Change your Heart & Mind

Greetings Friends on this St. John’s Day 2018

I wanted to take a few minutes to share what I woke up with this morning, before I cook up  a veggie stew from the contents of our 1st box of organic fare from Angelic Organics, & make my way to the RSBranch for our Festival.

The Greek term μετάνοια = Metanoia, can be defined as a transformative change of heart & mind, a reorientation, a fundamental revolution in the outlook of a person’s  vision of the world & of themselves, a new way of loving others & God, a spiritual conversion,

In the words of a second-century text, The Shepherd of Hermes, it implies “great understanding, or discernment.

When personified in ancient art, Metanoia was depicted as an ethereal goddess, cloaked & sorrowful, who accompanied Kairos, the goddess of Opportunity, sowing regret to inspire repentance for the “missed moment”. This imagination continued thru-out the Renaissance, showing the elements of repentance, regret, reflection, & transformation.

But earlier in Alexandria the goddess Metanoia was seen “in heaven, a beautiful & especially good daughter of the Most High.” There, “she entreats God Most High, hourly on behalf of the people.”

In the New Testament, Metanoia can be traced to the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 1, where we hear John the Baptist admonish us to “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand”. Matthew 27:3 uses it as the Greek verb stating that Judas “repented himself” after he saw Jesus being led away; pointing to a foreshadowing of his redemption, showing that mere sorrow avails nothing unless it leads to a fundamental change in thinking that leads to a fundamental change in behavior & way of living.

The Acts of Peter ties metanoia to the cross on which Peter was crucified. While Peter was being crucified, he explained parts of the cross from which he was hanging, including “the nail which holds the cross beam to the upright in the middle.” He calls this nail “the metanoia of humanity”. In Peter’s sermon from the book of Acts 2:38-40 six steps are required for a person’s redemption; & Metanoia is step number one.

Metanoia is the essence of the Christian gospels as a transmutation of consciousness that opens a new future.

St. John the Baptist

You, herald spirit, by the Father’s grace
Abiding witness to the Light of Lights,
Look on our seeking.
All we have done on the earth that left its trace,
And all we say sounds on for spirit ears.
Help at our judging.
Baptizer of the waking soul, lead out
Our lives from barren conflict in the dark
Into Christ’s presence.
Let sound the music of your faithful heart,
Prophet of old and of days to come, for brotherhood
In the Glory of Christ.
~Adam Bittleston ‘Meditative Prayers for Today’

***

PDF St. John’s Festival: Cosmic Rapture Grounded in Jubilant Hearts

Sunday 24 June 2018, 2 – 4 pm at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago

ALSO: at the Nashville Branch 3 July 2018 – 4804  Sewanne Road Nashville TN

Pot Luck Dinner: 6 pm

Festival: 7pm-9pm

Please RSVP.  Barbara Bittles

And then in Maryville, TN on Sunday 8 June 2018 (details TBA)

Come join our Initiatory Workshop/Ritual, to discover the New Mysteries of St. Johns-Tide. To pass the test of Summer we will explore many questions:

v  How do we stand wakefully within the sublime mysteries of the Summer-Tide, to consciously embody ‘the spiritual wisdom of the gods’?

v  Who is the mysterious Archangel of Summer?

v  Who is John the Baptist? What do his sayings “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” And “He must increase, but I must decrease.” really mean?

v  What is the secret to healing the ‘soul-fever’ so prevalent in society today?

v  What is the mystery of the Dragon-fly, & other elemental beings?

v  How can we understand the ‘Cycle of the Year as Breathing Process of the Earth’?

Together we will work to strengthen our true “I”, enlivening our will forces with various social-artistic exercises.

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg –Spiritual Midwife, Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer– Anthroposopher, working as the Festivals Coordinator & Council Member of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, and the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society. Founder of Reverse Ritual –Understanding Anthroposophy Through the Rhythms of the Year

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