Category Archives: Winter

4th Holy Night: Feast of St. John, Constellation of Sagittarius

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

27 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: Venus now stays up a full two hours after complete darkness.  So you have plenty of time this evening to notice that just to Venus’s left is little Delta Capricorni. And below Venus by is fainter Gamma Capricori.

 

The name The ‘Summer Triangle’ must seem like a huge misnomer since this asterism remains on view after darkness falls in late December. Look for Vega, the fifth-brightest star in the sky & the brightest triangle member, in the northwest after nightfall. Deneb lies above Vega & about halfway to the zenith. Deneb marks the top of another asterism, the Northern Cross, which stands nearly straight up from the horizon on December evenings. Altair, the third triangle member, appears due west & near the same altitude as Vega. The trio remains on view until Altair sets just before 7pm CST

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Marie Steiner von Sivers

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

“The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence.” ~T.S. Eliot

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

 

Feast Day of St. John the apostle. Rudolf Steiner speaks of an earlier incarnation as Hiram (GA 93, 264,265)

5th Century – Feast day of Saint Nicarete a woman of Nicomedia who became a saint as a disciple of St. John Chrysostom. She left her home specifically to study theology & practice devotion & care for the poor in Constantinople. She became a follower of John Chrysostom & worked as a physician as well as a healer for the poor. She cured John Chrysostom of a stomach ailment. Later, when Chrysostom was sent into exile from Constantinople, she went with him

537 – The Hagia Sophia is completed

1521 – The Zwickau prophets arrive in Wittenberg disturbing the peace & preaching the Apocalypse. Philip Melanchthon cannot silence them. Martin Luther is being held in protective custody at the Wartburg castle at this time. He is later released & is able, by his preaching, to regain the peace

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1571 – Birthday of Johannes Kepler, German mathematician, astronomer, & astrologer. “Johannes Kepler was as much a natural scientist of an earlier time as of a later one. He drew his thoughts from external observation, but in his inner experience he had an absolute feeling that spiritual Beings are there when man is receiving his thoughts from Nature. Kepler felt himself to be partly an Initiate, and for him it was a matter of course that he experienced his abstract building up of the universe artistically.It is extraordinarily valuable, from a scientific point of view, to immerse oneself in the progress human thought has made through such a man as Kepler. But one is more deeply stirred when one steeps oneself in Kepler’s life of soul, in that soul-life which in later times did not work with such intensity and inwardness in any other natural scientist, certainly not in any authoritative teacher of mankind at large. For between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries the feeling was entirely lost that through thought the human soul is brought into connection with the divine-spiritual.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Younger Generation: Lecture VIII, 1922 see also Christ and the Spiritual World: The Search for the Holy Grail, 1914

1822 – Birthday of Louis Pasteur, French chemist & microbiologist

1918 – The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins

1929 – Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the “liquidation of the kulaks as a class”

1935 – Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism

1939 – The Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey. At least 32,700 people were killed

1945 – The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations

1948 – Deathday of Marie Steiner von Sivers – wife of Rudolf Steiner & one of his closest colleagues. She made a great contribution to the development of anthroposophy, particularly in her work on the renewal of the performing arts – speech & drama, & the new art of eurythmy. She was also chief editor & publisher of Rudolf Steiner’s literary estate.

Marie von Sivers was born to an aristocratic family in Włocławek, Poland, then part of Imperial Russia. She was well-educated & was fluent in Russian, German, English, French & Italian. She studied theater & recitation with several teachers in Europe.

Marie von Sivers “appeared one day” at one of Rudolf Steiner’s early lectures in 1900. In the autumn of 1901, she posed the question to Steiner, “Would it be possible to create a spiritual movement based on European tradition and the impetus of Christ?” Rudolf Steiner later reported: With this, I was given the opportunity to act in a way that I had only previously imagined. The question had been put to me, and now, according to spiritual laws, I could begin to answer it.

Marie von Sivers collaborated with Steiner for the rest of his life & carried his work beyond his death in 1925 until her own death in 1948. She accompanied him & helped him as secretary, translator, editor, & organizer of his lecture tours & other public activities. She assisted Steiner’s work with her own resources & in 1908 founded the Philosophical-Theosophical Press (later Philosophical-Anthroposophical) to publish Steiner’s work.

Starting in 1912, Rudolf Steiner developed the art of eurythmy. With Marie’s guidance, it developed in three directions: as a stage art, as an integral part of Waldorf pedagogy, &as a therapeutic method. Under her tutelage, two schools of eurythmy were founded, in Berlin & in Dornach, Switzerland.

Marie von Sivers, made a study of purely artistic speaking. She gave introductory poetry recitals at Steiner’s lectures & assisted him in the development of the four Mystery Dramas (1910-1913). With her help, Steiner conducted several speech & drama courses with the aim of raising these forms to the level of true art.

On 24 December 1914, von Sivers married Rudolf Steiner. Beginning in 1914, Steiner drew up a succession of wills naming Marie Steiner-von Sivers as heir to his entire work & property & his successor in the leadership of the anthroposophical movement.

In GA 12, 27, 126 1910 Rudolf Steiner speaks of her earlier incarnations as Hypatia & Abertus Magnus

1968 –Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon

1978 – Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship

1979 – The Soviet Union invades the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

2008 –The Gaza War, also known as Operation Cast Lead or the Gaza Massacre. Israel launches a three-week armed conflict against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip & Israel

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 4th Holy Night:  Feast of St. John, Constellation of Sagittarius, Centaur/Archer (ruling the hips & thighs) The Sphere of the Archai, Principalities, Spirits of Personality

 

The Greek word Archai literally means ‘Beginnings’. Rudolf Steiner gives as the German equivalent Urbeginne: Ur-beginnings, First Beginnings, Primal Beginnings. They are the Beings who attained the human stage at the beginning of our evolutionary cycle, on Old Saturn. Their guidance can be illustrated thru the example of the child overcoming the forces that pull us toward the earth, moving from the crawling stage, learning to stand upright, & then walking – a victory of our human nature over the animal nature. In Dr. Steiner’s lectures on the Apocalypse of St. John, they are described as the eldest of the ‘Elders’ of mankind.

This relates to the 1st of the pre-earthly deeds of Christ, made in connection with the Nathan Soul in the realm of the Archai. This sacrifice occurred in the Lemuria epoch when humanity was 1st assuming an upright position. The counter force to this uprightness disconnected human beings from the spiritual forces of the earth, making it possible for adversarial powers working against the true path of development, to bring disarray to the 12 sense organs. Christ had to descend from his lofty heights to overcome this threat, working thru the Nathan Soul who later incarnated as Jesus of the Luke Gospel, to harmonize the forces of the 12 Zodiac.

Then on Old Sun, the Archai were connected with the forces of thinking in relation to the physical brain. Now, their task is to bestow on humanity the forces necessary for ego-consciousness to arise thru thought, signified by the Archers arrow within the bow. Another name for the Archai is ‘Spirits of Personality’ since Ego consciousness is individualized to become the personality.

Humanity will have the possibility of gaining something of the impulses of Spirit-Man when the point of the Spring Equinox moves into the region of the Archer – revealed simultaneously with its counter-image – the ‘War of All against All’. At that time humanity will divide into 2 main ‘races’ –  those that will hold the animal qualities of the Centaur & those that stand upright, setting the arrow of thought into motion as the Archer.

The imagination of the arrow that has been consciously released from the bow is a picture of the human will directed towards a definite purpose. The final aim of the whole of earthly evolution is the attainment of the Vulcan condition – when humanity will rise to that plane on which the Spirits of Personality -The Archai – stand at the present time.

Are we willing to develop our aim to the service of that sublime Christ-Revelation which will descend at that time to the Earth thru these Spiritual Beings who serve the Christ & guide humanity to this mighty impulse?

 ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

  Jane Gadd

Virtue: Control of speech & thinking (minding one’s tongue) becomes a feeling for the truth

Current Festival & Program Events

3rd Holy Night

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

26 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: The brightest star in the sky (after our Sun, of course) puts on quite a show on December evenings. Gleaming Sirius is nearly 4x’s brighter than the next brightest star – Arcturus in the constellation Boötes. Sirius rises before 6:30pm CST & ascends in the southeast throughout the evening hours

Before 2017 even begins, you can catch the very beginning of the apparition of Saturn & Antares which will culminate in the summer. In the early dawn tomorrow, the 27th, if the air is clear, go out & look very low in the southeast. Saturn is below the thin waning crescent Moon, & twinkly Antares is off to their right

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Pascal Dagnan Bouveret

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

“The soul of the seer lives on from the festival of Jesus’ birth to that of the Epiphany in such a way that the Christ Mystery is revealed. It is during these Thirteen Holy Days and Nights that the soul can grasp most deeply of all, the import and meaning of the Baptism by John in the Jordan.” ~ The Birth of the Sun-Spirit as the Spirit of the Earth – THE THIRTEEN HOLY NIGHTS, Hanover, 26th December, 1911

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Feast of St. Stephen venerated as the Proto-martyr or first martyr of Christianity. According to the Acts of the Apostles he was a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings. Accused of blasphemy, at his trial he made a long speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him & was then stoned to death. His martyrdom was witnessed by Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who would later himself become a follower of Jesus

3rd day of Hanukkah

 

Mummer’s Day, or ” Darking Day” is an ancient Cornish midwinter celebration that occurs every year on Boxing Day in Cornwall. It was originally part of the pagan heritage of midwinter celebrations that were regularly celebrated, where people would take part in the traditional custom of guise dancing, which involves disguising themselves by painting their faces or wearing masks

Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day on which post-men, errand-boys, & servants of various kinds expect to receive a ‘Christmas-box’. It originated in the United Kingdom, but is very popular in Canada, where this was the day to exchange gifts, or return the ones not wanted

1st Day of Kwanzaa – a week-long celebration that honors African heritage, culminating in a feast & gift-giving. It was created by Maulana Karenga and was first celebrated in 1966–67. Seven candles in a candelabra symbolize the seven principles of Kwanzaa:

Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle

1799 – Four thousand people attend George Washington’s funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen”

1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union

2003 – The 6.6 Mw Bam earthquake shakes southeastern Iran leaving more than 26,000 dead & 30,000 injured

2004 – The 9.1–9.3 Mw Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra. One of the largest observed tsunamis follows, affecting the coastal areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, &  Indonesia; death toll is between 230,000–280,000

2006 – An oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria explodes, killing at least 260 people

2009 – China opens the world’s longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing & Guangzhou

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 Van James

3rd Holy Night: Boxing Day – Feast of St. Steven, Constellation of Capricorn, The Goat (ruling the knees & bones) The Sphere of the Archangel, Fire-Spirits

The birth of Jesus could only occur in the seasonal round during the influence of Capricorn, when the Earth is frozen & dark, ie. purified of the Ahrimanic forces, with the light of the outer Sun, focused into Spiritual Sun within. These forces were gifted to us from the Archangels on Old Sun. So whenever we perceive light, with our eyes, or with our hearts, the Archangels are behind it.

So today, here in Chicago, with the weather in the 50’s – I can’t help thinking of this Steiner quote from The Cycle of the Year:  “While the summer out-breathing occurred, the Earth was ahrimanized. Woe if Jesus had been born into this ahrimanized Earth! Before the cycle is completed again and December approaches, which brings about the birth of the Christ Impulse in the ensouled Earth, the Earth must be purified by spiritual forces, from the Dragon, from the Ahrimanic forces. And the purifying force of Michael, which subdues the evil Ahrimanic forces, must unite itself, from September into December, with the in-flowing earth breath, so that the Christmas festival may approach in the right way, and the birth of the Christ Impulse take place in the right way…”

Is this global warming a sign of the coming incarnation of Ahriman in the West?

Chris Manvell

This push of activity from Ahriman manifests itself every year in the sphere of the Goat, where he is the chief antagonist of the 12 Archangels. Ahriman hopes ever & again at this darkest & coldest time of the year to prevent the rising of the spiritual sun in the earthly sphere. And every year he is overcome by the Archangel Michael so that the Christ Sun may rise for the earth. How can we as Michaelites help in this endeavor?

We see this image of Ahriman depicted, especially in the Middle Ages, thru the imagination of ‘Satan’ portrayed with the horns & lower body of a goat -all the negative characteristics of the animal nature – a tradition followed by Goethe in his character of Mephistopheles with cloven feet.

Interesting to think that the 7th American cultural epoch will stand under the sign of the goat. How can we prepare the way in the purity of the ideal?

The 12 Archangels were the 1st beings to receive the Christ into themselves during the epoch of Ancient Persia. The Persians knew that the 12 Archangelic Beings, operating from the 12 signs of the Zodiac, work thru the 12 main nerves that connect the human brain with the rest of our body, in order to gradually summon forth what appears today as our intelligence. And Human intelligence is most awake, most light filled, precisely at the time of the year which stands under the rulership of the cosmic forces proceeding from the region of the goat.

Zarathustra (who later became the Matthew Jesus) called them the 12 Amshaspands, the envoys of the great Sun-Spirit Ahura-Mazdao, & described them as a kind of cosmic aura surrounding the Sun, holding the Christ-Impulse that was to be born in the sphere of Earth.

Capricorn is connected to the knee.  So when we kneel in prayer, we spiritualize our speech. Bending the knee is a sign of reverence, helping us draw near to the Archangels who rule the element of speech.

According to spiritual science, in the Venus epoch there will arise from the knee-cap, the outer form of the human head.

The Archangels worked thru the 12 disciples as their representatives.  In our time these Beings are the inspirers of the Holy Nights.

Each of the Archangels have their own qualities. The Archangel Gabriel had the task of bringing the divine forces to bear in the womb of Mary

May we bend our knee to speak from spirit-fired, christened heads & hearts

xox~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Virtue: Courage becomes the power of redemption

hi-dukes-new-year-lucky-stars-branch-poster-8-5x11-web-2

Current Festival & Program Events

2nd Holy Night: Christmas Day

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

25 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: This year provides a stunning “Christmas Star” for early evening viewers. Head outside during the deepening twilight & look to the southwest for the brilliant light of Venus, the planet of Love. She shows up nicely from half an hour past sundown until it sets after 8 pm CST.

Jim Zinanti

The Moon reaches apogee, the farthest point in its orbit around Earth, at 11:55 am CST. It is then 252,196 miles from Earth’s center

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

“With Christmas there should pour into our hearts the fundamental human feeling of love — the fundamental feeling that says: compared with all other forces and powers and treasures of the world, the treasures and the power and the force of love are the greatest, the most intense, the most powerful.” ~Rudolf Steiner

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The birth of the Luke Jesus

 

The 2nd night of Hanukkah

304 – Deathday of Saint Anastasia – “Anastasia the Deliverer from Potions”, “Anastasia the Healer” or “Anastasia of Sirmium – venerated as a healer & exorcist. Her relics lie in the Cathedral of St. Anastasia in Zadar, Croatia. She is one of seven women, who along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass

336 – 1st documented celebration of Christmas in Rome

1156 – Death day of Peter the Venerable, French abbot of Cluny. Despite his active life & important role in European history, Peter’s greatest achievement is his contribution to the reappraisal of the Church’s relations with the religion of Islam. He was well known for collecting original sources on & writing about Islam & also as the author of vast amounts of correspondence, reflecting his almost encyclopedic knowledge of theological questions. His writings are counted as some of the most important documents of the 12th century. He took a long sabbatical journey to Spain to study with Islamic scholars of all ranks & published the first Latin edition of the Koran

1642 – Birthday of Isaac Newton, English physicist & mathematician

1923 – Laying of the Foundation Stone in the hearts of the General Anthroposophical Society

1977 – Deathday of Charlie Chaplin

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2nd Holy Night: Christmas Day

Constellation of Aquarius, (Ruling the calves, & ankles of the human body)

Symbol: The Water-Bearer

The Sphere of the Angeloi, also called ‘Sons of Life’ or ‘Sons of Twilight’

Just as the constellation of Pisces is connected with the physical realm, the region of the Water-Bearer is linked with the etheric or Life-body, & with the Hierarchy of the Angels. In Occult Science they are referred to as the ‘Sons of Life’, as the etheric body is the lowest member of their being. They can find form in water. This goes back to Old Moon when they had their human stage. At that time the task of the angels was to pour into humanity (then in the animal stage) the fluid substances of blood & lymph. On earth Angels are entrusted with the mission of guiding individual human beings during their successive earthly lives. They preserve the memory of former incarnations, until we can do this for ourselves. In the future time of the ‘Jupiter epoch’ when humans will be as Angels, water will be the densest element.

The etheric body has 2 major qualities: Life or formative forces & Memory. We encounter these qualities in stories, legends, & in the image of ‘the living water’ or ‘the water of life’ – a symbol of the life giving forces of the cosmic ether. We find this in Dante’s Divine Comedy, when crossing from the Soul-world to the Spirt-land, Dante has to bathe in the waters of Remembrance & Forgetfulness – in Lethe (goddess of water) & Eunoe (a river nymph). In the book ‘How To Know Higher Worlds’ Rudolf Steiner speaks about these waters as 2 draughts that the pupil must take to be initiated.

In the circle of the zodiac the sign of the Water-Bearer represents the image of the ideal, spiritualized human being -humanity when it reaches the stage of the Angelic Being.

Paul Kiritsis

For now, the angels, our role-models, work to reveal to us this spiritual ideal, hoping to stimulate our highest strivings. We can look up to & learn from their ability to govern their astral body. We see this pictured in the symbol of the Water-Bearer, pouring forth pure water in perfect peace & harmony. This will be us – especially in the 6th cultural epoch when we are under the sign of Aquarius. Then we will be completely imbued with Manas-substance, which the Angelic beings will send down as a gift from the heavenly world.

John the Baptist had a special initiation connected to the spiritual teachers in the Moon-Sphere, which relates to the cosmic realm of Aquarius. At night he could look thru the earth, to this constellation, to see the ‘Midnight Sun’ (something we will contemplate further on the 13th hidden Holy Night) And as a consequence of this exceptional initiation, a spiritual being from the Hierarchy of the Angels was able to work thru him when he baptized.  This power loosened their etheric body when dunked in the waters of the Jordan, giving them a direct experience of their guardian angel, who could then direct them to the Christ-Being as He approached Earth. (Mark 1-11)

Our job tonight (& every night), is to develop a direct, intimate relationship to our Angel, stating now in this age, to prepare for this.  Thru inner study & the spiritualizing of our thinking, working to make our Heart-Thinking alive & fluid, we can grasp the Angelic impulses that can lead us into the world of imaginative cognition, giving us the password into the etheric surroundings of the earth (the moon-sphere) & like the Water-Bearer, pour forth Christened good will & peace

Herbert Witzenmann

Virtue: Discretion Becomes the Power of Meditation

May you drink freely from the Waters of Life & never thirst

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Susan Seddon Beulet

Current Festival & Program Events

 

1st Holy Night: Christmas Eve, Adam & Eve’s Day

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

24 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: The Pleiades & Hyades star clusters climb highest in the south during mid-evening & remain visible nearly the whole night. The Pleiades, also known at the Seven Sisters, appears like a small dipper. The larger Hyades forms the V-shaped head of Taurus the Bull

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“To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.” Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The Feast of the Seven Fishes (Italian: Festa dei sette pesci), also known as The Vigil (Italian: La Vigilia), an Italian-American celebration of Christmas Eve with meals of fish & other seafood

1st Night of Hanukkah 

1914 – The marriage of Rudolf Steiner to Marie von Sivers

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 1st Holy Night: Christmas Eve, Adam & Eve’s Day

Constellation of Pisces, Fishes

The Sphere of the Human Being (ruling the feet)

‘From the light, thru the darkness, to the light’ – this is the path of human evolution symbolized by the region of the 2 Fishes. One fish swims down into the physical, where we are graced with 2 feet to walk upright upon the earth, until we are ready to swim back up to spirit.

It’s thought-provoking to remember that each epoch is ruled by a prevailing constellation, guided by a particular Time Spirit. Right now we are in the age of Pisces, guided by Michael. For our contemplation of the Holy Nights, it is interesting to think back to the last time the forces from this region of the Zodiac were raying down their influence. Rudolf Steiner’s research tells us it was when the Sun separated from the earth. The Christ-Being left the Earth with the Sun. The light that was within, began to shine from outside us.

And this constellation will be active again when the Inner Spiritual Sun, won thru individual freedom, begins to rise out of the darkness in the human soul. This is possible because Christ made the descent & united Himself with earthly evolution thru the mystery of Golgotha, gradually awakening the higher Sun-Self in humanity, making us worthy to become the 10th Hierarchy.

This has been the work of the Mystery schools since Lemurian times, referred to as the initiation of the Fishes. We see this reflected in many cultural legends: The great Manu learns of the impending flood from the Fishes. While in the Gilgamesh epic Enkidu is called ‘Son of the Fish’. The Guardian of the Grail receives the name the Fisher-King…etc…

John the Baptist had the task of preparing Jesus of Nazareth for the Fish-initiation which he performed at the Baptism in the Jordan.  And of course the closest disciples of Christ-Jesus were fishermen (Luke 5:10). Later the ancient symbol of the Fishes came to be associated with those that could be called the Bearer of the Christ.

David Newbatt

How striking it is to think that at the 1st Christmas, the symbol of the Fishes pointed, not only back, to the epoch when Christ left the Earth together with the Sun; but also prophetically, to our time now, (since 1930) where humanity has the possibility to experience the ‘Second Coming’ of Christ in the etheric; & then to the future time, when Christ will shine fully once again within the free & conscious human soul.

So here on the 1st Holy Night, in the constellation of Pisces, we find the Alpha & Omega of human evolution, expressing the very essence of Anthropos.

On this night what would it be like to hold a picture of our past selves, informing our present & future selves?

Mary Nichols

Virtue:  Magnanimity Becomes Love

Blessings & Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Preparing for the Journey

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

23 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: Head outside in the early evening & you can see the Big Dipper scraping the northern horizon. This conspicuous asterism never rises or sets (“circumpolar” in astronomical parlance), though December evenings find it at its lowest ebb. This means that the constellation on the opposite side of the North Celestial Pole, the familiar W-shaped Cassiopeia, currently rides highest in the sky.

Sirius, the Dog Star, sparkles low in the east-southeast after dinnertime. Procyon, the Little Dog Star, shines in the east about two fist-widths at arm’s length to Sirius’s left. The two canine stars will be at the same height above your horizon soon after they rise.

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“Study the past if you would define the future.”  ~Confucius

160  – Saints Victor & Corona are two Christian martyrs. They were killed in Roman Syria during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Their legend states that Victor was a Roman soldier of Italian ancestry, serving in the city of Damascus. He was tortured -including having his eyes gouged out- by a commander named Sebastian. While he was suffering from these tortures, the sixteen-year-old spouse of one of his brothers-in-arms, named Corona, comforted & encouraged him. For this, she was arrested & interrogated. Corona was bound to two bent palm trees & torn apart as the trunks were released

562 – Hagia Sophia in Constantinople reopened with a rebuilt dome after a series of earthquakes caused the original to collapse

605 – Deathday of Dagobert, murdered while hunting. The last Frankish king of the Merovingian dynasty . The prosperity of Dagobert’s reign, & the revival of the arts during this period, can be judged from the rich contents of the tombs of the period & from the goldsmiths’ work for the churches. Dagobert revised Frankish law, encouraged learning, patronized the arts, & founded the first great abbey of Saint-Denis

1539 – 1st mention of a Christmas tree at the Strasbourg Minster

1805 – Birthday of Joseph Smith, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1888 – Deathday of Laurence Oliphant, occultist. Rudolf Steiner speaks of him: 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, in the same way as the Mars Being of whom I told you in connection with Voltaire and with Ignatius Loyola.~ Cosmic Christianity: Lecture V

One of the most important guidelines that the masters of wisdom and of the harmony of feelings communicate to pupils through a teacher is: Learn to be silent and you’ll get power; give up power and you’ll get will; give up will and you’ll get feeling; give up feeling and you’ll get knowledge. An esoteric must place these occult propositions before his soul in all work and action, and then some day he’ll experience that the four verses are true. One should note that the various forces can only be attained in sequence, so that one can never attain knowledge first and maybe then feeling and then will, and then power. For will arises from the renunciation of power, etc. We’ll give an example from the life of a very rich Briton, Laurence Oliphant, who lived in the middle of the last century. He and his wife had a noble love for their poorer neighbors and moved by this feeling they gave most of what they had to them; and then they migrated to New York. There they made enough money to go to Mt Tabor near Haifa. Here a strange phenomena arose. Oliphant began to write some very interesting and strange books about Genesis that were some of the strangest things that were written about the Bible at the time. But he could only have these thoughts with the help of his wife. After she died Oliphant could only keep on working for a short time, and then the inspiration of his deceased wife no longer reached the physical plane.~ From the Contents of Esoteric Classes, EL, Koeln, 12-1-’06

1913 – The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System

1972 – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000

1986 – Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan & Jeana Yeager -the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without refueling

2002 – A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone & conventional aircraft

***

Connor Zendejas

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~We are gods in the body of god…
Truth & Love Our Destiny…
Go then & make of the world something beautiful…
Set up a light in the darkness..
~hag

***

Mieke Filmich

Tomorrow we begin our annual journey thru the HOLY NIGHTS, so I wanted to connect with you today, on this eve of the eve, to prepare the way, in the hopes that we can take this powerful initiatory passage together.

Each of the 12 days & 13 nights – From the Eve of the Sacred Birth, to the Eve of Epiphany, can be seen as a micro-cosmic experience of the macro-cosm, allowing us to approach the sublime gesture of the divine spiritual beings, whose outer vestments are the constellations of the zodiac – while simultaneously contemplating the events in our own lives, in order to uncover the golden threads connecting us to each other, as well as to the goals of Earth evolution, & to the divine spiritual nature that comes to birth again & again at this darkest time of year.

This sacred ‘Time out of Time’ provides an opportunity to contemplate, not only the great journey of the Cosmic Christ thru the zodiac into the body of Jesus; but also the path of Jesus to Christ; as well the evolution of every Human Being as a Star unfolding in an Earthly biography – for we as human beings are following both paths.

Lucas Cranach the younger

On Christmas Eve, we begin the contemplation with Adam & Eve, remembering that the fall was the reason The Christ Being made the sacrificial journey from the Godhead to become the Son of Man. The Holy Nights are completed on Epiphany, also recognized as the Baptism -when the Son of God – The Christ – entered human form.

So, when we look at the circle of the Zodiac during the Holy Nights we can find imprinted there a memory of that significant track from spiritual heights to human depths. The 12 apostles formed an outer version of these constellations around Jesus Christ. And we all incarnate into these various signs on our way to becoming spirit once again.

On December 25th, we are invited to consider the historical events behind the first Christmas. A thoughtful way to approach the birthday of Jesus is through the two Nativity stories in the Gospels, each very different from the other.  St. Matthew’s Gospel points to the Solomon Jesus, a re-incarnation of the great sage Zarathustra, actually born earlier in Bethlehem, in the time of Herod, when he is visited by Magi & then fled to Egypt. The Gospel of St. Luke points to the Nathan Jesus, born in Nazareth, a pure divine soul never incarnated before, that part of Adam that stayed in the spiritual world & prepared the way for the Christ.

The two Jesus children unite when the Luke child is twelve & the Matthew child is 14. We find this story in Luke 2:41-52 when his parents find him teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem. As Rudolf Steiner explained in the ‘Fifth Gospel’, the Luke Nathan Jesus takes on the soul forces (Ego) of the wise Matthew Jesus who sacrifices his life on the physical plane.

Di Vinci

Shortly before the Baptism in the Jordan, when Jesus was 30 years old, the Ego of the Solomon soul leaves Jesus & enters Mary, to make room for the Christ at the Baptism by John.

During the Renaissance, some artists knew of these profound secrets, & painted this occult theme showing 3 sacred children: the Luke Nathan Jesus as a boy & a second older boy, The Jesus form the Matthew Gospel, along with John the Baptist (cousin of the Luke Jesus)

 David Newbatt

Of course the mystery schools of old prepared their pupils for this journey even before the birth of Jesus. And any one familiar with the Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson knows that the legend speaks well to this:

“Come listen to me and hear my song
The song of a wonderful youth,
I’ll sing you of Olaf Åsteson
Who slept many days — ’tis the truth.

‘Twas Christmas Eve when down he lay
And slept so long all unknowing,
He never woke till the thirteenth day
When to Church the people were going.
Yes, it was Olaf Åsteson
Who lay so long a-sleeping… ”

Take these ideas into your thoughts, into your sleep – for tomorrow we begin to traverse the return path that leads thru the 12 constellations of the zodiac to a conscious union with the whole world of the Hierarchies.

Until soon –

Xox ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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