Today in 1912 was the 1^st performance of Rudolf Steiner’s 3^rd Mystery Drama: “The Guardian of the Threshold”

The Mystery Dramas strike a deep chord within, bringing notes of destiny Wisdom to sound within our individual life circumstances. They contain extremely concentrated karmic wisdom. A clue to the reason why, appears in the following writings of Rudolf Steiner about his Mystery Dramas:

‘And actually, one must understand that if some trouble were to be taken to read the things that lie within this drama—not reading between the lines, but if one were to take the trouble to read what lies in the words themselves spiritually—if one were to take the trouble to grasp the Rosicrucian Mystery in just such a way, seeking for these things in the next few years, then it would not be necessary for me to give so many lectures about this or that in the time to come.’

Our theme for the last few years on the Central Regional Council has been ‘Reincarnation & Destiny’. Our attunement to this subject matter is meant to open & awaken individual destiny, as well as the collective karma of the Society, & guide us onto paths of karmic retribution. In relation to the Mystery Dramas, Hans Pusch states the following:

‘It is a clear sign of genuine relationship to Anthroposophy, if the forces of destiny become more and more active, even though they may be disturbing and uncomfortable. The spirit of our time is an awakener, a conscious troublemaker, and a dis-illusioner. Anyone who feels inner turmoil as a necessary tribute to the forces of progress will be prepared to enjoy the seemingly long speeches in the dramas. In their composition, he will sense inner laws and rhythms that will bring order to his own soul. The dramatic events in the spirit scenes become as real as any physical happenings.’

Our trials help us to understand & have compassion for one another. As Hans says, sometimes it is indeed a daily, almost hourly inner battle with our self to say ‘Yes’ to what destiny throws in our path.

As the scenes of the Mystery Dramas unfold, we become aware of the various interactions between individuals in the course of time.

In the lecture series  ‘The Secrets of the Threshold’ Steiner speaks often of the Mystery Dramas. They give us an objective overview, ‘of knots from threads that karma spun in world becoming’ in the words of Benedictus. (in the Temple Scene of the first Mystery Drama.) In these threads, human lives are interwoven.

In the Temple Scenes of the Mystery Dramas, we experience the manifestation of karmic configurations & their progression in the spiritual development of individuals.

Within our present incarnation, there are deeds to perform to help rectify misdeeds, before we cross the threshold into the life between death & rebirth. We all have knots to loosen & unbind in our individual destiny. By recognizing the characters & situations in the plays, which are similar to our own life, unexpected karmic understandings may be glimpsed.

We can think about the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, well known in Charles Dicken’s story, ‘A Christmas Carol’.  Was it destiny that Scrooge was confronted by the ‘Ghost of Christmas Past’? How was his individual retrospect similar from those in the Mystery Dramas?

Dickens’ story is a Michaelic-kamaloca experience. Seeing the pain of the people he was hurting, Scrooge felt the need to make amends for his miserly misdeeds, thereby changing his future destiny & that of others, as well. This striving for atonement is to be developed at every turn on the wheel of the year. May we take stock of what we have reaped & sown as we move toward the harvest season.

In daily life, our trials along the path appear less objective to see & not so beautifully expressed as the poetry we find in The Mystery Dramas. It is, however, the suffering in destiny situations, which leads to soul-growth. Our present state of mind may hold clues to understanding past misdeeds. Likewise does heightened consciousness assist in planting seeds of service for the future of mankind.

The Guardian of the Threshold – Scene 10

The Temple of the Mystic League. Here Benedictus, Torquatus, and Trustworthy have the robes and insignia of their office of Hierophant as described in the ‘Portal of Initiation.’ The Eastern altar supports a golden sphere; a blue sphere rests upon the Southern altar; whilst the sphere upon the altar of the West is red. As the scene opens Benedictus and Hilary are standing at the altar in the East; Bellicosus and Torquatus at the altar in the South; Trustworthy at the altar in the West; then enter Thomasius, Capesius, Strader then Maria, Felix Balde, and Dame Balde, and later on the Soul of Theodora; and last of all the four Soul-Forces. (East is stage right & West stage left.)

Benedictus:
The souls of all my pupils have received
The spirit-light, each in that special form
Which was appointed for him by his fate.
What they have now achieved each for himself
Each now must render fruitful for the other.
But this can only happen, if their powers
According unto number’s rhythmic law
Desire to join within the holy place
To form the higher unity, which first
Can waken to true life what otherwise
Could only stay in solitary state.
They stand upon the threshold of the shrine,
Whose souls must first unite, and then shall sound
In unison according to the rules
Imprinted in the cosmic book of fate:
That harmony of spirits may achieve
What each alone could never bring to pass.
‘Twill bring fresh inspiration to the old
Which here hath nobly reigned since Time was not.
To you, ye brethren, I these pupils bring
Who found their way here through the spirit-worlds
And through the strictest proving of their souls.
The holy customs will they treat with awe,
And treasure ancient sacred mystic ways
Which here are seen as powers of spirit-light.
Ye too, who have fulfilled in truest wise
Your lofty spirit-service for so long,
Henceforth will be entrusted with new tasks.
The cosmic plan loth call the sons of men
But for a time unto the sacred shrine,
And when in service they exhaust their strength
It guideth them to other fields of work.
Even this temple had to stand its trial;
And one man’s error had to guard it once,
The guardian of the light — from darkness deep,
One cosmic hour big with the fate of worlds.
Thomasius perceived through inward light
Which rules unconscious in the souls of men,
That o’er its threshold he must not pursue
His way unto the holy mystic shrine
Ere he had crossed that other threshold o’er,
Of which this only is the outward sign.
So of himself he shut the door again
Which you would fain have opened wide in love.
He now will as another come again
Worthy of your initiation’s gift.

***

24 August 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Venus shines in the East before the Sun comes up. scintillating Sirius is to the south of Venus, so it’s to the right of Venus as you stand facing east.

‘We are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost’ ~ Gaston Bachelard

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

79 – Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum,& Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash

410 –Sack of Rome by The Visigoths

1185 – Sack of Thessalonica by the Normans.

1349 – Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.

1391 – Jews are massacred in Palma de Mallorca

1456 – The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed

1814 – British troops invade Washington, D.C. burning down the White House, the Capitol & many other buildings

1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis is signed by the Council of Three Fires (united tribes of Ottawa, Ojibwa, & Potawatomi) residing on the Illinois and Milwaukee rivers. By signing the treaty, they relinquished all right, claim, & title to their land, also a 20-mile strip that connected Chicago & Lake Michigan with the Illinois River. In exchange the tribes were to be paid $1,000 in merchandise over 12 years. Today, Indian Boundary Park in West Ridge, Chicago commemorates this Treaty.

1857 – The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in United States history. Since the years immediately preceding the Panic were prosperous, many banks, had seized the opportunity to take risks with their investments & as soon as market prices began to fall, they quickly began to experience the effects of financial panic (will we ever learn?)

1864 – Deathday of Jakob Lorber “scribe of God” a Christian mystic &visionary. Lorber’s prose, an ‘inner voice’ from the region of his heart, has been compared with writings by other mystics such as Emanuel Swedenborg, Jakob Boehme & Rudolf Steiner

1891 – Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera

1912 – 1^st performance of Rudolf Steiner’s 3^rd Mystery Drama: “The Guardian of the Threshold”

1932 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to New Jersey)

1944 – World War II: Allied troops begin the attack on Paris

1954 – The Communist Control Act goes into effect, outlawing the American Communist Party

1967 – Led by Abbie Hoffman, the Youth International Party temporarily disrupts trading at the New York Stock Exchange by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing trading to cease as brokers scramble to grab them

1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

1991 – Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union

1998 – First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human implantation tested in the United Kingdom

2004 – Deathday of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist & death advocate

2006 – The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines Pluto as a dwarf planet

***

August 27-30 How We Will 2020: 3-Folding our Cultural Revolution is continuing its journey of transforming our ideals into action. The theme this year is Forming Curative Communities: actively uniting with one another in the emerging economic, political/rights and social/cultural/spiritual forms seeking to reshape the ills plaguing humanity into a healthy social organism for our time. Please join us if you’d like to hear from, and collaborate with those on the front lines inspired out of the fruits of Rudolf Steiner’s work: can your own hopes for the world find a way to connect with others striving to do the good as our friend Bernard Lievegoed was wont to say? Our own hero Ella Baker shares: ‘we must not stop until we can get people to recognize that they themselves have to make the struggle for freedom and human dignity everyday, in the year, every year, until they win it.’

Invitation and Registration are now open:How We Will 2020

Schedule

Thursday August 27

9:00 Dottie and Frank:   Welcome:  Forming Curative Communities of Responsibility

9:30 Nana Woo and Truus Gareats:  Eurythmy

9:45 Stan Padilla:  New Fire

10:30 Break 15 minutes

11:00 Naim Edwards:  Edible Landscapes

12:15 Lunch

1:30 Dottie Zold & Joan Jaeckel:  Threefold Activism – 1919-1921 & Research Fellowship

2:15 Kait Ziegler:  Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival – On the Front Lines

3:30 Break 30 minutes

4:00 Akil Bell:  WILLING MOVEMENT:  Three questions could support the inspiring of the formation of      curative communities. 

5:15 Dinner

6:30 Monika:  Myriad Village – Co-creating Intentional Communities

7:15 Angela Foster:  Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily

End 8 pm

Friday August 28

9:00 Truus Gareats & Nana Woo:  Eurythmy

9:15 Stan Padilla:  New Fire

9:45 Frank & Patrice:  Unbreakable Agreement & ALIANT

10:20 Break 10 minutes

10:30 Michaela Gloeckler:  Archetypal Pictures – Ita Wegman and the Young Doctors

Noon Lunch

1:15 Bart Eddy:  Brightmoor Makers Rocking Hearts for Detroit

2:15 Melody Brink:  stART international trauma pedagogy – Lesbos – On the Front Lines

3:00 John Bloom:  Toward Justice Through Freedom

4:45 Dinner

6:00 Daniel Collett:  Seeds

6:10 Kim Sherobbi:  To Nurture Community Leadership – Birwood Community House & The James and  Grace Lee Boggs Center

7:00 Angela Foster:  Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily

  Goethe’s Day of Birth

8:00 End

Saturday August 29

9:00 Truus Garaets & Nana Woo:  Eurythmy

9:15 Stan Padilla:  New Fire

9:30 Laura Summer:  Art Dispersal – Art for 100% of the People

10:00 Michaela Gloeckler:  Forward Together

11:30 Break 15 minutes

11:45 Melody Brink:  The Birdhunters of Antropocenia in story-form, written by Nathaniel Williams and   with original music by Aldo Lavaggi

12:20 Lunch

1:15 Bart Eddy:  Ideas to Action

2:15 John Bloom:  Capital, Money, Spirit and Matter

3:45 Break 30 minutes

4:15 Patrice Maynard:  Prototyping ALIANT Alliance

5:30 Dinner

7:00 Brandon & Lucien:  Song Offering & Painting

7:15 Community-led conversation:  A Christian/Buddhist/Spirit Conversation:  Money –what does love got to do with it?

8:15 End

Sunday August 30

9:00 Truus Garaets & Nana Woo:  Eurythmy

9:15 Nicanor Perlas:  The Future is What We Fight For

10:45 Break

11:00 Hazel Archer-Ginsberg:  The New Isis Myth

11:30 Laura Summer:  Art Dispersal

1:00 Lunch

2:00 Patrice Maynard:  Prototyping ALIANT Alliance

3:15 Lucien:  Tone, Words, Trees

3:45 Janna, Elizabeth & Frank:  Standing Under the Sign of Michael

4:15 Stan & Robbi:  Closing the Sacred Fire Community

5:00 End

EXTRA DAY FOR THOSE WISHING TO JOIN ON Monday, August 31st 

9:00 Next Steps ALIANT:  Patrice, Frank, Dottie together with friends will lead a conversation on next steps.

11:00 Mutual Aid Networks (MANS):  Kait Ziegler of the Poor People’s Campaign:  A National Call for Moral Revival will share how she and GroundGamesLA raised $100,000 in a week’s time to support unprotected families during the Covid 19 early days by using the MANS format created by Stephanie Rearick of Madison Wisconsin.

Invitation and Registration are now open:How We Will 2020

***

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The Central Regional Council Invite all to our Michaelmas Festival:

‘Courage born of Wisdom’

Wednesday 23 September 2020 – The Autumnal Equinox – 7:15 pm CDT – 8:30 pm

CRC performs a telling of a tale from ancient Chaldea where EA gives birth to Marduk, precursor to Michael.

then “Wisdom Build herself a house*”…7 members of the various sections of the Anthroposophical Society will stand as Wisdom’s 7 Pillars to share how Courage was born from Wisdom leading to their work in the world.

with a closing about the connection between Michael, The Christ & Anthroposophia!

FREE – Zoom details to follow

***

Joan d’Arc – The power behind the Will Michaelmas Festival 26-27 Sept. 2020

Save the Date for Our Michaelmas Festival & Youth Gathering Saturday 26 September 2 pm – 4 pm, Sunday 27 Sept. 2 pm – 4 pm

This years theme will be an exploration of Joan d’Arc…

Including a performance of ‘The Passage” by Lucian Dante Lazar

In person & online presentations on the theme of Joan of Arc

Details TBA

Sponsored by: The Rudolf Steiner Branch, Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost & 3-Fold Cultural Hub

for more info. contact Festivals coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

***

6 August 2020 “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna passes south of Neptune in Aquarius at 12 noon CDT. By late evening, the pair are very close, with the Moon at the edge of the border between Aquarius & Cetus.

Sunset: 8:08 P.M.
Moonrise: 9:43 P.M.
Moonset: 7:49 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (97%)

Sunrise: 6:04 A.M.

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ – “We find the transfiguration scene in all the evangelists except St. John. This is significant. Let us clarify the meaning of this scene. What takes place? Jesus goes with three disciples Peter, James and John, up a mountain: this means into the inner sanctuary where one is initiated into higher worlds and where one also speaks in occult language. The disciples were carried up into a higher state of consciousness. They saw then that which is not transitory but eternal. Moses and Elias appear and Jesus himself with them. What does this mean? In occult science the word Elias means the same as El — god, the goal, the way. Moses is the spiritual scientific word for truth. By the fact that Elias, Moses and Jesus appear you have the fundamental Christian truth: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus himself says — this is a fundamental Christian mystical truth — “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (John, ch. 14, v. 6) ~ Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of St. John, 3^rd Lecture

“In every great moment of his life, we see Christ Jesus withdrawing to the mountain to pray. Did not the Vedic sage say, “Prayer sustains heaven and earth and rules the gods?” Jesus knew this power of powers. Usually he did not allow any companion to share the times when he descended into the arcanum of his consciousness. However, on one occasion he led Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, John and James, to a high mountain in order to spend the night there. Tradition has it that the place was Mount Tabor. There that mysterious scene which the Gospels describe under the name The Transfiguration took place between the Master and his three most initiated disciples.

According to Matthew, the Apostles saw the luminous, diaphanous form of the Master appearing, in the transparent shadows of an oriental night, his face shining like the sun, his garments radiant as light. Then two forms, which they took for those of Moses and Elias appeared beside him. Trembling they came out of their strange prostration, which seemed to them like both a deep sleep and an intense waking state. Beside them they saw the Master, who touched them in order to awaken them completely. The transfigured Christ was never erased from their memory.

But what had Jesus himself seen, what had he experienced during that night which preceded the decisive deed of his prophetic career? He passed through a gradual disappearance of earthly things under the fire of prayer and an ascension from sphere to sphere on wings of ecstasy. Slowly it seemed to him that through his deep consciousness he was returning into a previous existence, which was entirely spiritual and divine. Far from him were the suns, worlds, earths, whirlwinds of painful incarnation, while in a homogeneous atmosphere was a fluid substance, an intelligent Light.

In this radiance legions of heavenly beings formed a moving canopy, a firmament of ethereal bodies, white as snow, from which emanated gentle rays of light. On the shining cloud where he himself was standing, six men in priestly clothing and of powerful stature are lifting a gleaming Chalice in their united hands. They are the six Messiahs who already have appeared on earth; the seventh is he himself, and this Cup signifies the Sacrifice which he must experience by becoming incarnate on earth in his turn. Beneath the cloud the thunder rolls, a black abyss opens, the circle of generations, the gulf of life and death, the earthly hell appear before him. With a supplicating gesture the Sons of God elevate the Cup. Heaven waits motionless …

With a gesture of acceptance Jesus spreads his arms in the form of a cross, as though he embraces the world. Then the Sons of God kneel, faces to the ground; angels with long wings and lowered eyes carry the shining Chalice upward into the vault of Light. Hosanna! rings out from heaven to heaven, melodious and ineffable . . . But without even hearing it, he plunges into the abyss …

This is what once took place in the world of Archetypes, in the Bosom of the Father, where the Mysteries of eternal Love are celebrated, and where the movements of the stars pass in waves of living Light. This is what Jesus had sworn to fulfill; this is why he was born, this is why he had struggled upon earth. And now the mighty promise gripped him again at the end of his work, through the fullness of his spiritual consciousness, by means of which he had entered into the revelation of a divine ecstasy.

Deep vow, dread Chalice! Nevertheless, it was necessary to drink from it. After the rapture of ecstasy, he awakened in the depths of the abyss, at the brink of martyrdom. There could be no further doubt; the time had come. Heaven had spoken, earth cried aloud for help.

Then, slowly retracing his steps, Jesus again went down to the valley of the Jordan and took the road to Jerusalem”.

By Edouard Schure – French philosopher, poet, playwright, novelist, music critic, & publicist of esoteric literature – collaborator with Marie & Rudolf Steiner.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

70 AD- The Second Temple of Jerusalem is destroyed by Roman legions under Titus. For 420 years, the 2^nd Temple constituted a divine presence – the point where heaven & earth met. Its presence is sorely missed, its absence mourned.

1945 – The Atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, an act of genocide on President Harry Truman’s orders, killing over 166,000 people in a flash, many more died from radiation. The counter image is the Transfiguration, when Christ Jesus brought the 3 disciples up to mount Tabor, standing with Elijah & Moses, to show them his true glory shining brighter than the Sun. This imagunation, very like Krishna with Aruna in the Bhagavad Gita.

“A thousand simultaneous suns
Arising in the sky
Might equal that great radiance,
With that great glory vie.”

And of course Robert Oppenheimer’s well known quote about the bomb
also from the Bhagavad Gita: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

What a juxtaposition between these two polar events.

Interesting also that this is the Lammas season, a time of harvest, when the plant is sacrificed to make the bread. “The king is dead love live the king”

I think of all those souls who crossed the threshold together, at that time,
will their sacrifice bear fruit…?

***

Classroom Alive takes foot! 

You are invited to join our last support circle zoom call!  We are excited to share our route with you and talk coordinating rides, food and supply donation, and other ways that those of you not physically walking with us might help carry us in spirit. 

See you there TODAY, Thursday August 6th, 1pm Chicago time CDT, 11 am PST, 2 PM EST 

-The Midwest Classroom Alive sole-power team 

Zoom Meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/623699415

Meeting ID: 623 699 415

Dial by your location
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
        +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
        +1 646 876 9923 US (New York)

Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acKx03OfHZ

***

August 20-23, 2020 Questions of Courage Youth Conference at Elderberries

Questions of Courage 2020 in Chicago – August 20-23 Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost and 3Fold Cultural Hub 4251 N. Lincolon Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618

August 20: Check-in, share conversation, build the ground for the journey together.

August 21-22: Travel to Wisconsin Move together towards the land, link up with Farmer John and Haidy Angelic Organics Biodynamic Farm, and also with Dana and Phil Burns at Healing Traditions and Alizur farm. Connect with the land, plants, animals, and one another, through creative explorations and “roughin’ it” type amendments. Sleep under the stars or indoors.

August 23: Return to Chicago Enter back into the metropolitan context, into the social questions of urban life, and close the gathering together at Elderberries, setting the ground for future work out of questions of courage that are present.

Other locations and collaborators are currently in dialogue, and will be updated here.

The gathering is essentially about stepping into the living natural element, step by step, making an integral connection, with one another, ourselves, and the elements that support us here on the Earth…”

registration: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdY7KXHkjUPV2h9UD…/viewform

Thank you Elderberries for giving us an anchor to build our heartland gathering around!

Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost + Threefold Cultural Hub, 4251 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618

Co-sponsored in part by The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Festival & Program Coordinator

***

August 27-30 How We Will 2020: 3-Folding our Cultural Revolution is continuing its journey of transforming our ideals into action. The theme this year is Forming Curative Communities: actively uniting with one another in the emerging economic, political/rights and social/cultural/spiritual forms seeking to reshape the ills plaguing humanity into a healthy social organism for our time. Please join us if you’d like to hear from, and collaborate with those on the front lines inspired out of the fruits of Rudolf Steiner’s work: can your own hopes for the world find a way to connect with others striving to do the good as our friend Bernard Lievegoed was wont to say? Our own hero Ella Baker shares: ‘we must not stop until we can get people to recognize that they themselves have to make the struggle for freedom and human dignity everyday, in the year, every year, until they win it.’

Invitation and Registration are now open:How We Will 2020

Michaela Gloeckler of the Medical Section in Dornach and cofounder of Allianz ELIANT brings the Archetypal Picture of Ita Wegman and the Young Doctors and their courageous movement for a Michaelic renewal of civilization as a World War II raged all around them. 



Bart Eddy of Brightmoor Makers and Sunbridge will speak to what it takes to initiate our ideals into action that are inspired by the our higher natures and our wish to serve others in our time. His ‘brought down to earth visioning’, is serving the youth in one of the poorest parts in Detroit where entrepreneurs for the good are in training, not only learning to support their own livelihoods but also empowering change in their communities where devastating health and environmental issues abound: his inspired ideas for our time keep unfolding new forms for these youth! 



Kait Ziegler of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and Repairers of the Breach, working with Reverends William Barber and Liz Theoharis, and a small beyond dedicated team, will share on this ‘turning inside out’ and what it takes to organize for social change along side of four pillars: Racism, Poverty, Ecological Devastation and the War/Prison Economy which requires a new narrative above all and a capacity to work with those who have very divergent views in the activist community. John Bloom of Rudolf Steiner Finance and General Secretary of the Anthropsophical Society will offer a conversation Toward Justice and Freedom and Capital, Money, Spirit and Matter.



Nicanor Perlas, a long time advocate for social change in the Philippines and youth mentor, will shape a conversation around ‘The Future will be what we Fight For’. His country continues to be on lockdown where they are not allowed to go outside their houses even for food and whose president recently said that he ‘would work with the military to distribute the vaccine’.



Laura Summer of Free Columbia, an art and education initiative in Philmont New York, will present on New Forms Around Art – Art Dispersal and Local Grants to increase diversity in diverse communities. Art Accessible to 100% of the People! 

Naim Edwards, Seneca Gonzalez, Melody Brink, Kristin Buckbee, Akil Bell, Monika Pudelko, Joan Jaeckel, Patrice Maynard, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, 

Dottie Zold and Frank Agrama of the Elderberries community and newly formed Circles for a Renewal of Culture non profit, will invite an open conversation as to how it is that the Steiner students here in our country and around the world can be good advocates for emergent healing forms, where the essence of what is human is at the center of our concerns. This threefold social form has yet to be realized and yet we see all around us new forms coming into being. What do the Steiner students have to contribute to the conversation of human rights in these three realms and do we have the will to unite together for the common good of humanity? Can we organize for the future needs out of the fruits of Rudolf Steiner’s work in the world? Do we have the will for this? If so can we make a beginning at organizing and shaping our actions now?


 

Invitation and Registration are now open:How We Will 2020

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Michael: His Mission & Ours! Michaelmas Festival Sept. 27-29, 2020

Save the Date for Our Michaelmas Festival & Yourth Gathering Sunday 27 September 2 pm – 4 pm, Monday 28 Sept. & Tuesday 29 Sept.  

Sponsered by: The Rudolf Steiner Branch, Elderrberries Biodynamic Outpost & 3-Fold Cultural Hub, & Angelic Organics  Biodymanic Farm

In person & online presentations

Details TBA

contact Dottie Zold or Festivals coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Today is the anniversary of Hazel Archer & Chuck Ginsberg, married in Berkley Springs, West Virginia in 2001. Long story short: We decided to elope, so I began to research a place where we could go with our girl Ultra-Violet who was 1 & a half & still nursing. I had a long list of requisites: Hot Springs, natural child care, & a the perfect minister, chief among them. I wrote our ceremony & found an amazing non-denominational minister in the area to officiate.  I won’t go into the details now of all the karmic magic that came together to create the best Wedding & Honeymoon ever, basking in the spa pools & enjoying the historic town, cause I want to give a macrocosmic picture of this date. (Abby Porter who lives there said we need to come back for our 20^th & I hope we will, then perhaps I will tell that amazing story!)

We chose August 4^th for our Wedding date because it’s the ‘Kabbalistic Day of Love’. Known as the ‘Jewish Valentine’s Day’, Tu B’Av is celebrated for 3 days around the Lammas Full Moon.

It is written, “There is no better time than Tu b’Av, a time when nations are meant to mingle with each other and where each and every person bestowed their goodness upon their fellow human beings” (Tiferet Shlomo). The kind of love Tu b’Av represents is an unconditional love that has to spread thru out the whole of humanity. (And it is no coincidence that it comes right after Tisha B’Av, which represents the polar opposite—unfounded hatred)

The recognition of an unfounded hatred that dwells in our hearts is the precondition for the attainment of unconditional love between us, as is written, “Tu b’Av is the correction and mitigation of Tisha b’Av” (Likutey Halachot).

It may not be intuitive to us humans at every moment, but the whole of nature works in this way. Evolution displays a dynamic interplay of two opposite forces, to create a transcendent third. Whether the poles manifest as plus & minus, hot & cold, ebb & flow, male & female, these often adversarial swings create levels of conflict & self-interest which can then open us to greater levels of reciprocity & connection. This is how ancient bacteria evolved from hostile competition, to shared responsibility, thus forming the nucleated cell. Our bodies also exemplify this perfectly, with up to 100 trillion individual cells, integrated to create a unified level of life. This way of seeing science is helpful during this corona-crisis.

About 4,000 years ago, Abraham, understood that this natural dynamic also applies to human society. When the Babylonians around him sank into self-interest & separation, he recognized that state as a precursor for the possibility of a new degree of human connection. Abraham “seeded love for all people” with the vision of a higher human state & “went from city to city, kingdom to kingdom, until thousands joined him…& they became a unified people” Which as Anthroposophy tells us gave us the vessel for the Christ – a Universal Impulse of Love.

The Hebrew calendar says it is time for the ‘Festival of Love’, but our current reality shows that people are more divided than ever. Yet, just as Abraham saw thousands of years ago, the hatred & separation that persist today are not coincidental. It’s an evolutionary stage, a precursor to the next degree of unity. And in our time, there is even more that’s brewing under the surface.

How can we hold altruistic connections above the growing self-interest?

The method of attaining true love among human beings must become a priority.

We are called to upgrade our human nature from the annihilation of selfish-love which leads us to crises, & leaves us with a very limited perception of reality; to a transformation – a force of unconditional love that permeates all of nature – a spiritual harvest waiting to be sown.

During these 3 Full Moon days of Tu B’Av, the spiritual powers are strong & available to us so that we can bring these polarized energies into balance. This harmony creates the perfect environment for love.

May we seize every opportunity, awakening to the cosmic clues in every milestone!

~hag

***

There are many ways to help us hold this form! You could help by connecting us to Midwestern friends or initiatives, lending or gifting food/supplies, contributing financially, spreading the word, or lacing up your hiking boots and walking with us!

To make a financial donation thru paypal go to urbanfirstaidla@gmail.com

Greetings! My name is Ultra-Violet Archer, a 2018 graduate of the Chicago Waldorf School.I am inviting you to be co-creators of a walking-learning journey taking place in the heartland this coming August.

For ten days, myself, a group of fellow journeyers, and maybe even you, will walk out our living questions across the Midwestern landscape, forging connection with each other, those we meet along the way, and the land itself. Our journey begins in Madison, Wisconsin on August 8th and ends at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost and Threefold Cultural Hub in Chicago Illinois on the 18th.

Along the way we will share food, song, and story, while meeting and holding conversation with local food, farm, and community initiatives. Classroom Alive is the name of the game, and we’d love for you to become a fellow player.

For more information or to register, find Classroom Alive Chicago on Facebook or email circlesforarenewalofculture@gmail.com

Ready to walk? sign up here: https://form.jotform.com/202047534622145…

With love and light,
Ultra, Stefan, Robbie, Frank, Dottie, and the rest of the Classroom Alive sole-power team

August 20-23, 2020 Questions of Courage Youth Conference at Elderberries

Questions of Courage 2020 in Chicago – August 20-23 Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost and 3Fold Cultural Hub 4251 N. Lincolon Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618

August 20: Check-in, share conversation, build the ground for the journey together.

August 21-22: Travel to Wisconsin Move together towards the land, link up with Farmer John and Haidy Angelic Organics Biodynamic Farm, and also with Dana and Phil Burns at Healing Traditions and Alizur farm. Connect with the land, plants, animals, and one another, through creative explorations and “roughin’ it” type amendments. Sleep under the stars or indoors.

August 23: Return to Chicago Enter back into the metropolitan context, into the social questions of urban life, and close the gathering together at Elderberries, setting the ground for future work out of questions of courage that are present.

Other locations and collaborators are currently in dialogue, and will be updated here.

The gathering is essentially about stepping into the living natural element, step by step, making an integral connection, with one another, ourselves, and the elements that support us here on the Earth…”

registration: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdY7KXHkjUPV2h9UD…/viewform

Thank you Elderberries for giving us an anchor to build our heartland gathering around!

Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost + Threefold Cultural Hub, 4251 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618

Co-sponsored in part by The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Festival & Program Coordinator

***

How We Will 2020: 3-Folding our Cultural Revolution is continuing its journey of transforming our ideals into action. The theme this year is Forming Curative Communities: actively uniting with one another in the emerging economic, political/rights and social/cultural/spiritual forms seeking to reshape the ills plaguing humanity into a healthy social organism for our time. Please join us if you’d like to hear from, and collaborate with those on the front lines inspired out of the fruits of Rudolf Steiner’s work: can your own hopes for the world find a way to connect with others striving to do the good as our friend Bernard Lievegoed was wont to say? Our own hero Ella Baker shares: ‘we must not stop until we can get people to recognize that they themselves have to make the struggle for freedom and human dignity everyday, in the year, every year, until they win it.’

Michaela Gloeckler of the Medical Section in Dornach and cofounder of Allianz ELIANT brings the Archetypal Picture of Ita Wegman and the Young Doctors and their courageous movement for a Michaelic renewal of civilization as a World War II raged all around them. 



Bart Eddy of Brightmoor Makers and Sunbridge will speak to what it takes to initiate our ideals into action that are inspired by the our higher natures and our wish to serve others in our time. His ‘brought down to earth visioning’, is serving the youth in one of the poorest parts in Detroit where entrepreneurs for the good are in training, not only learning to support their own livelihoods but also empowering change in their communities where devastating health and environmental issues abound: his inspired ideas for our time keep unfolding new forms for these youth! 



Kait Ziegler of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and Repairers of the Breach, working with Reverends William Barber and Liz Theoharis, and a small beyond dedicated team, will share on this ‘turning inside out’ and what it takes to organize for social change along side of four pillars: Racism, Poverty, Ecological Devastation and the War/Prison Economy which requires a new narrative above all and a capacity to work with those who have very divergent views in the activist community. John Bloom of Rudolf Steiner Finance and General Secretary of the Anthropsophical Society will offer a conversation Toward Justice and Freedom and Capital, Money, Spirit and Matter.



Nicanor Perlas, a long time advocate for social change in the Philippines and youth mentor, will shape a conversation around ‘The Future will be what we Fight For’. His country continues to be on lockdown where they are not allowed to go outside their houses even for food and whose president recently said that he ‘would work with the military to distribute the vaccine’.



Laura Summer of Free Columbia, an art and education initiative in Philmont New York, will present on New Forms Around Art – Art Dispersal and Local Grants to increase diversity in diverse communities. Art Accessible to 100% of the People! 

Naim Edwards, Seneca Gonzalez, Melody Brink, Kristin Buckbee, Akil Bell, Monika Pudelko, Joan Jaeckel, Patrice Maynard, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, 

Dottie Zold and Frank Agrama of the Elderberries community and newly formed Circles for a Renewal of Culture non profit, will invite an open conversation as to how it is that the Steiner students here in our country and around the world can be good advocates for emergent healing forms, where the essence of what is human is at the center of our concerns. This threefold social form has yet to be realized and yet we see all around us new forms coming into being. What do the Steiner students have to contribute to the conversation of human rights in these three realms and do we have the will to unite together for the common good of humanity? Can we organize for the future needs out of the fruits of Rudolf Steiner’s work in the world? Do we have the will for this? If so can we make a beginning at organizing and shaping our actions now?


 

Invitation and Registration are now open:How We Will 2020

3 August 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna comes into her fullness today. The August Full Moon is called the Green Corn Moon or the Barley Moon in connection with Lammas, or Loaf-mas. This evening the Moon rises about a half hour after sunset. By nightfall she shines brightly low in the southeast, in Capricornus, to the lower left of Saturn & Jupiter. High above the Moon is Altair.

Mars is at perihelion, its closest to the Sun in its 1.88-year orbit. Its closer-than-average solar distance this summer contributes a little to Mars’s brightness.

Feast day of Nicodemus. Just like Lazarus, Nicodemus does not belong to the tradition of the Synoptic Gospels & is only mentioned by John, who devotes more than half of Chapter 3 of his gospel, a few verses of Chapter 7 & mentions him in Chapter 19.

The first time Nicodemus is mentioned, he is identified as a Pharisee who comes to see Jesus “at night”. John places this meeting shortly after the Cleansing of the Temple & links it to the signs which Jesus performed in Jerusalem during the Passover feast. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2).

Then follows a conversation with Nicodemus about the meaning of being “born again” or “born from above” (Greek: ἄνωθεν), & mention of seeing the “kingdom of God”.

In Chapter 7, Nicodemus advises his colleagues among “the chief priests and the Pharisees”, to hear & investigate before making a judgment concerning Jesus. Their mocking response argues that no prophet comes from Galilee. Nonetheless, it is probable that he wielded a certain influence in the Sanhedrin.

Finally, when Jesus is buried, Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh & aloes—about 100 lbs [John 19:39]

“We have already pointed out in these lectures that in the words of Christ-Jesus to Nicodemus, we must recognize a conversation between Christ and a personality who is able to perceive what can be beheld outside of the physical body by means of higher organs of cognition if developed to a certain stage. For those who understand such things, this is clearly and distinctly indicated in the Gospel wherein it is stated that Nicodemus came to Christ-Jesus “in the night,” meaning in a state of consciousness in which the human being does not make use of his outer sense organs.” ~Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of St. John, lecture VI -THE “I AM”

1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.

1829 – Birthday of Laurence Oliphant – a Member of the British Parliament, was a South African-born British author, traveler, diplomat, intelligence agent, & Christian mystic. (see Steiner’s Quote below that in a former life he was Ovid)

1929 – Krishnamurti dissolves the Order of the Star in the East

1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.

1977 – Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world’s first mass-produced personal computers

On August 3, 2019, a mass shooting occurred at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, United States. 21 year old Patrick Crusius shot & killed 23 People & injured 23 others, in an act of domestic terrorism -a hate crime described as the deadliest attack on Latinos in modern American history.

Shortly before the shooting  Crusius posted a manifesto with white nationalist anti-immigrant themes, online, citing  that year’s earlier Christchurch mosque shootings & the right-wing conspiracy theory known as the Great Replacement as inspiration for the attack.

From Rudolf Steiner in Karmic Relationships, VIII: Lecture V

 “In the early years of this century I was several times in London. On the occasion of one of these visits I was prompted to make myself acquainted with an extraordinarily significant personality — to begin with, simply in his writings. And as in those days there were rather longer intervals between the journeys than there are now, I obtained from the Theosophical Library the books he had written — the books that is to say, of Laurence Oliphant.

Laurence Oliphant is a remarkably interesting and significant personality: he strikes you in this way directly you begin to study his writings. These books deal with the similarities to be found in different religions, with spiritual religions, and so forth; and all of them bear evidence of a deep understanding of how in the various processes of his body and soul, man is connected with the secrets of the universe. When you read Oliphant’s writings you have the impression: Here is a picture of man in his earth-life that owes its inspiration to deep cosmic instincts. The processes of the earthly life of man that are connected with birth, embryonic life, descent and so forth, are described in such a way as to show how man, as microcosm, is wondrously rooted in the macrocosm.

Now I was very soon led in this study to a point where the figure of the dead Laurence Oliphant stood before me, but not in a form which suggested that I had here to do with the individuality as he was then living after death; it was rather that what was contained in these writings (which may be described as setting forth a kind of cosmic physiology, a cosmic anatomy) began to come alive, began to spiritualise; and a figure appeared, not all at once entirely clear, but unquestionably there before me on many different occasions. I was able to make occult investigations into the matter and I could never do otherwise than bring the figure into connection with what came to me from reading Oliphant. It was very often there before me. At first I was often unable to satisfy myself as to what this figure wanted, what its manifestations meant. The whole manner of its appearance however, left me in no doubt whatever that it was none other than the individuality of Laurence Oliphant; and it was likewise clear to me that this figure had had a long life in the time between death and a new birth — that is to say, the birth as Laurence Oliphant — probably only broken by one earth-life that was not very significant for the rest of the world. What might not then be hidden in the personality of Laurence Oliphant! In short, this appearance of the figure of Laurence Oliphant suggested significant questions of karma.

When I entered on an investigation of the karma, a spiritual Being became manifest who is engaged in the elaboration of human karma…

Now the investigations which I described in Torquay led me into close contact with the spirit of Brunetto Latini, the teacher of Dante. When one penetrates into these spiritual worlds in the manner described, it also becomes possible to stand before individualities in the form in which they lived in a particular epoch. Thus one can stand face to face with Brunetto Latini, the great teacher of Dante in the 13th century. Brunetto Latini still possessed a knowledge whereby nature was seen, not in the abstraction of natural laws, but as under the influence of living spiritual Beings. On the way back to his native town of Florence from his post as Ambassador in Spain, Brunetto Latini heard all kinds of reports that troubled and disturbed him, and in addition he had a slight sunstroke. In this condition and under the influence, too, of the pathological disturbances, glimpses came to him of nature in her creative work, of cosmic creation, and of the connection of man with the planetary world. What he was able to see was wonderful and sublime and no more than a shadow-picture of it subsequently found its way into the great work of Dante — the Divine Comedy.

But now if we follow this Brunetto Latini, we find that in a critical moment, when the knowledge was like to suffocate him, when it seemed to him that he might go astray from true knowledge and fall into error — in this critical moment, Ovid became his guide, Ovid, the Roman author of the Metamorphoses which contain such wonderful visions of the old Greek age, though expressed in the prosaic, characteristically Roman style.

And so we meet the individuality of Ovid together with Brunetto Latini. If we have a true grasp of the connection we can see Brunetto Latini, in the pre-Dante time, actually together with Ovid. Ovid is with him. And now, precisely in connection with the scientific, medical researches of which I was speaking, Ovid revealed himself as Laurence Oliphant.

In reality, Ovid was the guide in the spiritual world for many Initiates, appearing again as Laurence Oliphant with his sublime treatment of physiology and pathology. This connection between Laurence Oliphant and Ovid is of most far-reaching import and is one of the most illuminating examples one could possibly find.  ~Rudolf Steiner, Karmic Relationships, VIII: Lecture V

***

***

There are many ways to help us hold this form! You could help by connecting us to Midwestern friends or initiatives, lending or gifting food/supplies, contributing financially, spreading the word, or lacing up your hiking boots and walking with us!

To make a financial donation thru paypal go to urbanfirstaidla@gmail.com

Greetings! My name is Ultra-Violet Archer, a 2018 graduate of the Chicago Waldorf School.I am inviting you to be co-creators of a walking-learning journey taking place in the heartland this coming August.

For ten days, myself, a group of fellow journeyers, and maybe even you, will walk out our living questions across the Midwestern landscape, forging connection with each other, those we meet along the way, and the land itself. Our journey begins in Madison, Wisconsin on August 8th and ends at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost and Threefold Cultural Hub in Chicago Illinois on the 18th.

Along the way we will share food, song, and story, while meeting and holding conversation with local food, farm, and community initiatives. Classroom Alive is the name of the game, and we’d love for you to become a fellow player.

For more information or to register, find Classroom Alive Chicago on Facebook or email circlesforarenewalofculture@gmail.com

Ready to walk? sign up here: https://form.jotform.com/202047534622145…

With love and light,
Ultra, Stefan, Robbie, Frank, Dottie, and the rest of the Classroom Alive sole-power team

August 20-23, 2020 Questions of Courage Youth Conference at Elderberries

Questions of Courage 2020 in Chicago – August 20-23 Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost and 3Fold Cultural Hub 4251 N. Lincolon Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618

August 20: Check-in, share conversation, build the ground for the journey together.

August 21-22: Travel to Wisconsin Move together towards the land, link up with Farmer John and Haidy Angelic Organics Biodynamic Farm, and also with Dana and Phil Burns at Healing Traditions and Alizur farm. Connect with the land, plants, animals, and one another, through creative explorations and “roughin’ it” type amendments. Sleep under the stars or indoors.

August 23: Return to Chicago Enter back into the metropolitan context, into the social questions of urban life, and close the gathering together at Elderberries, setting the ground for future work out of questions of courage that are present.

Other locations and collaborators are currently in dialogue, and will be updated here.

The gathering is essentially about stepping into the living natural element, step by step, making an integral connection, with one another, ourselves, and the elements that support us here on the Earth…”

registration: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdY7KXHkjUPV2h9UD…/viewform

Thank you Elderberries for giving us an anchor to build our heartland gathering around!

Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost + Threefold Cultural Hub, 4251 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618

Co-sponsored in part by The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Festival & Program Coordinator

***

How We Will 2020: 3-Folding our Cultural Revolution is continuing its journey of transforming our ideals into action. The theme this year is Forming Curative Communities: actively uniting with one another in the emerging economic, political/rights and social/cultural/spiritual forms seeking to reshape the ills plaguing humanity into a healthy social organism for our time. Please join us if you’d like to hear from, and collaborate with those on the front lines inspired out of the fruits of Rudolf Steiner’s work: can your own hopes for the world find a way to connect with others striving to do the good as our friend Bernard Lievegoed was wont to say? Our own hero Ella Baker shares: ‘we must not stop until we can get people to recognize that they themselves have to make the struggle for freedom and human dignity everyday, in the year, every year, until they win it.’

Michaela Gloeckler of the Medical Section in Dornach and cofounder of Allianz ELIANT brings the Archetypal Picture of Ita Wegman and the Young Doctors and their courageous movement for a Michaelic renewal of civilization as a World War II raged all around them. 



Bart Eddy of Brightmoor Makers and Sunbridge will speak to what it takes to initiate our ideals into action that are inspired by the our higher natures and our wish to serve others in our time. His ‘brought down to earth visioning’, is serving the youth in one of the poorest parts in Detroit where entrepreneurs for the good are in training, not only learning to support their own livelihoods but also empowering change in their communities where devastating health and environmental issues abound: his inspired ideas for our time keep unfolding new forms for these youth! 



Kait Ziegler of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and Repairers of the Breach, working with Reverends William Barber and Liz Theoharis, and a small beyond dedicated team, will share on this ‘turning inside out’ and what it takes to organize for social change along side of four pillars: Racism, Poverty, Ecological Devastation and the War/Prison Economy which requires a new narrative above all and a capacity to work with those who have very divergent views in the activist community. John Bloom of Rudolf Steiner Finance and General Secretary of the Anthropsophical Society will offer a conversation Toward Justice and Freedom and Capital, Money, Spirit and Matter.



Nicanor Perlas, a long time advocate for social change in the Philippines and youth mentor, will shape a conversation around ‘The Future will be what we Fight For’. His country continues to be on lockdown where they are not allowed to go outside their houses even for food and whose president recently said that he ‘would work with the military to distribute the vaccine’.



Laura Summer of Free Columbia, an art and education initiative in Philmont New York, will present on New Forms Around Art – Art Dispersal and Local Grants to increase diversity in diverse communities. Art Accessible to 100% of the People! 

Naim Edwards, Seneca Gonzalez, Melody Brink, Kristin Buckbee, Akil Bell, Monika Pudelko, Joan Jaeckel, Patrice Maynard, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, 

Dottie Zold and Frank Agrama of the Elderberries community and newly formed Circles for a Renewal of Culture non profit, will invite an open conversation as to how it is that the Steiner students here in our country and around the world can be good advocates for emergent healing forms, where the essence of what is human is at the center of our concerns. This threefold social form has yet to be realized and yet we see all around us new forms coming into being. What do the Steiner students have to contribute to the conversation of human rights in these three realms and do we have the will to unite together for the common good of humanity? Can we organize for the future needs out of the fruits of Rudolf Steiner’s work in the world? Do we have the will for this? If so can we make a beginning at organizing and shaping our actions now?


 

Invitation and Registration are now open:How We Will 2020