Category Archives: Summer

Turning Wheel

Vincent van Gogh

“Bringing in the Sheaves” – Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve: Now begins the harvest and the time of reaping, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves…”

Preparing for the 2nd Harvest: Lammas Day – We will explore this ancient, yet ever renewable Cross-Quarter holiday.

The Harvest fest of Lammas or Lughnasadh begins today until August 7th when we hit the astrological Crossquarter between Summer Solstice & Fall Equinox.

It is also the Feast Day of Joseph of Arimathea – According to all four Gospels, the man who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after the crucifixion. A number of stories that developed during the Middle Ages connect him with both Glastonbury, where he is supposed to have founded the earliest Christian oratory, & also with the Grail legend.

One must penetrate to an understanding of the Mystery of the Bread, which is said to have been broken by Christ Jesus in the same chalice in which Joseph of Arimathea caught His blood. As legend tells it, this chalice was then removed to Europe, but was preserved by angels in a region high above the surface of the earth until the arrival of Titurel who created for this Grail, this sacred chalice, a temple on Mont Salvat” ~Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, April 16, 1921

The Wheel turns from St. John’s Tide with its message of the inner Christ Sun and the mirroring of the Holy nights, to the Sun in the heart of the lion (or at least it’s where Regulus, the heart of the lion, was a couple of thousand years ago!) Lammas, or Loaf mas, a cross quarter festival traditionally celebrated at the beginning of August, marks the point when we leave the Garden, and earn our own way, “by the sweat of our brow”.

The harvest of grain, and the baking of bread, represents the first child of the cosmic union of Sun and Earth. It symbolizes the essence of humanity, born from this union, for the loaf is more than a gift of nature, it is made by the combined forces of nature with the will forces of human activity.

The harvest season is a time of judgment. We are called upon to sift through the things that have grown up during the past half-year, and decide what we will keep and what we will cut away. We must make choices, and act on them. The cycle of life turns past the peak of growth, into the time of release.

In astrology, the moon, five eighths past the new moon, is called the “disseminating moon”. During this phase, what has built up in the waxing cycle begins to be released into the environment. We start to see the results of our work. At Lammas, the sun is five-eighths of the way around the Wheel from Winter Solstice. Growth has reached its peak, and the life of the Sun God has begun to bleed off into the fruit and grain.

Bailey Dreggle

The King is Dead Long Live the King – for now is also the time of sacrifice, of death in service of life. Some of the first fruits are ready for harvest, but some, too unripe to be eaten, must be plucked anyway. These are culls, removed so they won’t drain the life force from the good fruit. If everything was left on the tree, the life force would be diluted, or worse, the bad fruit could weigh down a branch until it breaks, destroying the entire crop, or sometimes killing the tree. The culls are taken so the rest of the fruit, and those who depend on the crop for survival, might live.

John Barleycorn must die… ‘Cut in half and buried, then beaten with sticks, and finally crushed between stones’… as the song goes, nevertheless rises once again. Bread is the perfect sacrifice for “Loaf Mass” or Lughnassadh as the Celtics called it, for they knew that this festival is more than just the first fruits of the earth — it also involves the first fruits of human labor. Grain is processed by human craft, and joined with the four elements to make the staff of life.

Dear friends, in my ever striving to craft my humanness, I have decided to take the Association for Anthroposophical Psychology (AAP) Training. And from there I will drive the 2 hours to Spring Valley to be part of the ‘Renewing the Mysteries Conference’. I will be offline until Aug. 16, 2022.  

In gratitude ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Roan Kelly

1 August 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”


CORN RIGS & WHEELS, a poem for Lammas – Aug. 1st

Cicadas trance
In theta waves of sound
The sickles reap in boarder-time
Opening the gate to the West

Dragons fly
Into the mouth
Of the Hollowman
His eyes ablaze
As he glimpses Her waiting womb
All ripe & hot – Her phoenix tomb
A fierce alchemical furnace.

Baked in the lion fire
Of tetramorph Angels
John Barleycorn must die.

Grind the grain
To make the bread & beer

Molded chrysokolla
The kneaded Wickerman
Fulfills the sacrifice
& sits upon Her altar
Next to braided corn dollies
& moist cake.

At the top of the hill
The Sun covered with pitch & tar
& tied to the wheel of Catherine
Is set aflame
The blazing disk rolls in immolation
To its decline

Burn the old straw effigy
At the funeral games to bless the 1st grain

Watch Sothis rise
Morning 1st scorcher
Celestial Jackal
Herald of the New Year
Flood the fields
With your scintillating serum

Where we meet again
& once again
In a year & day
To behead the Loaf
& eat…

~hag

What is this day?
It is the day of Lammas.
What is the meaning of this day?
It is the mystery of the corn
What is the mystery of the corn?
That which is cut down will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.

Andrea Kowch

So bake a loaf of bread on Lammas. If you’ve never made bread before, this is a good time to start. Honor the source of the flour as you work with it: remember it was once a plant growing on mother Earth. If you have a garden, add something you’ve harvested–herbs or onion or veggies. If you don’t feel up to making wheat bread, make corn bread, or gingerbread people, or popcorn. What’s most important is intention. All that is necessary to enter sacred time is an awareness of the meaning of your actions.

Saying Grace with you ~hag

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ASSOCIATION for ANTHROPOSOPHIC PSYCHOLOGY:

OPEN: Enrollment for 2022 Program

LINK:  3-Year Certificate Program 2022-2025

AVAILABLE: Continuing Education Units (CEUs) Available

JOIN US

EXPLORE the interpenetrating mysteries of Body, Soul & Spirit
DISCOVER the illusive secrets of your own Psyche
ILLUMINATE the journey from lower self to Higher Self

Annael Pavlova

Music Workshop Introducing: New Impulses in Music

When: August 5 & 6 – 2022

Friday night @ 6:30 – 9:00***** and *****Saturday @ 9:30 -12:00 and @ 2:00 – 4:30

Where: New Vision Church: https://newvisionbic.org/aboutus/N14W27995

On Silvernail Rd. Pewaukee (just south of I-94 / at the SS EXIT)

About our instructor: Veronika Roemer

In her own words she says “Music speaks to our souls, and through its three basic elements of melody, harmony, and rhythm, it speaks directly to our three soul forces of thinking, feeling, and willing. When making music, we are always encountering all three of these forces in an interweaving, harmonious process. Music is nourishment for our souls.” In this workshop she will be introducing participants to these instruments and illustrating the following characteristics that make them essential “for our time”. In short, she will show how

  • the “sound quality brings healing to the inner ear” and helps the listener reconnect to their inner musician.
  • the “technical ease of the instruments” makes them accessible to everyone. 
  • the movements in space make musical realities visible, like the movement from tone to tone, or of one chord to the next.”
  • the group processes reconnect people. Because connections are built through music and not talking, the social aspects of the group processes are more subtle offering an extra bonus to the musical work”. Finally, music lifts the mood and allows people to laugh and enjoy themselves and others.

Veronika has extensive training and experience. Her initial training was gained at the Musikakademie in Basel and Musikhochschule in Zurich Switzerland inclusive of orchestral and string quartet performance in Europe followed by a student Foundation year at Emerson College and five additional years teaching and instructing for them as faculty. She also has multiple years of study and instruction at the Dorian School of Music Therapy. From 1998-2013 she was a resident and co-worker at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills developing a music program for adults with developmental disabilities continuing as an instructor for the group through 2021 as well as instructing for the Camphill Academy at Beaver Run and at the Kimberton Waldorf School. Currently she is a founding faculty member for the SunGate Educational Community and active member of the Lyre Association of North America. Wherever she goes she is happiest to be making music with people.

Veronika is returning to visit us in Wisconsin where she lived (in Wales) from 1990-1998 and had a connection to the Prairie Hill Waldorf School. At that time she began her family of five children and was the founding mother of the Rafael Foundation for New Impulses in Music and a local lyre group.

In each workshop session we will sing, play various instruments such as bordun lyres, wood, and metal instruments, do rhythm games and more.

We are delighted to have Veronika return to present these workshops and hope that you can attend. Come for one or come for all!

For more information or to RSVP contact: Gail Sauter- Rafael Foundation for New Impulses in Music 262-391-8939 or sauterg96@gmail.com

David Newbatt

Renewing the Mysteries: The Founding of The Christian Community
& the Burning of the First Goetheanum
Spring Valley, NY – August 8-13, 2022
REGISTER NOW!* lectures * artistic workshops * conversation * evening performances
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg will be offering a program on Tuesday 9 August for the Free Initiative 2:30 -3:30 pm ET – ‘From The Jealousy of the Gods & Man to Artemis & the New Isis’
Many anthroposophists have understood the 1923/24 Christmas Foundation Conference as constituting a renewal of the Mysteries. Nine months after the Christmas Conference, speaking to the priests of the Christian Community, Rudolf Steiner pointed to a sequence from the founding of the Christian Community in September 1922 to the burning of the Goetheanum at the end of that year to the Christmas Conference.In this 100th anniversary year of both the founding of the Christian Community and the burning of the Goetheanum, can an exploration of these events help us to understand the nature of the New Mysteries?

The keynote speaker is Daniel Hafner, priest of the Christian Community. He will address this theme with a particular focus on the colored windows of the First Goetheanum.

The Act of Consecration of Man will be celebrated during the week and there will also be a Class Lesson for members of the School of Spiritual Science.

Venue: SPRING VALLEY, NY, Threefold Community, and The Christian Community

*REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND THIS EVENT: A conference on the scale currently planned requires that a minimum number of participants register by July 20th.

INFO OR QUERIES: Rev. Paul Newton paulknewton@msn.com
(845) 517-4101

Sponsored by The Christian Community Spring Valley Area and the Threefold Branch of the Anthroposophical Society

Star-Self

Marcela Seagel

~I expand out
To my star-self
Like a wild reed
Brushing the clouds with seeds-
A solid stalk in the rising humidity of humanity
As light spews
Thru misting vapors
& the fruit of my striving ever ripens…
~hag

Thoughts from this year’s study of THE FOUR SEASONS AND THE ARCHANGELS, GA 229, Lecture 4. The St. John Imagination

We can cultivate imaginative perception into the depths of the Earth at St. John’s-tide, opened to us by Uriel, the Archangel of Summer, pointing up the crystalline forms in the Earth that can be read – an interweaving activity, colored thruout with deep blue, the imprint of our human soul forces on Mother Earth.

Above, we can imagine the golden illumination of the heights in the power of the white Dove thru Uriel’s eyes, directing our gaze into the silver-sparkling blue below. Arising from the depths of the Earth, is gathered into a picture the Earth-Mother in her blue mantle.

Let us behold the outcome of the working together of Spirit-Father with Earth-Mother, bearing so beautifully within itself the harmony of the earthly silver & the gold of the heights. Between the Father & the Mother we behold the Son. And a vivid picture of the Trinity arises, which is the St. John Imagination.

Mysteries to which the Spirit-Father points, sends our spirit-eye upward; the Mysteries to which the Spirit-Mother points, leads us downwards; these Mysteries are united by the Christ, though the working together of the Spirit-Father & the Spirit-Mother, standing directly before the human soul as the sustaining Cosmic Spirit.

I am working to create this imagination of the crystalline forms – the blue lines of our human activity in the Earth, shown to us by Uriel, connecting us with the realm of the Mothers – pulsing in the Earth Mother. 

Belle Letters Inc.

Can we merge this picture of our human deeds with the Father Ground of the World shining in from the depths & the golden heights to prepare the future crystalline Age of Archangel Metatron with Holy Spirit Mother Sophia?

Uriel is admonishing us like John the Baptist to make straight the path, to meet & apply the Christ impulse – to enkindle connections with the Trinity – infusing our Imagination with Inspiration.

~hag

Graphic form by Rudolf Steiner (1920)

For those willing to investagate the World situation in the light of Spritual Science I highly recommend reading ‘Deepening Anthroposophy’.

Editor Thomas O’Keefe discovered anthroposophy while studying philosophy at Kenyon College, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2007. He founded the newsletter Deepening Anthroposophy in 2012 and has worked as an editor for SteinerBooks, as well as with the Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Research into Anthroposophy in Arlesheim, Switzerland. Tom is currently working as editorial director of SteinerBooks’ Chadwick Library Edition, a project that aims to publish new or revised translations of a number of Rudolf Steiner’s written works in hardcover editions.

Subscription inquiries, may be directed to deepening@protonmail.com

23 June 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Like a peacock spreading its feathers, the solar system’s five brightest planets will fan out in a beautiful display at dawn through early July. Standing under the spread will feel like looking out the window of spaceship Earth at our place in the cosmic order. Use this sunrise calculator to plan your outing. One of the most auspisious mornings to view them will be June 24th, The Feast of St. John the Baptist, when a striking crescent Moon joins the crew. As the Moon passes through, we’ll see successive conjunctions or appulses. ~skyandtelescope.com

In this godlike view looking down from above Earth’s North Pole, you can see how the planets fan out across of the solar system on June 24. ~JPL HORIZONS with additions by Bob King

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Mattia Perti

Here we are on the eve of the Feast of St. John the Baptist

Anna Kumashov

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day(RSarchives) 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 

2006 – the Deathday of Rene Querido,  General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America, pupil of W.J.Stein, teacher, & writer – my favorite of his works:  “The Golden Age of Chartres”: The Teachings of a Mystery School and the Eternal Feminine.

Friday 24 June 2021 – St. Johns-Tide Bon-Fire & Prep-Stir Social Gathering
7 pm CT Pot-Luck Dinner at the Home of Hazel Archer & Chuck Ginsberg

Join Rev. Jeana Lee in a St. John’s contemplation by the fire

Please Bring Food & Drink to Share in Community

This is an offical ‘Merry Prepstir‘ synchronized application,
linking us to Biodynamic workers around the world,
so that ‘The Earth May Be Healed’.
We will be working with BD 500 Horn Manure & 501 silica 

RSVP for address & directions

The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
           The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
July 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)

“We may describe the astral body as an egotist. This means that every path of development that aims to liberate the astral body must recognize the interests of humanity by expanding and becoming progressively wider in scope. Indeed…it must become interested in the whole earth and all humanity.”~ from Chapter 17

Focus of the July 6 meeting: Rudolf Steiner,The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 16 “The Word in Chains,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Dornach on 11 March 1923 (GA 222, lecture I)
AND
Chapter 17 “Balancing the Soul,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at The Hague on 26 March 1913 (GA 145, lecture VII).A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 16 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link.A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 17 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link. 

Please consider giving to the development and maintenance of the digital library of Rudolf Steiner’s work.  Scroll to the bottom of this message to read more about the RSArchive.org and SteinerLibrary.org

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

This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

This will be a Zoom conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  To connect to the audio/video-conference:

Video Conference Details:Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com 

Agenda for this meeting (Central Time)
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Stefano – chapter 16
          Camille – chapter 17
7:50  Conversation
8:25  ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
Regelio de Egusquiza

Deepening the Grail: Our Parzival Quest and Question

Workshop & Annual Meeting with The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Saturday 16 July 2022
In-person at the Rudolf Steiner House in
Ann Arbor & on Zoom

Join anytime between 2 pm ET – 5 pm

& then for the AGm from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

NO COST for attendees 

The Parzival Quest, is calling to humanity at this time of the Consciousness Soul. Explore aspects of this Quest through art, and movement, via embodiment processes and sensing gestures in the tangible and intangible sheaths of being human. Inspired by devout anthroposophist, artist Michael Chekhov, and guided by CRC member, Chekhov master teacher Lisa Dalton.

Then stay for supper and for the Central Region’s ‘Annual Meeting’—we haven’t had one since 2019, so it’s about time to fill you in on what’s happening!

Alberto Loya is stepping down from the CRC. He’s been with the Council since 2009—thank you for your many contributions, Alberto! We look forward to sharing memories and tributes during the meeting.

And Mary Mertz who has been working with the CRC for the last year will be offically inducted onto the Council.

2:00 pm ET– Welcome, singing, Chekhov movement, biography work
3:30 – 3:45 pm ET– Break
3:45 – 5:00 pm ET – Our Parzival Quest and Question
5:00 pm ET – Be our guest for dinner
6:30 – 7:30 pm ET – AGM – We will be bidding farewell to Alberto Loya & welcoming Mary Mertz, as well as giving reports on 2020 and 2021.
 
The CRC: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton, Alberto Loya,
working with Mary Mertz 

 Please RSVP  to Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com

If you can’t attend the workshop, we hope you can join in the
Annual Meeting.

Let us know whether you’ll be attending in person or via Zoom.
  
To inquire about accommodations at the Rudolf Steiner House,
contact Cynthia Chelius cynthia@anthroposophy.org

Zoom meeting info (please note — passcode required)
Jul 16, 2022

The zoom can be accessed from 2 pm. You are welcome to attend all or part of the workshop. The main event will be the Parzival Quest from 3:45 pm – 5 pm Eastern Time & the AGM 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86449905249
Meeting ID: 864 4990 5249
Passcode: 923117

Ley Lines

John Simmons-Wikimedia Commons

The term “Midsummer’s Night” is left over from when the seasons were commonly defined as beginning & ending around the cross-quarter days.

Summer Solstice comes at the precise moment when the Sun’s power is at its peak. Solstice means ‘sun stands still’, & it is the longest day of the year.

But as we all know, what goes up, must come down, & so after ‘standing still’ for 3 days, the Sun begins to wane…& the journey into the harvest season begins. After the expansive outbreath we must begin the conscious in-breath – this is the celebration of St. Johns- Tide.

But before we ‘decrease’, as John the Baptist did, we can recall that ‘Midsummer’ has always been an important Solar event throughout the evolution of humankind. The axis of Stonehenge, & The Temple of the Sun in Mexico, are both oriented in the direction of the Midsummer sunrise.

Sophie von Hellermann

Even our dear Shakespeare knew that Midsummer’s eve is a magical time, when we can see beyond the sense world to  communicate with the plant & faeiry spirits.

Jerónimo Martins

It is after all the time of the herb harvest, all plants gathered around this time, especially on this the shortest night are considered exceptionally potent for healing & ritual purposes.

This is traditionally the time when the herb St. John’ wort reaches its full potency & since it is a solar herb, it is used to bring the power of the Sun to people who suffer from depression.

The wise women of old would place St. John’s Wort & other healing herbs around the home for protection as they dried;  They threw the stalks into the Midsummer bonfire, & when the coals had cooled down the ashes were mixed with water & sprinkled on the fields, the 4 corners of the home & the on the head & feet of the children.

Royal fern seeds gathered at midnight on the eve were said to make you invisible. Rub the blossoms on your eyelids to see the wee folk which will also make you wealthy & wise; but be sure & carry a bit of rue in your pocket or you might be ‘pixie-led’. Can’t find the rue, then turn your clothes inside out & follow the old ‘Ley-Lines’, which will keep you from getting lost in faeiry land.

Divination on matters of love are especially powerful on Midsummer’s Eve; young women around the globe place yarrow or other herbs & flowers native to their part of the world peaking at this time, under their pillows, to dream of their future mates.

The ancient Druids celebrated the Summer Solstice as the Wedding of Heaven & Earth. The Goddess manifests as Mother Earth & the God, as the Sun King.

This quarter day is also called St. John’s Eve by the church, for they knew that John the Baptist was born around the Summer Solstice, 6 months earlier than Jesus, who was born at Winter Solstice. More to come on this important individuality…

belden bloxsy

Plant Spirits, Faeiry Folk, thank you for sharing your gifts, continue to teach us how to live in harmony with the essence of your healing magic.

Solar energy & its radiations are said to be the cause of evolution itself, reminding us that we can take an active role in our evolutionary process by aligning ourselves with this Solar Power, plugging in directly to the source of ourselves, to the source of action & passion.

See you in the Sun

~hag

22 June 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna continues to wane & meander its way along the ecliptic, passing south of Mars. But let’s take advantage of the moonless skies this evening to enjoy some of the many treasures in Cygnus the Swan, which is rising in the east at sunset and flies high overhead late overnight and into the early morning hours of the 23rd.

Sunrise: 5:32 A.M.
Sunset: 8:32 P.M.
Moonrise: 1:48 A.M.
Moonset: 2:39 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent (34%) ~astronomy.com

Dex Teiller

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

Friday 24 June 2021 – St. Johns-Tide Bon-Fire & Prep-Stir Social Gathering
7 pm CT Pot-Luck Dinner at the Home of Hazel Archer & Chuck Ginsberg

Join Rev. Jeana Lee in a St. John’s contemplation by the fire

Please Bring Food & Drink to Share in Community

This is an offical ‘Merry Prepstir‘ synchronized application,
linking us to Biodynamic workers around the world,
so that ‘The Earth May Be Healed’.
We will be working with BD 500 Horn Manure & 501 silica 

RSVP for address & directions

The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
           The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
July 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)

“We may describe the astral body as an egotist. This means that every path of development that aims to liberate the astral body must recognize the interests of humanity by expanding and becoming progressively wider in scope. Indeed…it must become interested in the whole earth and all humanity.”~ from Chapter 17

Focus of the July 6 meeting: Rudolf Steiner,The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 16 “The Word in Chains,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Dornach on 11 March 1923 (GA 222, lecture I)
AND
Chapter 17 “Balancing the Soul,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at The Hague on 26 March 1913 (GA 145, lecture VII).A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 16 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link.A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 17 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link. 

Please consider giving to the development and maintenance of the digital library of Rudolf Steiner’s work.  Scroll to the bottom of this message to read more about the RSArchive.org and SteinerLibrary.org

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

This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

This will be a Zoom conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  To connect to the audio/video-conference:

Video Conference Details:Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com 

Agenda for this meeting (Central Time)
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Stefano – chapter 16
          Camille – chapter 17
7:50  Conversation
8:25  ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
Regelio de Egusquiza

Deepening the Grail: Our Parzival Quest and Question

Workshop & Annual Meeting with The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Saturday 16 July 2022
In-person at the Rudolf Steiner House in
Ann Arbor & on Zoom

Join anytime between 2 pm ET – 5 pm

& then for the AGm from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

NO COST for attendees 

The Parzival Quest, is calling to humanity at this time of the Consciousness Soul. Explore aspects of this Quest through art, and movement, via embodiment processes and sensing gestures in the tangible and intangible sheaths of being human. Inspired by devout anthroposophist, artist Michael Chekhov, and guided by CRC member, Chekhov master teacher Lisa Dalton.

Then stay for supper and for the Central Region’s ‘Annual Meeting’—we haven’t had one since 2019, so it’s about time to fill you in on what’s happening!

Alberto Loya is stepping down from the CRC. He’s been with the Council since 2009—thank you for your many contributions, Alberto! We look forward to sharing memories and tributes during the meeting.

And Mary Mertz who has been working with the CRC for the last year will be offically inducted onto the Council.

2:00 pm ET– Welcome, singing, Chekhov movement, biography work
3:30 – 3:45 pm ET– Break
3:45 – 5:00 pm ET – Our Parzival Quest and Question
5:00 pm ET – Be our guest for dinner
6:30 – 7:30 pm ET – AGM – We will be bidding farewell to Alberto Loya & welcoming Mary Mertz, as well as giving reports on 2020 and 2021.
 
The CRC: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton, Alberto Loya,
working with Mary Mertz 

 Please RSVP  to Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com

If you can’t attend the workshop, we hope you can join in the
Annual Meeting.

Let us know whether you’ll be attending in person or via Zoom.
  
To inquire about accommodations at the Rudolf Steiner House,
contact Cynthia Chelius cynthia@anthroposophy.org

Zoom meeting info (please note — passcode required)
Jul 16, 2022

The zoom can be accessed from 2 pm. You are welcome to attend all or part of the workshop. The main event will be the Parzival Quest from 3:45 pm – 5 pm Eastern Time & the AGM 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86449905249
Meeting ID: 864 4990 5249
Passcode: 923117

Dragonflies

Weltenwärme (World Heat)
Summer – In radiant heights where,
Glistening in the sun,
The friendly dragonflies are
Flitting out rays of warmth
Which blend into the space around.
There, tarry thou, my soul;
For, thinking of me, they weave
From sadness, strength.
Already I can feel
How they are sensing me;
How warmth streams from them,
Permeating me.
The spirit dissolves
In cosmic interweaving,
The earthly heaviness
Into light of the future.
~Rudolf Steiner

Image result for summer solstice winter solstice cross

Tomorrow is the Summer Solstice. In our time now the Sun enters the fixed stars of Geminithe Twins; which puts the Earth in the opposite stars of the Archer; the constellation which is associated with the Winter Solstice. This is the vertical axis of the life of Sun & Earth.

The equinoxes of Spring & Autumn hold the horizontal axis, forming the great cross of nature, the seasonal life & symbol of Earth. Upon this cross we have the Christian festivals, with St. John’s & Christmas coinciding with this vertical axis, & Easter & Michaelmas along the horizontal axis.

Judith Pillar

When thinking about the the in-breath & out-breath, the living cycle of the soul of the Earth, we learn from Rudolf Steiner, that at Summer Solstice the Earth soul & spirit (which is now the Christ) are fully exhaled out to the periphery of the cosmos, to become intermingled with the grandeur of the highest cosmic mysteries, where the true forces of life exist among the stars.

The soul of the Earth is dreaming now in the heights. The forces which live in the seeds are held now in these summer dreams of the Earth in union with the hierarchies, & it is this dreaming which is brought back into the Earth to become assessable during the sacred time of the Holy Nights.

The summertime union between the Sun & Earth is actually a re-union between the spiritual beings of the Sun & their human offspring. Through ‘the great window of heaven’ we experience this interaction which helps us develop an awareness of our higher “I”. We can contemplate this dynamic & bring it to life in our soul most strongly at this time of year.

~Father Tambera

Rudolf Steiner tells us that at Midsummer the Trinity reveals itself out of the heart of this cosmic activity. A sounding, like the music of the spheres, that calls us to explore our own inner harmony with the cosmos. To answer the echo that unites us to the eternity of the Trinity.

Also important: Can we learn, to be still & small enough to hear the voice of conscience?

Bruce Rimell

At the fullness of Summer, the light is so bright that it leaves no room for the shadow to hide. High Noon is the hour of judgment – a good time to remember what John said “Then you shall know the truth, & the truth will set you free.”

Metanoia by Botticlelli

This is true if we respond to the summertime call for a ‘metanoia’- a review of life that brings us to want to engage in repentance, a call to ‘make straight the path’

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

For when our ‘little ego’ decreases, we grow in Christ. The true power of our higher “I” will increase like Christ increases in earth existence. Just as John the Baptist, 1st had to decrease, then after the beheading, he was able to distillate his Spirit-Self to become the guardian angel of the apostles, especially Lazarus John, his name sake.

Related image
Da Vinci

Johannes E – O – Ah – nes…Following this archetypal gesture we can see that John the Baptist has become one of the main impulse givers towards group work -guiding community life for us even today.

~hag

John Jardine Goss.

20 June 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waning moon will sweep past red Mars and bright Jupiter on the mornings of June 20 and 21. Jupiter and Mars are just 2 of the 5 planets visible now before sunup. Last quarter moon – when the moon rises in the middle of the night and sets around noon – falls at 3:11 UTC on June 21. And so the moon on both of these mornings will appear nearly half-illuminated.

Geraldeane Mentletis

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

453 – Rome & the Goths defeat Attila the Hun at Catalunian Palins

935 – Birthday of Pope Sylvester , originally known as Gerbert of Aurillac. He was a prolific scholar & teacher. He endorsed & promoted study of Arab & Greco-Roman arithmetic, mathematics, & astronomy, reintroducing to Europe the abacus & armillary sphere, which had been lost to Latin (though not Byzantine) Europe since the end of the Greco-Roman era. He is said to be the first to introduce in Europe the decimal numeral system using Arabic numerals. He was the first French Pope.

According to the legend, Gerbert, while studying mathematics & astrology in the Muslim cities of Córdoba & Seville, was accused of having learned sorcery. Gerbert was supposed to be in possession of a book of spells stolen from an Arab philosopher in Spain. Gerbert fled, pursued by the victim, who could trace the thief by the stars, but Gerbert was aware of the pursuit, & hid hanging from a wooden bridge, where, suspended between heaven & earth, he was invisible to the magician.

Gerbert was supposed to have built a kind of robot head. This “Brazen” head would answer his questions with “yes” or “no”. He was also reputed to have had a pact with a female demon called Meridiana, who had appeared after he had been rejected by his earthly love, & with whose help he managed to ascend to the papal throne (another legend tells that he won the papacy playing dice with the Devil).

According to the legend, Meridiana (or the bronze head) told Gerbert that if he should ever read a mass in Jerusalem, the Devil would come for him. Gerbert then cancelled a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but when he read mass in the church Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (“Holy Cross of Jerusalem”) in Rome, he became sick soon afterwards &, dying, he asked his cardinals to cut up his body & scatter it across the city. In another version, he was even attacked by the Devil while he was reading the Mass, & the Devil mutilated him & gave his gouged-out eyes to demons to play with in the Church. Repenting, Sylvester II then cut off his hand & his tongue.

The inscription on Gerbert’s tomb reads in part Iste locus Silvestris membra sepulti venturo Domino conferet ad sonitum (“This place will yield to the sound [of the last trumpet] the limbs of buried Sylvester II, at the advent of the Lord”, mis-read as “will make a sound”) & has given rise to the curious legend that his bones will rattle in that tomb just before the death of a Pope.

1819 –It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom.

1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world’s first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

1887 – Victoria Terminus, the busiest railway station in India, opens in Bombay

1943 – The Detroit race riot breaks out and continues for three more days

1970 – Deathday of Herbert Hahn, an anthroposopher who joined the society in 1912.  In 1919 he was called by Rudolf Steiner to teach at the first Waldorf School in Stuttart, becoming a Class Teacher between 1921 & 1927 & finally History & German language teacher in the high school. Steiner entrusted him with the task of giving “free religion lessons” (for those children who did not belong to any of the denominations) & within this context he held the first “Sunday Service” in 1920. From 1931 until 1939 he taught at the Vrije School in The Hague.

During WW II he was deployed as interpreter. In 1943 he married his teaching colleague Maria Uhland. After the war, he returned to the Stuttgart Waldorf School, re-founded after the Nazi period & served as its unofficial director until his retirement in 1961.

Of his numerous works as an author especially his recollections of Rudolf Steiner, & his main work, Vom Genius Europas, his outline of an anthroposophical cultural psychology, was ground breaking. He was also one of the founding members of the Esoteric Youth Circle.

Here is a quote about the circle by HH: “Among the many presentations Rudolf Steiner gave concerning our being in modern culture & the world civilization, one very earnest appeal rises up as special in my memory. Rudolf Steiner warned us not to build up our initiatives & activities, which are directed toward great goals, on forms that exist in the outer world & are created out of routine. He said that these forms had grown old & brittle; they cannot be saved from perishing. We must see that we achieve a new basis & ground upon which we can move, borne by the spirit.

This comment, like all of the others he made in connection with the foundation of the community, was brought into a very large perspective. The largest perspective that opened up may well have been, as he said in view of the future of the community: “When this is founded, then you can think of it as determined for a wide-reaching working. It could, for instance, be the case that, at a given time, none of the members of the community are living on Earth; in the ordinary sense, the community would count as having died out. Yet, it will not be wiped out. With the 1st community members who reincarnate, the community returns to Earth.”

The final comment given, answers in a totally satisfying manner, a question that was often asked by those joining the community later. The question was whether the Esoteric Youth Group were not to be considered dissolved by the Christmas Conference.

Aside from the fact that Rudolf Steiner again confirmed & gave the call to the community thru a new, essential meeting during the Christmas Conference, what was said above removes any doubt. The indication of the carrying of the community impulse thru the incarnations speaks for itself. More precise is the idea that the founding of the Esoteric Youth Group community in October 1922, may be considered to be one of the preparatory steps for the Christmas Conference of 1923. And still more certain is that this community is given an inner obligation for the carrying thru of the great impulse of the Christmas Conference”. ~Herbert Hahn, Copenhagen-Charlottenlund August 12-14, 1963

1990 – The 7.4 Mw Manjil–Rudbar earthquake hits northern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, & injuring 105,000

Sea Cooke

Friday 24 June 2021 – St. Johns-Tide Bon-Fire & Prep-Stir Social Gathering
7 pm CT Pot-Luck Dinner at the Home of Hazel Archer & Chuck Ginsberg

Join Rev. Jeana Lee in a St. John’s contemplation by the fire

Please Bring Food & Drink to Share in Community

This is an offical ‘Merry Prepstir‘ synchronized application,
linking us to Biodynamic workers around the world,
so that ‘The Earth May Be Healed’.
We will be working with BD 500 Horn Manure & 501 silica 

RSVP for address & directions

The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC
           The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
July 6, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)

“We may describe the astral body as an egotist. This means that every path of development that aims to liberate the astral body must recognize the interests of humanity by expanding and becoming progressively wider in scope. Indeed…it must become interested in the whole earth and all humanity.”~ from Chapter 17

Focus of the July 6 meeting: Rudolf Steiner,The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 16 “The Word in Chains,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Dornach on 11 March 1923 (GA 222, lecture I)
AND
Chapter 17 “Balancing the Soul,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at The Hague on 26 March 1913 (GA 145, lecture VII).A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 16 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link.A transcript of the entire lecture for chapter 17 can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link. 

Please consider giving to the development and maintenance of the digital library of Rudolf Steiner’s work.  Scroll to the bottom of this message to read more about the RSArchive.org and SteinerLibrary.org

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

This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail: From Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

This will be a Zoom conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  To connect to the audio/video-conference:

Video Conference Details:Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com 

Agenda for this meeting (Central Time)
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Stefano – chapter 16
          Camille – chapter 17
7:50  Conversation
8:25  ID volunteers for next meeting
8:28  Close with verse
Regelio de Egusquiza

Deepening the Grail: Our Parzival Quest and Question

A day long Workshop & AGM with The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Saturday 16 July 2022 – In-person at the Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor & on Zoom

2 pm – Welcome, Singing, Chekhov movement, Biography work

3:30 – 3:45 pm – Break

3:45 – 5 pm – Our Parzival Quest and Question

5 pm – Be our guest for Dinner

6:30 – 7:30 pm – AGM – We will be bidding farewell to longtime member Alberto Loya & welcoming Mary Mertz onto the Council

The CRC: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton, Alberto Loya, working with Mary Mertz

Please RSVP to Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com

To Inquire about Accommodations at the Rudolf Steiner House Contact Cynthia Chelius cynthia@anthroposophy.org

Gorgon’s Gear

The Perseid meteor showers are starting to launch – heralding the season of Michael. These shooting stars awaken us. This dose of cosmic iron is the perfect medicine for our on going world-corona crisis. But we must take it in consciously to strengthen our Michaelic impulse for the spiritual battle ahead.

Perseus: what's in a name? - OpenLearn - Open University
Edward Burne-Jones

 “…And when in high summer, from a particular constellation, meteors fall in great showers of cosmic iron, then this cosmic iron, which carries an enormously powerful healing force, is the weapon which the gods bring to bear against Ahriman, as dragon-like he tries to coil round the shining forms of men. The force which falls on the earth in the meteoric iron is indeed a cosmic force whereby the higher gods endeavour to gain a victory over the Ahrimanic powers, when autumn comes on. And this majestic display in cosmic space, when the August meteor showers stream down into the human shining in the astral light, has its counterpart — so gentle and apparently so small — in a change that occurs in the human bloodThis human blood, which is in truth not such a material thing as present-day science imagines, but is permeated throughout by impulses from soul and spirit, is rayed through by the force which is carried as iron into the blood and wages war there on anxiety, fear and hate. The processes which are set going in every blood-corpuscle when the force of iron shoots into it are the same, on a minute human scale, as those which take place when meteors fall in a shining stream through the air. This permeation of human blood by the anxiety-dispelling force of iron is a meteoric activity. The effect of the raying in of the iron is to drive fear and anxiety out of the blood.

WE (World English): Perseus & Andromeda by Sir Edward Burne-Jones
Edward Burne-Jones

And so, as the gods with their meteors wage war on the being who would like to radiate fear over all the earth through his coiling serpent-form, and while they cause iron to stream radiantly into this fear-tainted atmosphere, which reaches its peak when autumn approaches or when summer wanes — so the same process occurs inwardly in man, when his blood is permeated with iron.

We can understand these things only if we understand their inner spiritual significance…” ~ Rudolf Steiner, The Four Seasons and the Archangels Lecture I: The Michael Imagination http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA229/English/RSP1968/19231005p01.html

Perseus and Andromeda Poster by Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau

Perseus, the radiant point of this shower, is a starry imagination of Michael.  He stands with sword of iron raised in one hand & in the other the decapitated head of Medusa with her serpent hair, & eyes that turn all who gaze upon her to stone.  Perseus has rescued Andromeda, the chained princess, from the approaching sea monster Cetus. From the forehead of Andromeda springs the constellation Pegasus, the winged intelligence.  This entire narrative contains deep imaginations of the work of Michael in the human being rescuing the threatened human soul from the destructive forces rising from the unconscious, & from the outmoded past, seen in the imagination of the sea monster – & also representing  the deadening forces of Ahriman’s cold intellect in the gaze of Medusa.

The Michael Mystery : Dr Rudolf Steiner : 9781621481225

A study of ‘The Michael Mystery’ by Steiner can be a helping guide during this time.  In it he gives us our task: “Hearts must begin to have thoughts; that is the new way of thinking – with the heart.”  It is Michael’s intention that in the future, intelligence will flow thru human hearts, & with ‘Spirit Recalling’, reconnect to the same divine spiritual forces that created the human in the beginning of time.

Manuscript Miniatures: BL Harley 4431 The Book of the Queen
BL Harley

If we look for, or even use our imaginative cognition to picture inwardly this cosmic offering, we can carry the thought of Michael/Perseus in our heart-thinking, to consciously align with our Time-Spirit.

Perseus Art | Fine Art America
Tory Feldonen

And let us make the intention to be awake to the power of the Christ-Sun in the Earth; & the enlivening impulse of Anthroposophia within; which through our thinking hearts becomes enlightened by Wisdom, helping us overcome the darkness with love.

~hag

Crescent Moon passing Venus, Aug 9-11, 2021

8 August 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: New Moon – exact at 8:50 a.m. CDT

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Islamic New Year begins at sundown

The vision of St. Dominic receiving the Rosary from the Virgin by Bernardo Cavallino

1170 – Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominicans

1576 – The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe’s Uraniborg observatory is laid on the island of Hven.

1876 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.

1879 – Deathday of Immanuel Hermann Fichte, German philosopher and academic

1908 – Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It is the Wright Brothers’ first public flight.

1929 – The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.

1946 – First flight of the Convair B-36, the world’s first mass-produced nuclear weapon delivery vehicle, the heaviest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft, with the longest wingspan of any military aircraft, and the first bomber with intercontinental range.

1974 – President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day.

Lily Fortenou

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated
(with added titles) by Roy Sadler
LAMMASTIDE III
To Sheathe The Newly Conceived

v19
Mysteriously to sheathe
my life’s new seed with memory
be now my striving’s further aim
that strengthening it shall awake
my own true force within me
and in becoming give me who I am.

This is the last summer verse.
Its mirror is the first winter verse.

Delib Moncasso

ADVENT I
To Feel Old Treasure Re-enlivening

v34
Mysteriously to feel
with newly risen sense of who I am
old treasure re-enlivening within me
shall rouse a tide of cosmic forces
that pouring into my endeavour for the world
will in becoming print me into that which is.