Caves under the sea

My Life as a Lens / unsplash.com

Greetings friends – I am just bobbing my head up from a deep dive – my 1st foray as a member of the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Thruout the 4 day retreat we worked with a lecture series by Rudolf Steiner called simply – ‘Anthroposophy, An Introduction’, GA 234, given a year before he died, from January – February of 1924. These 9 lectures are a kind of recapitulation, a deepening of concepts he gave 21 years earlier in his seminal books ‘Theosophy’, & ‘How to Know Higher Worlds’.

Steiner asks us to face life’s riddles, as he takes us from ordinary knowing to the science of initiation. On this path of the soul to the spiritual we peel away yet another layer in the exploration of the various sheaths of the human being. Are we willing to transcend the chains of necessity binding us to the destructive forces inherent in the laws of nature? We can ask things like: “How does a moral impulse come to move bone by muscle?”

Ram Daleti

When we seek the moral element within us, we meet ourselves in a fresh way – thru imaginative thinking – the human being as small ocean, our fluid etheric self – taking us back to the womb –  & at birth, “time becomes space“, for the etheric body is a “time-organism”, just as the physical body is a “space-organism”.  

To Balance the rounding down centripetal forces we live into inspired feeling. The inner music of our breath streaming in as living beings, & out again to be read by our higher self, allows us to look directly into the spiritual world, where “space must become time for us“.

Steiner describes the human being as a “comet stretching its tail far back into the past”. And so it is that inspiration can reveal our past incarnations when we empty our consciousness – “suggest away” all the pictures we have built up, leaving that strengthened space  open. Music (or a scent) can unlock experiences, perhaps memories from another life. “Our moral impulses act indirectly, through the ego of our last incarnation.”

Artists' responses to the Holocaust | Imperial War Museums
Ilene Wentworth Merkel

Intuition activating the will of the true “I”, “is attained by making the power of love a cognitive force” – to be able to go out of ourselves, selflessly, with warmth of soul, & live into another human being…

we are connected. - jaymin - Paintings & Prints, People & Figures,  Portraits, Male - ArtPal
Jeffery Centoff

I hope that little nugget of a synopsis wets your appetite to read this series for yourself. It is truly food for the soul.

Frederic Leighton

On the 2nd day of the retreat, (11 June 2021) we took a break in the afternoon. I went to do my midday Circle meditation & fell asleep. Tomorrow I will share what Steiner had to say in the above lectures about the sleeping human being, but for now here is the dream I had during my afternoon nod:

The Illustrated Jules Verne: Voyage au centre de la Terre | Literature art,  Earth illustration, Jules verne

I am in a kind-of Jules Vern landscape – caves under the sea. I am part of a community that lives there. We are all dressed like the time of the French Revolution: with big powered-wigs & fancy clothes; everyone is wearing overstated makeup. A woman – one of the leaders has a presentment that an important ‘book’ was to appear. We travel into another chamber of the cave which is vast & airy, & there is a large group pf people that have Ethiopian / Egyptian features, very tall and thin with coal black skin. Their faces are all painted in bright yellow chalk, which gives them a striking countenance. They are bare chested, with leather skirts & black bands around their left arms. The woman wear large top hats & their breasts are painted bright yellow like their faces. They are all smoking pipes that emit pure clean oxygen which enlivens the chamber. They stare out as if in a deep meditative state. The air vibrates & moves like music. I stand there certain that they have ‘the book’. I am filled with a deep feeling of gratitude & anticipation.

It’s been a long weekend & I am still digesting. I feel like I have taken a turn somehow…

As my friend Mary Louise always says: Onward!

~hag

Angela Foster

Summer Practice & Research Group – 6 Essential Exercises & Eightfold Path

Beginning Saturday June 12 and ending July 24.

9:00 – 9:15 am PT / 10 am MT / 11 am CT / noon ET / 5 pm UTC / 6 pm CET

Daily 15-minute Zoom for 42 days (6 weeks)

You are invited to join with a group of friends as we explore Rudolf Steiner’s 6 Essential Exercises alongside the Eightfold / Daily Exercise Path.

This is a practice group AND a research group. We are experimenting with weaving our attention with weekly rhythm of the 6BE and the daily rhythm of Eightfold Path/ Daily Exercises. You are encouraged to bring a journal to make notes and keep track of your progress.

Zoom Link 

Free

William Wolff

‘Preparing the Way’ an experiential St. John’s-Tide Festival

23 June 2021, Doors open at 5:30 pm with a Potluck -Program from  7-8:30 pm

In-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4248 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, 60618

The program is evolving – There is a possibility that world-renowned eurythmist Jan Ranck from the Jerusalem Academy of Eurythmy will lead us in group eurythmy (TBA)

Other activities may include: 

Art – Mary Spalding

Spacial Dynamics – Deborah Rogers

Singing – Elizabeth Kelly

Group discussion – Hazel Archer

If Jan Ranck is leading – $20 pre-pay online or $30 at the door (no one turned away for lack of funds)

For more info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer

Sea Cooke

St. John the Baptist and Uriel the Archangel of Summer –

An Experiential Festival with Geoff Norris, Elizabeth Carlson, Lisa Dalton, Hazel Archer

Sunday 27 June 2021 on Zoom: Noon – 1:30 pm PT / 1 – 2:30 pm MT / 2 pm – 3:30 pm CT / 3 – 4:30 pm ET / 8 – 9:30 pm London Time / 9 – 10:30 pm CET

Metanoia –  Can you hear the voice of conscience? – Make straight the path, for at the fullness of Summer, the light is so bright that it leaves no room for the shadow, a time to remember what St. John said “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Musicial Performance by Lucien Dante Lazar

Speech – Geoffrey Norris

Eurythmy- Elizabeth Carlson

Living into St. John’s-Tide – Lisa Dalton

Leading Thoughts – Hazel Archer

Hazel Archer is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: St. John’s
Time: Jun 27, 2021 02:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/7052931041?pwd=TkMwcGVVdk5GTVJmVzVJS2s5YVFtQT09

Meeting ID: 705 293 1041
Passcode: Uriel


Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a961qZZhF

For more info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer Hazel@reverseritual.com

25 thoughts on “Caves under the sea

  1. Hi Hazel and Michael. This is a wonderful exchange between you two. So much experiential stuff going on, as we speak. I am uplifted all the time when I hear that the dedication is real and visceral. There is another version of the lectures about Francis of Assisi, and it may be the earliest. It is entitled, Anthroposophical Ethics.

    https://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA155/English/APC1928/AnEthi_index.html

    Reciting the Prayer of Saint Francis is something I do nearly every day when I walk through the cloisters. It has a special power to release the Self for the higher cause.

    1. Greetings, Steve!,,,,yeah it looks like the same lectures….this cycle seemed so different to me…it really got to my heart,,,,but as I mentioned the 3rd clecture was beyond casual reading at a study group…going to go back and reread.

      Cloisters?! Where are you? What cloisters are you referring to? in Europe? I grew up in NY and I used to go see the Cloisters there but I was a Catholic School kid and had no idea what they were about….

      1. Hi Michael,

        I walk through Calvary Cemetary nearly every day, and go through the ‘Cloisters’, and recite certain prayers to the entombed there. As such, these cloisters are a mausoleum of above-ground burial tombs divided among the great Saints: Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Matthew, Peter, Theresa, Anthony, and Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Prayer of St. Francis is prominently displayed:

        Lord make Me an instrument of Thy peace

        Where there is hatred let me sow love
        Where there is injury let me sow pardon
        Where there is doubt let me sow faith
        Where there is despair let me sow hope
        Where there is darkness let me sow light
        Where there is sadness let me sow joy

        O Divine Master
        Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console
        To be understood as to understand
        To be loved as to love
        For it is in giving that we receive
        And it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
        And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life

        Amen

        Yes, this is all here in the obscure village of Tacoma, Washington. Right across the street is a huge mountain.

        1. Wow Steve, thanks for sharing…so amazing how St. Francis is so near and dear to your heart . Such devotion he’d be proud of you (if he could be). And so much contact with /prayers for the dead whose remains are at Calvary.

          Mike

        2. A bit of serendipity…I used to work for a large hospital network called “Bon Secours” founded by French nuns in the US……I worked in St. Francis of Assisi Hospital…it’s a beautiful building with a church tower and (electronic) bells that ring every day.

          When I was 16-18 I had a summer job cutting grass. IN CALVARY CEMETERY in Queens NY. I have many buried relatives there…can you imagine my initial confusion reading your note? Calvary is the largest Catholic Cemetery in the world!
          Mike Bogil

          1. Yes, indeed. My own relatives: Mothers, Fathers, and two brothers are over on the other cemetary, Mountain View. I go there too because it is so peaceful and serene. They reside near the Sun Dial, which I have always felt was very symbolic of something.

  2. There truly are many “nuggets” here that are encouraging enough to read this series!

    Hazel, I find your cave dream really fantastic. I have had a few of them, that I can remember. One of which, that made the most impact for me, had a cave which looked very similar to the picture at the top of the post (without the houses, though). I remember going into this cave and coming in contact with three giant beings, one was an amphibious looking creature with scales and gils but a humanoid shape, one looked like the Hulk (but not green) in armour like a roman legion, and the third was floating in air and was also a humanoid shape but but had a glowing purple light body but a ‘skin’ surface made of loosely put together granite.

    There seems to be something magical in ‘descending’ within the earth. Symbolic of unearthing rare treasure, or knowledge, or wisdom. I just found your dream so palatable, and this feeling of discovering something in these depths very familiar. Thank you for sharing it.

    1. Hi Kyle – Wow, yes, It always feels like a kind of affirmation when we receive these dream images which hold deep archetypal imagery & initiatory truths.

      My 1st impression of your dream brought up the imagination from Goethe’s fairy tale, of the 3 kings…What was the impression – the feeling you had when you awoke? No matter what the images say, our visceral reaction can tell us even more…

      1. I’ll have to read Goethe’s fairly tale of the 3 kings, this is an incredible connection. My feelings when I woke were a mixture of awe, reverence, meekness, yet felt courage to be among these giants, or titans of sorts. I had immediately made a connection to Poseidon and Aries, and the wispy flying figure somehow reminded me of a kind of Hades archetype. I very well imagined them to be emissaries or champions of these three particular gods.

          1. These dreams are special occasions that the Lesser Guardian of the Threshold is conducting to test your ability to withstand seeing your true self. GA 119, “Macrocosm and Microcosm”, discusses this meeting, and especially how to continue it after waking up. This is also a “deep dive”, with courage as the paramount factor. Our usual practice is to allow Lucifer and Ahriman to divert our attention to the outer world, and then we miss the Lesser Guardian, who would have us face the picture of Dorian Gray. I think we talked about this before.

            To dream like this requires minimizing sympathies and antipathies. Then, you are experiencing Lower Devachan, where the real dream-life informs us that we are spiritual beings , first and foremost, and immortal and eternal.

          2. I’m reading through it now. I just have to say, what an uncanny resemblance. Thank you for pointing this out, Hazel. I’ve heard of this work of Goethe’s and Steiner placed quite some significance in it, yet this is my first read.

            Steve, this is a great lesson to keep in mind regarding the Lesser Guardian. Only to continue this meeting upon waking up. I do find myself not being able to wake up immediately, due to this labor of retaining what I had experienced during sleep.

  3. Hi Hazel,

    These 9 lectures from early 1924 were intended to be Steiner’s summation of the first 21 years of anthroposophical development. As such, they harken back to what he had indicated in the summer before, when he said that 21 more years would be needed in order for a worldwide movement to be possible, Ref. GA 258. So, you see how much he was attempting to make the new wave.

    https://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA234/English/RSP1931/AntInt_index.html

    Hazel, if you were introduced to these lectures as the means for an invitation into the ranks of the ASiA, then the responsibility has been given. Only you can tell about it, although the guidance is given, obviously. Who was it that instructed you in these lessons? This is very important. The reason is that the next 21 years never took place, although Steiner outlined it here with GA 234. So, these lectures are important for what never happened, although we can reflect on what was intended to be the good result.

    1. The treasure is there. The clues are everywhere. We are the new spiritual scientists. We must take up the research & put the essence into action. We instruct each other.

      1. Absolutely true. There have been four iterations of 21 years since 1923’s call for the continuation. Add the fourteen years since 2007, and you also have a Holy Grail by 2021. “I Am For Going Forward”. Isn’t that what Ita Wegman said?

  4. Welcome back. Thank you for the recommendation on the series GA 234 – I’ll check it out. What spoke to me from your ruminations was the mention that at birth, “time becomes space” for us, and as we progress, “space must become time”. Reminded me that when we are in these dimensions of time and space, we are “writing” a new record in the ether that’s between time and space, in what’s termed the akashic record, or journal, which is the resource by which Steiner was able to “read” about the past lives of others. In today’s study on the Water-trial, under Initiation in KOHW, Steiner was talking about the “hidden writing” in the higher worlds. I think this is what he was referring to.

    As you say, “Onward”, let’s “write” some more of our record, and add to the tail of our “comet”.

    1. Beautiful correlations Maverick, thank you.
      In GA234, Steiner speaks of how memories are not stored like in a cabinet in our brain, but impressions are made in our etheric bodies as well as the akashic record as you point out.
      I also think of the Jewish New Year where they say ‘May you be written in the book of life for another year’.
      Yes, & don’t you love that image of the tail of the comet!
      So many gifts to evocative imaginations to build & explore. Thanks for being on the ever evolving journey.

  5. Hi Hazel how are you? My study group (Joseph of Arimathea, Richmond Va.) just read the Foundations of Spiritual Morality …the impulse of Francis of Assisi and Christ. It is only 3 lectures and is one of the most beautiful lecture cycles ever. (altho the 3rd is difficult and I will read again, slower.) Your notes about Intro to Anthro. made me think you would appreciate FSM. I’m sure I’ll feel the same about Intro to Anthro, which I was not aware of. Thank you so much,
    Mike Bogil

    1. Greetings Michael – How winderful that your group in Richmond is named after Joesph of Amrimathea!
      Thank you for reaching out with that great suggestion. I don’t think i recognise the title (I love that it has the same initials as the Foundation Stone Meditation).
      The archetype of St. Francis of Assi is very powerful, & the concept of how to embody morality is very interesting to me.
      Blessings

      1. Thanks for your reply, Hazel….”Joesph of Arimathea” study group was founded I believe in the 1990’s by John Moses, who helped found Richmond Waldorf School, and Washington (DC) Waldorf School.

        To be more precise: The Spiritual Foundation of Morality…Francis of Assisi and the Christ Impulse. 3 Lectures Norrkoping,Sweden May 28-30, 1912

        1. I have a friend who lives on Maryland. Her kids went to the Washington Waldorf School. That area is magical. Thanks for keeping the initiative alive.

          1. Hi Hazel the Washington Waldorf School is awesome and has their own study group, so I can’t take credit …they also have readings for the School of Spiritual Science…led by Nancy Foster and Patrick O’Meara…but I am trying to carry on the group in Richmond.
            Best wishes,
            Mike

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