14 August 2016, Astro-Weather: The two inner planets lurk low in the western sky shortly after sunset this week. If you scan the horizon you should pick up Venus which shows up only because she shines so brightly. Mercury appears at nearly the same altitude but will be much harder to see because it glows more dimly. This morning, this innermost planet lies to the left of Venus & to Jupiter’s lower right.

Brilliant Jupiter remains a beacon in the western sky after sunset, but its days of prominence are numbered. It currently appears  a half-hour after sunset & dips below the horizon during late twilight. The giant planet shines against the backdrop of western Virgo.

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ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“What is to be the starting force & impulse for events in social & ethical life must come out of the spiritual world.” Rudolf Steiner, New Spiritual Impulses in History” Dornach 16 December, 1917

600 BC – Birthday of Laozi, an ancient Chinese philosopher, writer – thought to be a contemporary of Confucius. The author of the Tao Te Ching & the founder of Taoism, also thought of as a deity in traditional Chinese religions.

1340 – Birthday of Meister Bertram of Minden, a German International Gothic painter primarily of religious art, 1^st to paint the serpent as a temptress with a human head

1842 – American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminole tribe forced from Florida to Oklahoma

1880 – Construction of Cologne Cathedral is completed

1888 – An audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan’s “The Lost Chord”, one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison’s phonograph in London, England

1912 – U.S. Marines invade Nicaragua

1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Lorraine

1916 – Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the Entente in World War I

1922 – Deathday of Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe) British press baron & pre-1914 warmonger

1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired

1941 – World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter

1945 – Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II

1945 – Deathday of Helene Rochling, proof reader, & helper to Rudolf Steiner

1947 – Pakistan gains Independence from the British Empire & joins the Commonwealth of Nations

1956 – Deathday of Bertolt Brecht

2013 – Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi

2015 – The US Embassy in Havana, Cuba re-opens after 54 years

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My POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Lift your head

& let the eye fix you

With Her wink,

A soul-spark to harken & inspire…

Look up & move forward

You are the eye reflecting

The fire of your own Becoming

There is light

See

Enough to lead you home

~hag

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This image was created by artist Imma von Eckardstein working from sketches given to her by Rudolf Steiner in the year 1912-13 for the new Calendar Of the Soul. The images are specifically related to an experience of the constellation in relation to the Sun in that constellation just prior to dawn in the northern hemisphere.

“…On August 10th, the Sun entered the astronomical constellation of Leo, the Lion.  To more deeply understand the constellation of Leo one can turn to the deeds of Christ in relation to Leo.  These deeds, according to Willi Sucher, stand as archetypes for humanity as a foundation for the new path of speaking to the stars.   Below are two excerpts from Willi that point to a new understanding of Leo. “Leo is the archetype of all that which dwells within the “house” and from where the circulation radiates out into the totality of the body. So, what does it mean when Saturn is in that position? (Saturn carries the intentions or plan of the Father for world evolution) Saturn was, during most of the time of the Three Years, in Cancer. Christ dwelt in the “house,” the house of the originally divine human form, from which were imparted the new impulses of evolution to Earth existence. When Saturn enters Leo, (at the original Whitsun) we see something like a mighty communication of cosmic heart forces to the community of the first Christians. At the Whitsun Event they all experienced, as they were sitting there, something of the universality of the Christ impulse. They partook in it as a kind of cosmic communion. This was a tremendous, new manifestation of the meaning of Leo. The ancient symbol of Leo is the center point with the winding tail out to the periphery. You start out from the heart but then you move out to the periphery, for instance, to the periphery of the body, via the stream of the blood circulation. This happened, in a spiritual sense, to the entire community of first Christians who were present at the first Whitsun….at the time of Whitsun, Leo was given anew meaning. The original meaning was this: Once upon a time in the course of creation, the periphery was gathered together in order to build the human heart, for originally the archetypal functions of rhythm were right out in the periphery of the cosmos. These functions eventually became enclosed in the chest, the “house” of the human being. From the Christ events on, they can again expand toward the periphery. We can grow again toward the cosmos, but now in such a fashion that we maintain our integrity as a self. All this was spoken into the movement of Saturn during the Three Years by the deeds of Christ.” Willi Sucher,  Cosmic Christianity, p 66/67

Another significant event associated with Leo at the time of Christ is in connection with a conjunction of Venus with the Sun.  In its apparent loops around the Earth, Venus forms a great five pointed star or pentagram in the heavens, with the points being inferior and superior conjunctions.  Part of the work of Willi Sucher was to connect these conjunctions with five events which signify a redemption of the old mysteries and the founding of the new Christian mysteries.  One such point of this great new archetypal star of Venus occurred in Leo and is associated with the Beheading of John the Baptist by Herod through the efforts of his wife Herodias and her daughter Salome.  We have in this event an image of the culmination of the old ego, the one in the center..the one “crying in the aloneness” sacrificed. “The ancient mysteries, which had run their course, were sacrificed in the head of John the Baptist. In Elijah, who was present in John, the ancient mysteries had reached their final culmination, the last eveningglow…This development culminated in the loop of Venus in Leo. The symbol that we use for Leo indicates a movement of involution from the periphery, which is then concentrated into what we see represented by the circle. Thus Leo leads us from the wide spaces of the universe down to the Earth and into ego-experience. At the time of Christ, the means of integrating the human being in the ancient mysteries of the cosmos had come to an end. The human being now had come to live in the ego.”   Willi Sucher, Cosmic Christianity, p 87

Based on the research of Rudolf Steiner, we know that this sacrifice by John led to an expansion of his being to be of greater service to the Christ event. He worked from above, from the periphery, so to speak, as the guiding spirit of the Apostles as part of his greater mission contained in the mystery of John/ Lazarus. This is the other image of Leo as the movement through the center point, the eye of the needle, towards “not I but Christ in me”.  With Jupiter in Leo until mid August and Venus and Mercury joining the Sun through Leo during August, it is a time for deeper understanding and feeling for the new Leo activity. What is the new spiritual communion of the human being with the world of humanity and with the world of spirit?  What is this new rhythm of the heart, the self, in relation to these worlds?  What does “Not I but Christ in me” truly mean?  Perhaps an added insight can be gained from the fact that Rudolf Steiner was born with Saturn in Leo, suggesting his fundamental karmic task in service to humanity. Novalis was also born with Saturn in Leo (see Steiner on the relation of John to Novalis)”

~Jonathan Hilton from the ASTROSOPHY RESEARCH CENTER

So much food for thought

Blessings & Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blessed Bee…
~hag

Check out these videos on Columbia The Goddess of America:

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

Reclaiming the Wisdom of America

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

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

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

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

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

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 

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

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

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

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

1831 – Deathday of former president James Monroe

1827 – Slavery is abolished in New York State

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1950 – Radio Free Europe first broadcasts

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

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