encouraged

***

16 April 2017, Easter Sunday – 4 pm – 6 pm

The Midwest Eurythmy Group will perform The Easter Verse from the Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner & Bach Fugue Bb minor ‘5 Voices’ & Prelude #22

Then we will gather for our study & the reading to the dead from Chapter 5 of ‘An Outline of Esoteric Science’, entitled ‘Initiation’ – We will incorporate an Artistic Activity related to the study, Group Eurythmy, & Focused Discussion.

$10 Donation goes to support the Midwest Eurythmy Group & Snacks to Share Encouraged (Hazel will bring her famous slow cooked leg of lamb 🙂

The Poetry of April

Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Remembering, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Spring

2 April 2017 POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Spring breaks thru
The diaphanous weave of Her dress
Nipples hard against the cold stone…
I am concealed
In the shimmering curtain
Of her fragrant hair –
In a spell of my own casting
Entwined in arms of splendor
About to blossom
Engendered in the in-breath of Her dreaming
Born in magic made manifest
Whirling in love outpouring
Peace & Noise…

~hag

***

Kari Marie Olson

The Bridging Project
Between Life and Death from Soul to Soul
April 5, 2017 – 7:15 pm CST 

“This dulling of human feelings of wonder is connected with what was not taken up in the age approaching the twentieth century. If we wish to speak of the causes of our present catastrophic events, we will find that these causes are not human actions, but instead are sins of omission. This is the essential point.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Historical Necessity and Freewill, Lecture 6, “New Spiritual Impulses in History – Their Rejection by the Materialistic World Conception and the Result of the Catastrophic Events of World War I” … Our focus for the April 5 meeting

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided amongst six volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.

This collection of lectures has been republished under the title: “The Influence of the Dead on Destiny”, here is the link:
https://steiner.presswarehouse.com/books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=179577
The following is the link to the audio book and lectures:
http://www.rudolfsteineraudio.com/influencedeaddestiny1917/influencedestinydead1917.html

This will be a “go-to-meeting” 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:
Option 1.  Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended)
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/328407941
Option 2.  Call in using your telephone.
United States: +1 (312) 757-3117
Canada: +1 (647) 497-9373
Access Code: 328-407-941
Option 3. You can use a combination of Options 1 and 2 (computer and phone). If you use the phone, please turn off the audio on your computer.

Please join us!
Agenda for our Study Call

7:15 Verse
7:18 Welcome and Introductions
7:25 Study led by six volunteers
Alberto – beginning to page 79
Marianne D – page 79 to 81
Hazel – page 81 to page 83
Raven – page 83 to page 85
Marianne F-D – page 85 to 87
Travis – page 87 to end
8:05 Conversation
8:20 Identify volunteers for the next study call, June 14
8:25 Share initial thoughts regarding Central Region gatherings in August (time of the solar eclipse) and November (All Souls)
8:28 Close with verse

***

EASTER-TIDE EVENTS for 2017: (PLEASE NOTE: THE ENTIRE SCHEDULE HAS CHANGED FROM THE PRINTED CALENDAR)

Holy Week Gatherings:

This year we dedicate our study to those who have crossed the threshold. We will be reading to the dead from Chapter 5 of ‘An Outline of Esoteric Science’, entitled ‘Initiation’. We will incorporate ‘The Calendar of the Soul’ verse for Easter,  Group eurythmy, & focused discussion.

Study: 9 April 2017, Palm Sunday 2 pm – 3 pm

*SPECIAL EVENT: 3 pm – 6 pm – Work Party at the branch with Elisabeth Swisher & the youth from CWS – All are Welcome

Study: 13 April 2017, Maundy Thursday 7 pm – 8 pm  

Study: 14 April 2017, Good Friday 7 pm – 8 pm

***

15 April 2017, Holy Saturday – Our Easter-Tide Festival:
‘The Mystery of Golgotha – Then & Now’
2 pm – 4 pm

What was the Mystery of Golgotha?
What is the Mystery now?
What will it be for the future?
~Art Projections & Discourse with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Group work: Based on Baruch Urieli’s
‘Learning to Experience the Etheric World,
Empathy, the After-Image and a New Social Ethic’

$10 Donation & Snacks to Share Encouraged

***

16 April 2017, Easter Sunday – 4 pm – 6 pm

The Midwest Eurythmy Group will perform
The Easter Verse from the Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner & Bach Fugue Bb minor ‘5 Voices’ & Prelude #22

Then we will gather for our study & the reading to the dead from Chapter 5 of ‘An Outline of Esoteric Science’, entitled ‘Initiation’ – We will incorporate an Artistic Activity related to the study, Group Eurythmy, & Focused Discussion.

$10 Donation goes to support the Midwest Eurythmy Group
& Snacks to Share Encouraged
(Hazel will bring her famous slow cooked leg of lamb :

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

Comet LoveJoy & the April Fool

Celestial Event, Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Festival, Insight, Lecture, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Spring

April Fool’s Day 2017 – Astro-Weather:

“…Just as something quite special enters the life of a family with the birth of a new earth-citizen, so something quite different enters the progress of the human race on earth through the appearance of a comet, which breaks through the ordinary process of cosmic existence. It is actually as though something new were born, when a comet appears.

“If we bear this in mind, we shall then encounter in the right way what we call ‘Signs from the Heavens.’ New births in the universe are not always to be greeted with the same joy as the birth of a young citizen into a family. All sorts are born into the universe; those that bring humanity forward as well as those that drive it back.”

“…If we wish to understand the nature of a Comet, wandering as it does in cosmic space regardless of the other laws of the Solar System, we must be clear as to the fact that the Comet carries the laws belonging to the old Moon-existence into our own. Those laws it has preserved, and with those it enters our existence…In the year 1906, during the Congress in Paris, I called attention to the fact that Spiritual investigation from its knowledge of the nature of Comets, was able to say: As the combinations of carbon and hydrogen play the same part on our earth as did the combinations of carbon and nitrogen (cyanogen) on the Old Moon, the cometary life must contain cyanogen compounds, — combinations of carbon and nitrogen. Our Spiritual Science, therefore, some time ago announced that the cometary nature must contain cyanogen in some form. During the last few weeks this fact has been mentioned in all the newspapers as an external fact discovered by spectro-analysis. This is only one case — hundreds of others could be quoted — in which Spiritual investigation builds bridges for the facts of external research. In this case spectro-analysis asserts what Spiritual Science stated years before.” ~from CORRESPONDENCES BETWEEN THE MICROCOSM AND THE MACROCOSM, by Rudolf Steiner, Berlin, 9 March, 1910.

Appearing now: Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak, or “T-G-K”, behaving as expected, high in the northern evening sky all April. It appears fairly large, since it’s passing relatively close to Earth; mostly diffuse & low-surface-brightness but with a sharp nucleus.

Comet C/2017 E4 Lovejoy is the surprise. Discovered on March 10th 2017 at magnitude 12, it was only expected to reach 9th magnitude at its brightest in mid-April. It’s in Pegasus, in the east just before the beginning of dawn; go out 2 hours before sunrise . The Moon won’t interfere until about the morning of the 7th.

Also: The waxing crescent Moon hangs with Aldebaran, the Hyades & Pleiades in the early evening.

Mars & Mercury, together at dusk. By the end of the week Mercury has greatly faded. . .

The huge, bright Winter Hexagon is still in view after dusk, filling the sky to the southwest  & west. It’s the biggest well-known asterism in the sky. Start with brilliant Sirius in the southwest, the Hexagon’s lower left corner. High above Sirius is Procyon. From there look even higher for Pollux & Castor, rightward from Castor to Menkalinan & bright Capella, lower left from there to Aldebaran (near the Moon tonight), lower left to Rigel at the bottom of Orion, & back to Sirius.

This evening Aldebaran is lower right of the Moon, & Betelgeuse is a bit farther to the Moon’s lower left Have you ever closely compared the colors of Betelgeuse & Aldebaran? Can you detect any difference in their color whatsoever? I can’t, really. Yet Aldebaran, is often called an “orange” giant, while Betelgeuse, is usually called a “red” supergiant.

***

Georgia O’Keeffe

April is Poetry Month so here’s my POD (Poem Of the Day)

~I re-member
The perfume of morning
Sharp as I carry the egg of light home
A simple flower unfurling
Slowly after a night of anguish
I sway under a fragmented sky thinking how
Star patterns & Moon-magic pulse within me…
& how
Unseen music follows…
~hag

***

Bea Garth

The Goddess & the April Fool: A guided Imagination

You are walking in a dense forest. The sky is overcast, and the woods are gloomy, although occasionally, a feeble ray of sunlight makes its way through the clouds and the trees. The branches of the trees are bare, although the tips are just beginning to bud. Old leaves from last year’s fall scurry about your feet as an occasional gust of wind blows them about. The ground is, for the most part bare, with occasional patches of snow in the shade. Hints of new green life make their way up through the snow and dead leaves.

As you walk, you notice a grove of beautiful white birches, the pale glint of their trunks and branches, a pleasant contrast in the otherwise dark woods. You walk towards the birch grove and then deep into it. When you are surrounded by the birches, you notice a large tree that looks as if it has been struck by lightning. It’s upper trunk has been split in two, the inner wood has been exposed to the air, dead leaves have blown their way into the nooks of the tree, in every way this tree looks as dead as it can be.

Suddenly you hear a whimsical whistle from behind the fallen lightning struck branches. Out pops “THE FOOL” in his colorful patch work coat, holding his knapsack up on a stick, a white rose in his hand, with a wolf cub snapping at his heels…

“OH DON’T MIND THE WOLF FAWNING ABOUT, HE KEEPS ME HONEST.
I SEE YOU WERE LAMENTING ABOUT THE TREE. DO YOU REALLY THINK IT’S DEAD (He laughs) REMEMBER, EVERY ENDING IS BUT A NEW BEGINNING. IT’S ALL ABOUT TRUST. BELIEF, IN THE ULTIMATE GOODNESS OF CREATION – THAT LIFE HAS A POINT. THAT DEATH IS TRANSFORMATION. THAT SUFFERING CAN BE PURPOSEFUL, WHEN WE BEGIN LIVING CONSCIOUSLY, IN THE HOPE OF A BRIGHT ETERNAL NOW.

OK, I KNOW, AT FIRST GLANCE THINGS SEEM DARK, AND YES, IF YOU LOOK AT THE EVIL OF GREED AND WAR IN THE WORLD, AT THE LOSS OF YOUNG LIVES, THE FAILURE OF PRINCIPLE, BELIEVING IN PEACE, HAVING HOPE & TRUSTING, CAN LOOK PRETTY (clears his throat) FOOLISH. BUT BELIEVE ANYWAY!!! THAT’S MY MOTTO. SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO RISK, TO JUMP INTO THE ABYSS OF BELIEF, TO GO AGAINST EVERYTHING SOCIETY SAYS IS SENSELESS. IT MEANS TRUSTING THE HIGHER GOOD. THE INNER FORCES. WHICH ARE AT THE HEART OF GREAT EVOLUTIONARY ENDEAVORS.
RISK LOOKING LIKE A FOOL. LIVE IN THE MOMENT, OF HOPE FULFILLED.
BE PEACE & PEACE WILL PREVAIL.

HEY WHAT’S THAT OVER THERE…(laughs,) MADE YOU LOOK…

And with that “THE FOOL” is gone. Make sure your shoe laces aren’t tied together as you walk closer to the tree.

You are surprised to see a bright light outlining the figure of a woman. She is clad in brilliant greens and sunny yellows. She holds a large golden basket. Her gaze is steady, her eyes make you think of clear streams running in the middle of old forests, her skin reminds you of the first fair flower of spring, and her hair is long and unbound. At her feet sits a small brown rabbit nuzzling the hem of her skirt. She gestures, indicating that you should come forward. You walk towards her. She points at her covered basket, and lifts the cloth. Inside, you see an astounding array of pastel eggs, all colors, all patterns. You can think of nothing better than to pick one of these beautiful eggs, and have it for your very own. Your hand reaches out, and she shakes her head. You realize that while she wants you to have an egg, she wants you to pick it sight unseen. So, you close your eyes, reach out your hand, and reach into the basket. Eyes still closed, you draw your hand back, holding an egg. You open your eyes, and look upon your egg. What does it look like?

Think to yourself what the decoration on the egg means, and why Ostara, The Goddess of The Spring Resurrection wants you to have this particular gift for the coming season.

After you have looked at your egg, you raise your head to thank the Goddess, but she is gone. You look about for her in vain. You wonder if it has all been a dream. The reality of your heart tells you otherwise, and you know you have received the blessing of the Green Goddess.

As your attention moves from yourself to the forest, you realize that the trees now have tiny, but beautifully formed green leaves at the end of their branches. And you notice that the birch tree struck by lightning, the one that looked dead, now has green shoots rising from its split trunk. As you make your way out of the birch grove, it seems that the clouds have lightened, and even as you think this, the sun comes out. Small, barely formed flowers lightly scent the forest floor, birds are singing, and the rich smell of moist earth fills your nose.

Softly at first you hear that care-free whistling coming from what seems like everywhere. As you mount the crest, you see “THE FOOL” once again. He’s playing catch with the wolf, precariously close to the edge of the precipice. He calls out to you…

“A MONK WAS OUT WALKING IN THE MOUNTAINS OF ANCIENT JAPAN.
HE ENCOUNTERS A WILD TIGER. AND AS HE IS FLEEING, HE SLIPS OVER A CLIFF, BUT MANAGES TO GRAB HOLD OF A GNARLED ROOT AT THE EDGE. HE LOOKS DOWN, & SEES SHARDS OF BROKEN ROCKS FAR BELOW. HE LOOKS UP & SEES THE WILD CAT, SNARLING AT HIM IN HUNGER. AS HE LOOKS AROUND, HE ALSO SEES BESIDE HIM A BUSH WITH A SINGLE BRIGHT, SUCCULENT BERRY ON IT. HE LOOKS UP. HE LOOKS DOWN.
HE SMILES, & PLUCKS THE BERRY, & POPS IT INTO HIS MOUTH…
HOW SWEET IT TASTES!”
(He begins to whistle, letting it swell & then fade out)

This is the way of the wise fool. He knows that a life lived in trust is sweet. Take this Zen teaching into your heart, into your mind, into your body.

As you make your way out of the forest, you wonder how you could have found this green growing place gloomy, it seems so alive, and pleasant to walk through, full of hope and positive forces, which you can call on anytime, to influence your choices, as you take the leap, into the joys of Spring.

~Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

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EASTER-TIDE EVENTS for 2017:

(PLEASE NOTE: THE ENTIRE SCHEDULE HAS CHANGED FROM THE PRINTED CALENDAR)

Holy Week Gatherings:

This year we dedicate our study to those who have crossed the threshold. We will be reading to the dead from Chapter 5 of ‘An Outline of Esoteric Science’, entitled ‘Initiation’. We will incorporate ‘The Calendar of the Soul’ verse for Easter,  Group eurythmy, & focused discussion.

Study: 9 April 2017, Palm Sunday 2 pm – 3 pm

*SPECIAL EVENT: 3 pm – 6 pm – Work Party at the branch with Elisabeth Swisher & the youth from CWS – All are Welcome

Study: 13 April 2017, Maundy Thursday 7 pm – 8 pm  

Study: 14 April 2017, Good Friday 7 pm – 8 pm

15 April 2017, Holy Saturday – Our Easter-Tide Festival: ‘The Mystery of Golgotha – Then & Now’ – 2 pm – 4 pm

The Midwest Eurythmy Group will perform The Easter Verse from the Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner

What was the Mystery of Golgotha?
What is the Mystery now?
What will it be for the future?
~Art Projections & Discourse with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Group work: Based on Baruch Urieli’s
‘Learning to Experience the Etheric World,
Empathy, the After-Image and a New Social Ethic’

$10 Donation & Snacks to Share Encouraged

Study: 16 April 2017, Easter Sunday – 2 pm – 4 pm We continue our study & the reading to the dead from Chapter 5 of An Outline of Esoteric Science, entitled ‘Initiation.’ We will incorporate ‘The Calendar of the Soul’ verse for Easter, Group eurythmy, & focused discussion.

Deathday of a Modern Knight

Celestial Event, Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Festival, Insight, Meditation, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Spring

Dear Friends –
Today 30 March 2017, marks the 93rd anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s Death
25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925

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.

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 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.”

“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.

~Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

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