Entering into the Longest Night Entering into the Birth of Light Consecrating the prophetic Nativity Of a new Solar year In Yule-Tide Exultation In the light of Transformation…
The battle between old & new – Dark & Light…
The Winter Solstice is the dark before the dawn, a time of renewal, giving us the most primordial myths of humankind: In Old Norse mythology, the Sun goddess was swallowed up by the wolf of darkness, but was reborn as her daughter, the maiden goddess of the underworld, who rose again to illumine the world.
In Greece & Rome, midwinter marked the birth of Sun gods, such as Mithras & Dionysus, who died & journeyed into the underworld, winning gifts for humankind before their miraculous rebirth.
In the Hellenistic world, initiates into the Mysteries of Isis had to undergo a ceremony of death & rebirth in which they entered the underworld to gaze upon the “Sun at Midnight.” This ceremony, which had its origins in ancient Egypt, speaks of the journey of the soul into the fecund depths of the subconscious mind, where we meet the Guardian at the Threshold, which opens to the dark sea of spirit from which all creation comes forth, purified & born anew.
To this day people gather at sacred sites as far apart as Newgrange in Ireland & the temple of Karnak in Egypt, to celebrate the miracle of the Sun’s return at the darkest time of the year – In the pitch-black sanctuaries of caves & earth chambers, to wait for the birth of new light & life.
All ways we must honor the dark before calling in the light.
The esoteric meaning of this time of year can be gleaned from the ancient mystery schools & its essence applied consciously now.
Let each of us journey down into the cave of the soul to drink from the secret well of wisdom & find the hidden flame within the dark – then return bearing our own unique gift of Light for the world.
The hag has gone to seed – & become bone…a fresh soul-frame for the new year. Let us stand in uprightness at the door & dare to open the portal to face the abyss – To release ourselves from the outer world for a sacred moment, that we may invoke our own immaculate conception – That we may surrender to the ‘waking dreaming’ – To celebrate the dark, where the inner life is honored & nurtured by the many Marys within…
The power of Peace – The Birth of Love – The Light of Wisdom
… ‘The wine dark sea’… … The active dark womb… … The dark space between the stars…
Let the Power of Faith lead us from the darkness into the birth of our own unique inner light…
The Darkness is coming… But never fear… The darkness is coming… But the light is near… The darkness is coming… The darkness is here…
The gift of the light (Gesture: Both hands scoop up light & bring it to your heart) We thankfully take, But nothing may be, Just alone for our sake. The more we give light (Hands move outward) The one to the other It shines & spreads life (Arms move out horizontally, spreading light) Growing still further, Till every spark is set aflame. (Right hand in front of chest shows the proof of a flame.) Till every heart, Joy shall proclaim. (Eurythmy Ah — arms up, palms upward)
~hag
21 December 2022 “Speaking with the Stars”: The winter solstice occurs at 3:48 pm CST today.
Mercury reaches greatest elongation east of the Sun (20°) at 9 am CST this morning. The solar system’s smallest planet is visible in the evening twilight.
Nearby, blazingly bright Venus is to Mercury’s west (lower right). Although Venus is closer to the horizon, it’s so bright that it will remain easy to spot until it sets about an hour after the Sun. In just a few days, a delicate crescent Moon will join this pair in the Christmas Eve sky.
Finally, Mars passes north of the bright red giant Aldebaran in Taurus at 10 pm CST tonight.
Online & in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago
Dear Friends – This special presentation is supported by your generous donations. $10-$50 or pay what you will www.rschicago.org/donate(credit card or PayPal)
Please type ‘Adriana’ to designate your payment
For those attending in-person doors open at 5:30 pm for our Potluck meal.
Please bring food & drink to share.
For more Info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Work on building the First Goetheanum, which was designed and supervised by Rudolf Steiner, began after the laying of the double dodecahedron foundation stone on the 20th of September 1913. Construction proceeded for a decade under enormous difficulties in the political, economic and cultural realms, brought on by the advent of the First World War. After the war when the building was near completion, the First Goetheanum was destroyed by an arsonist on New Year’s Eve 1922/1923.
This NYE 2022-23 will be the 100th anniversary of this event and the world is again facing many difficulties, political, economic and social. Adriana’s lecture will explore what Rudolf Steiner meant by the ‘Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human beings’ and how a consciousness of this during the coming 12 Holy Nights can provide the necessary strengthening for the coming twelve months.
During this presentation Adriana will speak about the three gifts given by Rudolf Steiner in 1913: The naming of Anthroposophy, The Fifth Gospel, and The Laying of the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum. She will explore with us how we can link our hearts to the old Goetheanum during the coming 12 Holy Nights to prepare ourselves for the coming 12 months in 2023, so we can work towards a Cosmic New Year.
In this way we will celebrate the Jubilee of the Christmas Conference and the resurrection of the living impulse of the First Goetheanum in the most auspicious way.
For Rudolf Steiner tells us: ‘My dear friends, may this link our hearts to the old Goetheanum which we had to consign to the elements. May it link our hearts also to the Spirit, to the Soul of this Goetheanum. With this vow before whatever is best within our being we want to live on not only into the new year. In strength of deed, bearing the spirit, leading the soul we want to live on into the new cosmic year.’ ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human Beings.’
Adriana Koulias was born in 1960 in Brazil. Adriana moved to Australia when she was 9 years old where she lives today. She has studied art, operatic singing and nursing. She has been studying Anthroposophy (awareness of our humanity) as given by Rudolf Steiner for 33 years and has since 2002-3 integrated this knowledge into several novels and a number of books, international lectures and articles online and in magazines.
Tomorrow at the Winter Solstice our Day-Star-Sun reaches its most southern point on the sky’s dome for the year; shining directly overhead at noon. The word solstice is Latin for ‘Sun stands still’. The Sun’s daily path (as seen from Earth) pauses at the southern limit before reversing direction.
The Winter Solstice, called by the ancients Yule-tide, is unique among days of the year — it is the time of the longest night & the shortest day -The dark triumphs but only briefly – For the Solstice is a turning point. From then on (until the Summer Solstice) the nights grow shorter & the days grow longer.
But today dear friends we stand on the eve, in the dark before the dawn.
We know from Spiritual Science that when all seems dead & barren on the face of Earth, below the surface, the inner life is strengthened…& if we can let go of the false hustle & bustle imposed on us from without, & sit in the stillness of the darkness, where the heart-beat can be heard, where the little drummer boy plays his ‘Pa rum pum pum-pum’, there we will find the inner strength to let go of our fear – of the dark – & let our eyes adjust – to the dark – & soon we will see quite clearly – in the dark…
& then we can begin the work of Re-Patterning…& opening to the inspiration of our Immaculate Conception…
Energizing Hope for the Sun’s return & the Earth’s renewal we make a ‘spiritual manger’ – a sacred space – in the cold black frozen places, that seem devoid of life, but are really just a sterilized palate -a clean slate, fresh & ready for the newly conceived light to be born into & fill…
Surrendering to the awakened dreaming, we celebrate the dark where the inner life is honored & nurtured…Consecrating the Nativity of a new Solar year.
The oblique Sun of Mid-Winter draws in its breath completely before birthing the New Light…
At this time of deep night…the dark of the vast universe between stars…the dark of the deep sea…the dark mystery of the tomb & the waiting womb… From ‘the dark night of our souls’, there springs the new spark of hope, the Sacred Fire, the Light of the World, the Coel Coeth, a Celtic term which implies a fire banked in the hearth.
At the Winter Solstice, the Circle is completely drawn down into a Point. It is the divine spark, the single cell, the universe in a mustard seed, the catalyst of incarnation – whispering their secrets to us…The human being is invited to hear what the East, West, North & South have to say.
Are we listening?
~hag
TODAY: Special Free 30 minute Online Winter Solstice Festival – Monday, 20 December 2021
Join us as we gather for 30 minutes to honor the Solstice – and give thanks to the good spirits that guide our Spiritual Practice group = 6BE (Steiner’s 6 Basic Exercises)
Welcome & lighting of the candle by Angela Foster
Leading Thoughts & a reading for 5 voices: CHAOS & THE COEL COETH INCANTATION by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, with Rosemary, Timothy, Angela, Julie
Art by Kristena West – 8 minutes of silence to turn our collective attention to the spiritual world offering our gratitude for the guidance and love that is woven throughout our practice group.
We’ll end the silence with music brought by Julie Morris before we close the call.
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~My hearth fire banks Her smoldering heart & yet today Her flame is sharp Her kinetic fingers are orange spikes weaving She speaks with a tongue of far-reaching fire Her mouth is quick & potent She burns my flesh into ash & light… ~hag
Thursday 23 December 2021 – The Eve of the Eve – 11 am PT / 12 pm MT / 1 pm CT / 2 pm ET / 7 pm UTC
A Christmas Festival with Christian Community Priest Rev. Jeana Lee, Movement with Lucien Dante Lazar
‘Divine Love and the Holy Child Within’
This will be a hybrid in-person & Zoom event Featuring our 2 camera technology with Mary Spalding
Doors open at 12:30 pm (Zoom Room open 12:45 pm for Social time) Snacks to Share Encouraged
Suggested donation $15.00 – At the door or via the Rudolf Steiner Branch PayPal donation site – *Please make a note on the first line – type in: “Christmas Fest”! The Festival will be recorded
All around the world the season of midwinter is the traditional time for community bonding through storytelling. In laying the groundwork for the 100-year anniversary of the Christmas Conference, we bring the ancient Sumerian saga “The Epic of Gilgamesh” to life. Rudolf Steiner explored this story in Occult History during the Holy Nights of 1910; and again with the lectures “World History in the Light of Anthroposophy” given during those fateful Holy Nights in 1923 for the re-founding of the Society.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is perhaps the oldest written tale on Earth. The Sumerian version dates from around 3000 B.C. Later it was compiled from 12 clay tablets written in Akkadian cuneiform.
It is the “Hero’s Journey” of human evolution, a story of friendship, and a quest for the meaning of life – revealing Steiner’s core mission of bringing karma and reincarnation to the west.
Myths, fairytales, historical epics, and sagas open us up to powerful archetypes behind the human condition, revealing clues to ourselves – from the past, the present, and the future. What will we uncover about ourselves and each other during this year’s Holy Nights adventure in storytelling?
Tune in for any or all of the episodes of this dramatic reading, re-worked by Hazel Archer from various translations, and featuring friends from around the world.
What: The Epic of Gilgamesh: Story Telling during the Holy Nights hosted by the ASA, Hazel Archer, and friends.
Time: 22 minutes daily at 9 am PT / 10 am MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm ET / 5 pm UTC
Dates: December 24, 2021- January 5, 2022 for 13 consecutive days Can’t join us live? No problem. Each gathering will be recorded and posted on our Holy Nights page (link will be emailed upon registration).
How: Register Here! Then check your email for confirmation with the Zoom registration link.
Eurythmy for the Holy Nights with Jan Ranck ‘Tuning to the Stars’: Sacred Geometry, the Planets and the Zodiac
LIVE IN-PERSON 26-30 Dec. 2021 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago 4 pm – 5 pm And at 7pm on 31 Dec. as part of our Annual NYE Gathering (details below)
$100 for all 6 sessions, or $22 for each individual session.
Make your payment using the Rudolf Steiner Branch PayPal or QuickPay with Zelle to chase@rschicago.org (Please indicate in the notes that it is for the “Holy Nights Eurythmy”)
Cash at the door, or send a check to: Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue Chicago, IL 60618-2953 USA
* Jan Ranck – Born in the USA, Jan Ranck studied music and comparative arts at Indiana University in Bloomington. She accompanied the London Stage Group on their 1976 USA tour and went on to study eurythmy at the Eurythmeum in Dornach with Lea van der Pals, where she subsequently taught. In 1984 she joined the faculty of The London School of Eurythmy. She left there to complete her eurythmy therapy training in Stuttgart in 1989, moving afterward to Israel, where she founded and directed the Jerusalem Eurythmy Ensemble (1990) and the Jerusalem Academy of Eurythmy (1992) and was an instructor in the Jerusalem Waldorf Teacher Bachelor Program in David Yellin Academic College from 1999. Jan has held Master Classes at various venues worldwide, including the Goetheanum and the MA Program in Eurythmy held at Emerson College and Spring Valley. She is the representative for Israel in the International Eurythmy Therapy Forum.
Friday 31 December 2021 Doors open at 6:30 pm
Join us for our Annual NYE Conscious Community Gathering – The Theme for 2022 is Cabaret – a Cultural Sharing!
All are invited to take the stage with an offering.
Circles Edge & other Waldorf alum will also perform
Please bring Food & Drink to share
$20 Cash at the door or Make your payment using the Rudolf Steiner Branch PayPal or QuickPay with Zelle to chase@rschicago.org (Please indicate in the notes that it is for the “NYE”)
All proceeds go to support the Rudolf Steiner Branch – the young People hosting & The Band (Can’t make it? send a $ gift PayPal)
7 – 8 pm – Holy Nights Eurythmy with Jan Ranck (separate fee $22 see above)
8 pm – Potluck Social
8:30 pm – Circles Edge & Friends warm the stage & host the open mic
Beloved Friends – These are the darkest days, the longest nights, fraught with internal midnights – when it’s easy to forget the bright crystal radiance of the newborn Sun – that is yet to come.
Yet, when we have the valor to embrace our darkest spaces -the fierce onslaught of restless tossing – we will deepen into the boundless birthing. Softening until we are ripe, like pomegranates that seep & pulse ruby red – an opening of the dark wound to light.
May grace chime in our bell-hollows, so that Night Herself can become the conduit to the new.
Yes, the Great Shift is happening, ready or not, here I come.
Closer & closer – a blending of the dark & light, out pictured as a cosmic conversation in the sunset sky.
Come on, lets uncover our head & go out into the night, to hula-hoop the rings of Saturn round glad hips, while balancing Jupiter on our held-high-head as a benevolent crown.
Align the solar system by straightening our collective spine as we pass thru the star portal – a ticklish bellybutton in the world moment.
Drink it all in – the Milky Way is pouring from our pineal gland – to activate our inner eye.
And the Helpers enter with our next inhalation. Breathe them in, & sing them out, in a frosty becoming. The Christmas Star is meant to re-tune our mind to your heart –
Together we become – the new variant – the human evolution revolution.
~hag
Special Free 30 minute Online Winter Solstice Festival – Monday, 20 December 2021
Join us as we gather for 30 minutes to honor the Solstice – and give thanks to the good spirits that guide our Spiritual Practice group = 6BE (Steiner’s 6 Basic Exercises)
Welcome & lighting of the candle by Angela Foster
Leading Thoughts & a reading for 5 voices: CHAOS & THE COEL COETH INCANTATION by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, with Rosemary, Timothy, Angela, Julie
Art by Kristena West – 8 minutes of silence to turn our collective attention to the spiritual world offering our gratitude for the guidance and love that is woven throughout our practice group.
We’ll end the silence with music brought by Julie Morris before we close the call.
18 December 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Full Moon tonight 11:35 pm CT. Bella Luna shines between the horntip stars of Taurus, Beta and Zeta Tauri. It’s at apogee, making this a “mini-moon,” very slightly smaller than average: the opposite of a “supermoon” at perigee.
By midnight the Moon is very high in the south, not far from the zenith. The full Moon of the Christmas season rides higher across the sky at midnight than at any other time of year, thus “giving lustre of midday to objects below.”
Why? December is the month of the solstice, when the Sun is farthest south in the sky. So, this is when the full Moon (opposite the Sun) is farthest north. In making its way across the night sky, it behaves as a pale, cold imitation of the June Sun six months ago.
1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia & China
1803 – Deathday of Johann Gottfried Herder, German philosopher, theologian, & poet – associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, & Weimar Classicism.
1829 – Deathday of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, biologist, & academic – an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred & proceeded in accordance with natural laws. He gave the term biology a broader meaning by coining the term for special sciences, chemistry, meteorology, geology, & botany-zoology
1863 – Birthday of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Rudolf Steiner has some very interesting things to say about his assassination
1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of theThirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA
1878 – Birthday of Joseph Stalin, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union
1879 – Birthday of Paul Klee, Swiss-German painter & educator
1958 – Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched
1966 – Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker
1972 –President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th
1973 –Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev & Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union
1990 – International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers & Members of Their Families is adopted.
1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments
2006 – United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections
Holiday Market at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago 18 December 2021 – from 11 am – 4 pm
Thursday 23 December 2021 – The Eve of the Eve – 11 am PT / 12 pm MT / 1 pm CT / 2 pm ET / 7 pm UTC
A Christmas Festival with Christian Community Priest Rev. Jeana Lee, Movement with Lucien Dante Lazar
‘Divine Love and the Holy Child Within’
This will be a hybrid in-person & Zoom event Featuring our 2 camera technology with Mary Spalding
Doors open at 12:30 pm (Zoom Room open 12:45 pm for Social time) Snacks to Share Encouraged
Suggested donation $15.00 – At the door or via the Rudolf Steiner Branch PayPal donation site – *Please make a note on the first line – type in: “Christmas Fest”! The Festival will be recorded
All around the world the season of midwinter is the traditional time for community bonding through storytelling. In laying the groundwork for the 100-year anniversary of the Christmas Conference, we bring the ancient Sumerian saga “The Epic of Gilgamesh” to life. Rudolf Steiner explored this story in Occult History during the Holy Nights of 1910; and again with the lectures “World History in the Light of Anthroposophy” given during those fateful Holy Nights in 1923 for the re-founding of the Society.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is perhaps the oldest written tale on Earth. The Sumerian version dates from around 3000 B.C. Later it was compiled from 12 clay tablets written in Akkadian cuneiform.
It is the “Hero’s Journey” of human evolution, a story of friendship, and a quest for the meaning of life – revealing Steiner’s core mission of bringing karma and reincarnation to the west.
Myths, fairytales, historical epics, and sagas open us up to powerful archetypes behind the human condition, revealing clues to ourselves – from the past, the present, and the future. What will we uncover about ourselves and each other during this year’s Holy Nights adventure in storytelling?
Tune in for any or all of the episodes of this dramatic reading, re-worked by Hazel Archer from various translations, and featuring friends from around the world.
What: The Epic of Gilgamesh: Story Telling during the Holy Nights hosted by the ASA, Hazel Archer, and friends.
Time: 22 minutes daily at 9 am PT / 10 am MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm ET / 5 pm UTC
Dates: December 24, 2021- January 5, 2022 for 13 consecutive days Can’t join us live? No problem. Each gathering will be recorded and posted on our Holy Nights page (link will be emailed upon registration).
How: Register Here! Then check your email for confirmation with the Zoom registration link.
Eurythmy for the Holy Nights with Jan Ranck ‘Tuning to the Stars’: Sacred Geometry, the Planets and the Zodiac
LIVE IN-PERSON 26-30 Dec. 2021 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago 4 pm – 5 pm And at 7pm on 31 Dec. as part of our Annual NYE Gathering (details below)
$100 for all 6 sessions, or $22 for each individual session.
Make your payment using the Rudolf Steiner Branch PayPal or QuickPay with Zelle to chase@rschicago.org (Please indicate in the notes that it is for the “Holy Nights Eurythmy”)
Cash at the door, or send a check to: Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue Chicago, IL 60618-2953 USA
* Jan Ranck – Born in the USA, Jan Ranck studied music and comparative arts at Indiana University in Bloomington. She accompanied the London Stage Group on their 1976 USA tour and went on to study eurythmy at the Eurythmeum in Dornach with Lea van der Pals, where she subsequently taught. In 1984 she joined the faculty of The London School of Eurythmy. She left there to complete her eurythmy therapy training in Stuttgart in 1989, moving afterward to Israel, where she founded and directed the Jerusalem Eurythmy Ensemble (1990) and the Jerusalem Academy of Eurythmy (1992) and was an instructor in the Jerusalem Waldorf Teacher Bachelor Program in David Yellin Academic College from 1999. Jan has held Master Classes at various venues worldwide, including the Goetheanum and the MA Program in Eurythmy held at Emerson College and Spring Valley. She is the representative for Israel in the International Eurythmy Therapy Forum.
Friday 31 December 2021 Doors open at 6:30 pm
Join us for our Annual NYE Conscious Community Gathering – The Theme for 2022 is Cabaret – a Cultural Sharing!
All are invited to take the stage with an offering.
Circles Edge & other Waldorf alum will also perform
Please bring Food & Drink to share
$20 Cash at the door or Make your payment using the Rudolf Steiner Branch PayPal or QuickPay with Zelle to chase@rschicago.org (Please indicate in the notes that it is for the “NYE”)
All proceeds go to support the Rudolf Steiner Branch – the young People hosting & The Band (Can’t make it? send a $ gift PayPal)
7 – 8 pm – Holy Nights Eurythmy with Jan Ranck (separate fee $22 see above)
8 pm – Potluck Social
8:30 pm – Circles Edge & Friends warm the stage & host the open mic
For me it is not an idle chit chat, no small talk – it is a way of observing & communicating with the elemental beings. What are they trying to say to us?
Because I make it a point to commune with these beings, in all weathers, I have always been fascinated with Ben Franklin who made a number of discoveries & tinkered with various inventions that had to do with Weather – a topic that continuously fascinated him.
He gave us the famous quote: “Some are weatherwise; some are otherwise.”
I don’t know much about what folks call ‘geo-engineering’ or weather warfare, or electromagnetic weapons like HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) Some researchers go so far as to claim that HAARP technologies are used to cause earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, to disrupt global communications systems, etc…
These researchers point to major aspects of the program which are still kept secret for alleged reasons of “national security.” Yet the U.S. patent of a key developer of HAARP & other documentary evidence support these claims. And there is no doubt that electromagnetic weapons capable of being used in warfare do exist. The capability of influencing & yes controlling human emotions has been studied by the military & intelligence agencies of the world for many decades. Here is the abstract of U.S. patent number 5,159,703: “A silent communications system in which nonaural carriers, in the very low or very high audio frequency range or in the adjacent ultrasonic frequency spectrum, are amplitude or frequency modulated with the desired intelligence and propagated acoustically or vibrationally, for inducement into the brain, typically through the use of loudspeakers, earphones or piezoelectric transducers. The modulated carriers may be transmitted directly in real time or may be conveniently recorded and stored on mechanical, magnetic or optical media for delayed or repeated transmission to the listener.”
Ok so we could easily fall down the rabbit hole here. But I bring this up because of the strange weather we have been experiencing.
Yes, we know tornadoes happen, but not usually in December…At least 70 people were killed & countless homes destroyed when tornadoes — one of which traveled on the ground for a record 227 miles — swept across 6 states on December 10 & 11, 2021.
Then on Dec. 15th approximately 100 million people were under a high-wind weather alert – stretching from eastern Arizona to upstate New York.
Wind gusts up to 100 mph, along with the unprecedented winter tornadoes, rain storms in Southern California, & in Colorado a wildfire risk – the severest in 20 years & simply unheard of for mid-December.
What was it like by you?
The National Weather Service has never issued a tornado watch or warning during the month of December. In fact, Minnesota has zero confirmed tornadoes on record during the month of December. Yet on Wednesday 15 Dec. there was 10 inches of snow on the ground on top of the tornado threat. The rare overlap of the tornado risk over deep snow cover leaves meteorologists wondering…
Meanwhile across the Plains & Upper Midwest we are experiencing Highs 20 to 40 degrees above average – we were in the mid 60’s when the big winds came our way on Wed. 15 December 2021.
Interesting to read that as far away as the Australian island state of Tasmania at the same time ‘a freak accident on the school field. While some schoolchildren were in the inflatable bouncy castle, the police said, “a significant” gust of wind sent it, flying into the air. Nine students plunged more than 30 feet to the ground, 5 were killed.’
During our Family Farm Initiative meeting last night Mark & Petra Zinniker spoke about how the high-winds were the elementals trying to get our attention.
And I woke up thinking about how during the laying of the Foundation Stone for the 1st Goetheanum in 1913, Rudolf Grosse reported: “The sky had clouded over during the day & when we were all gathered, a great wind arose. Thunder rumbled in the distance, lightning again & again rent the darkness & the landscape seemed eerie”
And then I thought of how at the re-founding of the Anthroposophical Society during the Christmas Conference in December 1923, when Rudolf Steiner laid the Foundation Stone of Love into the hearts of the members, he included 3 times the phrase: “In East, West, North, South, May human beings hear it” – a call to acknowledge & listen to the elemental beings.
Friends, It’s time we hear it…
~hag
17 December 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Tonight is the eve of the Full Cold Moon, also called the Moon Before Yule, or the Long Night Moon.
Feast day of Lazarus – The biblical narrative of the raising of Lazarus is found in chapter 11 of the Gospel of John. Lazarus is introduced as a follower of Jesus, who lives in the town of Bethany near Jerusalem, the brother of Mary & Martha. The sisters send word to Jesus that Lazarus, “he whom thou lovest,” is ill. Instead of immediately traveling to Bethany, Jesus intentionally remains where he is for two more days before beginning the journey.
When Jesus arrives in Bethany, he finds that Lazarus is dead & has already been in his tomb for four days. He meets first with Martha & then Mary in turn. Martha laments that Jesus did not arrive soon enough to heal her brother &Jesus replies with the well-known statement, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die”. Later the narrator here gives the famous simple phrase, “Jesus wept”.
In the presence of a crowd of mourners, Jesus comes to the tomb. Over the objections of Martha, Jesus has them roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb & says a prayer. He then calls Lazarus to come out (“Come forth”) & Lazarus does so, still wrapped in his grave-cloths. Jesus then calls for someone to remove the grave-cloths, & let him go.
The narrative ends with the statement that many of the witnesses to this event “believed in him.” Others are said to report the events to the religious authorities in Jerusalem.
The Gospel of John mentions Lazarus again in chapter 12. Six days before the Passover on which Jesus is crucified, Jesus returns to Bethany & Lazarus attends a supper that Martha, his sister, serves. Jesus & Lazarus together attract the attention of many & the chief priests consider having Lazarus put to death because so many people are believing in Jesus on account of this miracle.
The miracle of the raising of Lazarus, the longest coherent narrative in John aside from the Passion, is the culmination of John’s “signs”. It explains the crowds seeking Jesus on Palm Sunday, & leads directly to the decision of Caiaphas & the Sanhedrin to kill Jesus.
It is notable that at John 11:11, after being told by His disciples to fear those who would kill Him, & after the parable about living in darkness, Jesus references his own parable & states that Lazarus sleeps, & that He will go “wake him up”. The disciples thought Jesus meant Lazarus was actually sleeping in verse 12. Then, in verse 14, Jesus speaks plainly & tells them that “Lazarus has died”. This is to be clear that Lazarus has died in the flesh, & is not sleeping or unconscious.
Lazarus is spoken of by Rudolf Steiner as becoming John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, & formerly as Hiram Abiff the Master Builder of Solomon’s Temple & Christian Rosenkreutz.
497 BC – The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.
1790 – The Aztec calendar stone is discovered at El Zócalo, Mexico City.
1819 – Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Venezuela. Gran Colombia was the most prestigious country in Spanish America. John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State & future president of the United States, claimed it to be one of the most powerful nations on the planet. This prestige, attracted to the nation unionist ideas of independence movements in Cuba, the Dominican Republic & Puerto Rico, which sought to form an associated state with the republic.
1862 –General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, & Kentucky.
1830 – Death Day of Simón Bolívar, 2nd President of Venezuela
1833 – Deathday of Kaspar Hauser, the rightful Prince of Baden, died on this after a murder attempt on 12.12.1833
The individuality that hides behind the Kaspar Hauser veil is a being which worked inspiringly into the Rosicrucian connection from the beginning, and then on 29th September 1812, incarnated as the son of Grand Duke Karl of Baden and his wife Stephanie de Beauharnais. Kaspar Hauser had an important mission of esoteric Christianity to fulfil….It is not a question of who …Kaspar Hauser was, but of what was to have been achieved by [him].
According to these thoughts of Rudolf Steiner, to concern oneself with Kaspar Hauser is to concern oneself with the future. Steiner draws attention to when Kaspar incarnated : Michaelmas in the year 1812; where : Baden in southern Germany; and the importance of his mission. To the above indications he added that Kaspar Hauser had been an angelic being and that he had been unable to discover any previous incarnation of Kaspar Hauser since Atlantis.
It was in Karlsruhe on 25th January 1910 that Rudolf Steiner gave the first public lecture of which we have a record about the Second Coming of Christ, which would take place, not in the physical body but in the etheric world, the spiritual region where, according to Steiner , angelic beings are most active between the Earth and the Moon. He said that this would commence in the 1930s, citing especially the years 1933, 1935 and 1937, which was, incidentally, a century after the death and slandering of Kaspar Hauser. It was also in Karlsruhe the following year at Michaelmas, almost exactly 99 years after Kaspar’s birth, that Steiner compared for the first time the methods of the Rosicrucians with those of the Jesuits. In those same lectures of 1911 given at Kaspar Hauser’s birthplace, Rudolf Steiner revealed one of the most profound teachings of esoteric Christianity – that of the nature of the human ‘Phantom’, or the Resurrection body.
Karl Heyer reports the well-authenticated remark of Steiner ‘s that: “if Kaspar Hauser had not lived and died as he did, the contact between the earth and the heavenly would have been completely severed.”
What was it that created the bridge that linked the second crucifixion and the second resurrection of Christ ? Steiner does not spell it out, but well over 100 years have now passed since the death of Kaspar Hauser, and so we can now at least put the question: was it not the sacrificial life and death of the angelic being of Kaspar Hauser there in the land of the Germans, the crossroads region of the heart of Europe, that built a spiritual bridge between heaven and earth at the time of Europe’s darkest materialism of mind and secured for mankind in the 20th century and for centuries afterwards the possibility of seeing the resurrected Etheric Christ?
And if Kaspar Hauser’s sacrificial life is so intimately related to this Second Crucifixion and Second Resurrection of Christ (Second Coming), does this not suggest that his spiritual significance is of a most profound and awesome nature? ~Terry Boardman
1873 – Birthday of Eleanor Charlotte Merry, an English poet, artist, musician & anthroposophist with a strong Celtic impulse & interest in esoteric wisdom. She studied in Vienna & met Rudolf Steiner in 1922 after becoming interested in his teachings. She went on to organize Summer Schools where Steiner gave lectures, & was secretary for the World Conference on Spiritual Science in London in 1928
Eleanor Charlotte Kynaston grew up in a liberal educational environment, her father being the well known classical scholar & professor of Ancient Greek, Herbert Snow aka Kynaston. It was only at the age of 13 that she began to attend a regular school. This was also when she began to take a passionate interest in music. Two years later, her father became Deacon of Durham, so Eleanor grew up close to the beautiful cathedral. She was able to read the manuscripts that were kept in the monastic library, walking up & down amongst the Norman columns of the cathedral & experienced something of a real, concrete history, something completely different from what she read in her schoolbooks. It was the myths & legends that captivated her, & she learned by heart Tennyson’s King Arthur.
The stream of scholars & theologians that entered their house fed her spiritual longings.
As she grew up, she sought a career as singer, wanting to study music & art. At 19, she left home for a course of study in Vienna, which led not only to a fine command of the German language & development of her musical skills but also placed her in a kind of artistic-aesthetic inner crisis. Soon after her return to England, she married the well-known Oxford surgeon Merry, to whose professional commitments Eleanor Merry was to devote much of her energy besides the rearing of their son & daughter.
She learnt about Theosophy at the beginning of World War I when a copy of the “Secret Doctrine” of H.P. Blavatsky was sent her by persons unknown. As she read it, she felt as if guided by some unseen hand, & studied further works of Annie Besant & other Theosophists. After the war, she was made aware of Rudolf Steiner’s Knowledge of the Higher Worlds. In January 1922 she met Daniel Nicol Dunlop in London for the first time. He was reading a lecture of Rudolf Steiner’s to the anthroposophical group there. A few months later, her husband died of pneumonia, after which she had her first personal conversation with DN Dunlop. Dunlop was still fired up with gratitude over his meeting with Rudolf Steiner some few weeks previously.
She took part in the conference “Spiritual Values in Education” in Oxford that August, where she met Rudolf Steiner personally for the first time. She saw him first in a corridor & by his gait & the manner in which he looked at her, she had the impression: “He knows where he is going.”
She assisted D.N. Dunlop in the preparation of the subsequent Summer School in Penmaenmawr the following year, where a further conversation with Rudolf Steiner took place in which he recommended to her the new techniques in painting that had been developed under his guidance. She was soon exhibiting publicly in London& elsewhere. He also advised her to form as strong a bond as possible with Dunlop. This summer school, devoted to the theme “The Evolution of Consciousness” was felt by Steiner to be a milestone in the development of the anthroposophical movement.
Eleanor was present at the founding of the new General Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland around New Year 1923/24.
The theme of the ensuing Summer School at Torquay in 1924, “True and False Paths in Spiritual Investigation” (GA 243), stemmed from a conversation she had with Rudolf Steiner on this occasion.
In her further work in Britain after Rudolf Steiner’s death, she wholeheartedly supported D.N. Dunlop’s efforts to create an open, inclusive & at the same time spiritually founded continuation of the anthroposophical work. She acted as secretary of the anthroposophical World Conference in London of 1928 &wrote a play around the figure of King Arthur for the youth conference initiated by David Clement in Glastonbury in 1932. More immediately than anyone, she experienced the dramatic events affecting Daniel Dunlop between 1929, when he became General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain & the spring of 1935, when he was expelled from the General Anthroposophical Society & died a short while later. After his death, she maintained intimate friendships with her half-sister, Marna Pease, Walter Johannes Stein & particularly Eugen Kolisko, whom she helped to build up the School for Spiritual Science, wrote numerous articles for their magazine “The Modern Mystic“, & wrote down the biographical notes Kolisko dictated to her. In the 1940s she led a painting school together with Maria Schindler as well as working with her on the book Pure Colour (1946), leading to large public exhibitions.
Holiday Market at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago 18 December 2021 – from 11 am – 4 pm
Thursday 23 December 2021 – The Eve of the Eve – 11 am PT / 12 pm MT / 1 pm CT / 2 pm ET / 7 pm UTC
A Christmas Festival with Christian Community Priest Rev. Jeana Lee, Movement with Lucien Dante Lazar
‘Divine Love and the Holy Child Within’
This will be a hybrid in-person & Zoom event Featuring our 2 camera technology with Mary Spalding
Doors open at 12:30 pm (Zoom Room open 12:45 pm for Social time) Snacks to Share Encouraged
Suggested donation $15.00 – At the door or via the Rudolf Steiner Branch PayPal donation site – *Please make a note on the first line – type in: “Christmas Fest”! The Festival will be recorded
All around the world the season of midwinter is the traditional time for community bonding through storytelling. In laying the groundwork for the 100-year anniversary of the Christmas Conference, we bring the ancient Sumerian saga “The Epic of Gilgamesh” to life. Rudolf Steiner explored this story in Occult History during the Holy Nights of 1910; and again with the lectures “World History in the Light of Anthroposophy” given during those fateful Holy Nights in 1923 for the re-founding of the Society.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is perhaps the oldest written tale on Earth. The Sumerian version dates from around 3000 B.C. Later it was compiled from 12 clay tablets written in Akkadian cuneiform.
It is the “Hero’s Journey” of human evolution, a story of friendship, and a quest for the meaning of life – revealing Steiner’s core mission of bringing karma and reincarnation to the west.
Myths, fairytales, historical epics, and sagas open us up to powerful archetypes behind the human condition, revealing clues to ourselves – from the past, the present, and the future. What will we uncover about ourselves and each other during this year’s Holy Nights adventure in storytelling?
Tune in for any or all of the episodes of this dramatic reading, re-worked by Hazel Archer from various translations, and featuring friends from around the world.
What: The Epic of Gilgamesh: Story Telling during the Holy Nights hosted by the ASA, Hazel Archer, and friends.
Time: 22 minutes daily at 9 am PT / 10 am MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm ET / 5 pm UTC
Dates: December 24, 2021- January 5, 2022 for 13 consecutive days Can’t join us live? No problem. Each gathering will be recorded and posted on our Holy Nights page (link will be emailed upon registration).
How: Register Here! Then check your email for confirmation with the Zoom registration link.
Eurythmy for the Holy Nights with Jan Ranck ‘Tuning to the Stars’: Sacred Geometry, the Planets and the Zodiac
LIVE IN-PERSON 26-30 Dec. 2021 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago 4 pm – 5 pm And at 7pm on 31 Dec. as part of our Annual NYE Gathering (details below)
$100 for all 6 sessions, or $22 for each individual session.
Make your payment using the Rudolf Steiner Branch PayPal or QuickPay with Zelle to chase@rschicago.org (Please indicate in the notes that it is for the “Holy Nights Eurythmy”)
Cash at the door, or send a check to: Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue Chicago, IL 60618-2953 USA
* Jan Ranck – Born in the USA, Jan Ranck studied music and comparative arts at Indiana University in Bloomington. She accompanied the London Stage Group on their 1976 USA tour and went on to study eurythmy at the Eurythmeum in Dornach with Lea van der Pals, where she subsequently taught. In 1984 she joined the faculty of The London School of Eurythmy. She left there to complete her eurythmy therapy training in Stuttgart in 1989, moving afterward to Israel, where she founded and directed the Jerusalem Eurythmy Ensemble (1990) and the Jerusalem Academy of Eurythmy (1992) and was an instructor in the Jerusalem Waldorf Teacher Bachelor Program in David Yellin Academic College from 1999. Jan has held Master Classes at various venues worldwide, including the Goetheanum and the MA Program in Eurythmy held at Emerson College and Spring Valley. She is the representative for Israel in the International Eurythmy Therapy Forum.
Friday 31 December 2021 Doors open at 6:30 pm
Join us for our Annual NYE Conscious Community Gathering – The Theme for 2022 is Cabaret – a Cultural Sharing!
All are invited to take the stage with an offering.
Circles Edge & other Waldorf alum will also perform
Please bring Food & Drink to share
$20 Cash at the door or Make your payment using the Rudolf Steiner Branch PayPal or QuickPay with Zelle to chase@rschicago.org (Please indicate in the notes that it is for the “NYE”)
All proceeds go to support the Rudolf Steiner Branch – the young People hosting & The Band (Can’t make it? send a $ gift PayPal)
7 – 8 pm – Holy Nights Eurythmy with Jan Ranck (separate fee $22 see above)
8 pm – Potluck Social
8:30 pm – Circles Edge & Friends warm the stage & host the open mic
Hung with the frosty veils of Winter, the Sun daily wanes. In Sidereal Astrology we know that soon the scorpion will hand the reigns over to the centaur of Sagittarius– a catalyst for the transformation into the longest night of the Winter Solstice, & the long awaited Great Conjunction of Jupiter & Saturn.
In this time of the dark before the dawn, the image of the centaur stands before us like the forces of gravity seeking to pull the human being down. It speaks to the danger inherent in this final chapter of Advent, reflecting Herod’s fearful animal instinct to preserve himself by the killing the innocents. This evil act precedes the birth of the light.
Yet ancient myths tell of the hidden wisdom of the centaur. They speak of the struggle of the hero to overcome the bondage of the animalistic drive. It is the eternal drama that plays out in the depths of the human soul.
Inspired by this struggle Goethe has his character Faust carried thru the night on the back of Chiron the centaur, past the turbulent waters of the Peneios, to seek out the secluded sanctuary of wise Manto, who is to show Faust the way to Helena, the lost archetypal image of the Divine Feminine. Faust praises Chiron as a doctor & tutor.
The riddle of this strange contradiction of the centaur – the wildness & wisdom living so close together, is rooted in the tragedy of human incarnation. On the way to becoming human we had to be bound to the forces of our animal nature which have attached us for so long to the lower materiality, until we can find our way to liberation. The truth hidden behind the consumerism of Christmas, the mystery of the incarnation of Christ holds the key to this healing of the human being.
“O, thou slumber’s turning, O, thou sorrow’s ending!” ~Christian Morgenstern
1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia & China
1803 – Deathday of Johann Gottfried Herder, German philosopher, theologian, & poet – associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, & Weimar Classicism.
1829 – Deathday of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, biologist, & academic – an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred & proceeded in accordance with natural laws. He gave the term biology a broader meaning by coining the term for special sciences, chemistry, meteorology, geology, & botany-zoology
1863 – Birthday of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Rudolf Steiner has some very interesting things to say about his assassination
1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of theThirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA
1878 – Birthday of Joseph Stalin, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union
1879 – Birthday of Paul Klee, Swiss-German painter & educator
1958 – Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched
1966 – Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker
1972 –President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th
1973 –Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev & Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union
1990 – International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers & Members of Their Families is adopted.
1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments
2006 – United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections
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POD (POem Of the day)
~Brush my lips with frost & sunlight So I can create A cloud of kisses, A fleeting meeting Of warmth & rime As my heart beats with forever… ~hag
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Sunday 20 December 2020, 2 pm – 3pm CT
‘Awakening to the Light in the Darkness’: A Christmas Contemplation with Rev. Craig Wiggins. In-Person at The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online
Lucien Dante Lazar will open & close the program with some live piano music
And Mary Ruud will lead us in some Group Eurythmy to cap the evening
Monday 21 December Winter Solstice Grand Conjunction of Jupiter & Saturn,
Biodynamic Prep-Stir 5 pm – 6:30 pm CST
at Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost & Cultural Hub 4252 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago
All are welcome to bring festive food & drink to share
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Wednesday 23 December 2020 – 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm CT
Unwrapping our Cosmic Gift: Thoughts on the Christmas Conference 1923
with the Central Regional Council. Themes inspired by Prokofieff’s book: May Human Beings Hear it! include: Turning Points of Time; Christ, Sophia and Michael; Foundation Stone Meditation.Two Turning Points in Time – The Mystery of Wisdom, and The Mystery of Will
In 1923/24, during the Christmas Conference, Rudolf Steiner presented humanity with the Foundation Stone Meditation: an amazingly rich imagination, planted in our hearts and shining brightly like a guiding star. Steiner also gave us many other gifts during that time which we will ponder in our hearts.
Leading thoughts, verses, songs and imaginations will be woven together in this artistic offering before the Holy Nights.
Special guestLucien Dante Lazar will provide a sprinkle of musical interludes throughout our event.
We will be joined by our old friend Dennis Dietzel in this performance.
We will go into small breakout groups to explore the theme: “How does the Foundation Stone Meditation speak to you?”
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83533262486 Meeting ID: 835 3326 2486 One tap mobile +13017158592,,81116556762# US (Germantown) +13126266799,,81116556762# US (Chicago) Dial by your location +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 835 3326 2486 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kclU2SSTF If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
May this Advent Season permeate our hearts with Love and Joy – The CRC – Marianne Fieber, Alberto Loya, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton
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‘A Rose By Any Other Name’:
ASA Online Holy Nights 2020/2021
“The light of Christmas should shine as a light of peace, a light that brings peace outside only because first of all it sheds an inner peace into the hearts of human beings.” -Rudolf Steiner, The Search for the New Isis, Divine Sophia, December 24, 1920
We are approaching a new season where we enkindle an inner light that shines into the darkness of winter. Where meaning for the year ahead can be cultivated, and reflection on the year past can bring new insights.
Last year many of you joined us each night to bring beauty and connection into the holiday season. This year you are invited to join us again for a time of contemplation and community during the ASA Online Holy Nights.
Each 30 minute gathering will open with a meditative time with the new zodiac image and the virtue of the day, plus an artistic/writing prompt. Then a short offering will be shared about this special time of year as related to the Divine Feminine.
What: ASA Online Holy Nights Seed: A Rose By Any Other Name hosted by the ASA Sophia Group and friends around the country.
When: 9-9:30am Pacific / 11 am – 11:30 am Central / 12-12:30pm Eastern on December 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and January 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Note: No meeting on December 31). Can’t join us live? No problem. Each gathering will be recorded and posted on our Holy Nights page.
How: Register Here. Then check your email for a confirmation with the Zoom registration link.
Cost: Your donations help us create events like this one! This event is free with suggested donations of $25, $50, $100/ /
Schedule of Presenters:
12/24 Angela Foster
12/25 Laura Scappaticci
12/26 Joyce Reilly
Sunday 12/27 Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
12/28 Jordan Walker and Stefan Ambrose
Tuesday 12/29 Ultra-Violet Archer
12/30 Deb Abrahams-Dematte
12/31 No Meeting
1/1 Lelan Harris
1/2 Tess Parker
1/3 Claudia Knudson
1/4 Jolie Luba
1/5 Timothy Kennedy
Special Recording Notes: This gathering will be recorded each day and include all content and live attendees in the video.
Joan’s Epiphany ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost & The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/7052931041 Meeting ID: 705 293 1041
Today on the Birthday of Joan of Arc we welcome special Guest Nancy Poer
We will also explore ‘The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations’, Lecture 5, ‘The Nature of the Christ Impulse and the Michaelic Sprit Serving It’ by Rudolf Steiner with Leading Thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Social Sculpture: “The Passage” with Luicen Dante Lazar,