Greetings friends on this Labor Day /New Moon/Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, (רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה‎, literally “head of the year“) is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe), a two-day celebration that starts tonight at sunset, as the New Moon makes her way into the light. It weds seriousness with celebration & begins the 10 days of repentance that culminate in Yom Kippur. This festival is believed to be the anniversary of the creation of Adam & Eve, acknowledging their first actions toward the realization of humanity’s role in the world.

The 1st panel of the Foundation Stone Meditation asks us to ‘Practice Spirit Recalling.” Recognizing ancient traditions, we can renewal time honored themes that still apply today:

The New Year focuses our attention on themes of discernment, repentance, memory & the Divine presence in the world (The Shekinah). At the same time, Rosh Hashanah invites us to celebrate birth & creation on many levels. The liturgy suggests that Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of the world.

Family-oriented services often include a birthday cake for the world. Customs include sounding the shofar (a hollowed-out ram’s horn) & eating symbolic foods such as apples dipped in honey to emphasize the sweetness of starting the cycle of seasons once again; & round challah to remind us of the cycles of life.

What is your birthday wish for the world? Are you willing to personally practice themes like forgiveness, as you recall that the Divine essence is in all that lives? How can you bring sweetness into life – making everyday a ‘Day of Awe’ – pulsing with reverence & wonder? How are YOUR thoughts, words, deeds, adding to the re-creation of the world?

La Shanah Tovah – In Oneness with each other & the Universe –

~hag

6 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”

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

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Deathday of Albinus a Platonist philosopher, who lived at Smyrna, pupil of Gaius the Platonist & teacher of Galen.  A short tract by him, entitled Introduction to Plato’s dialogues, has survived. After explaining the nature of the Dialogue, which he compares to a Drama, he  goes on to divide the Dialogues of Plato into four classes, logical, critical, physical, ethical, & mentions another division of them into Tetralogies, according to their subjects. He advises that the Alcibiades, Phaedo, Republic, & Timaeus, should be read in a series

1080 – Deathday of Magnus of Füssen, a missionary saint in southern Germany, also known as the Apostle of the Allgäu, a contemporary of Saint Gall & Saint Boniface

1522 – The Victoria, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition, returns to Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world

1729 – Birthday of Moses Mendelssohn, a creative & eclectic thinker whose writings on metaphysics & aesthetics, political theory & theology, together with his Jewish heritage, placed him at the focal point of the German Enlightenment for over three decades

1847 – Henry David Thoreau leaves Walden Pond & moves in with Ralph Waldo Emerson & his family in Concord, Massachusetts

1860 – Birthday of Jane Addams, sociologist & author, Nobel Prize laureate – I have a soft spot for this powerful lady – I went to Jane Addams Jr. High & the Hull House museum is close to where I live in Chicago. Jane Addams life’s work still resonates in a big way today. Social worker, suffragette & activist are just some of the titles that apply to her. In 1889, Jane founded a social settlement called Hull House, which supported thousands of people each week – mainly immigrants, the poor & the dispossessed. It became a model for similar communities in the future.

Jane studied medicine as a young adult but decided that wasn’t her calling. She was inspired during a trip to London when she visited the world’s first settlement house, Toynbee Hall. Within months, she opened the doors to a similar facility in her hometown of Chicago.

Originally conceived to give immigrants & the poor access to the arts, Hull House evolved according to the community’s needs. Along the way, Jane also challenged corrupt local officials, investigated health issues and lobbied against unfair laws.

Jane was way ahead of her time, a person who was making inquiries & putting her money where her mouth was into figuring out enormous social problems. She made a lot of progress in ways that are still really resonant. The legacy started at Hull House lives on, from juvenile courts & labor laws to playgrounds & public sanitation. The Mother of Social Work set a standard for how to help others.

All are Welcome

Join us at the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago 

• 1st make sure you are registered at https://www.anthroposophy.org/fallconference and have indicated that you will be attending in person at the RSBranch Chicago.
• Then Register by October 1st with the Chicago Branch using PayPal (this requires that you have a PayPal account of your own).

OR

• Register and write a check and it mail by October 1st to: Rudolf Steiner Branch, Attn: Jenny Doty 4249 N Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618

OR

• Register and contact jenny.meyer17@gmail.com to make alternative payment arrangements.

Details for the in-person conference:

• $75 will cover the expenses for facilities, 3 lunches and 3 dinners, snacks, and printing.

You will enjoy a pre-AGM dinner on Thursday Oct. 7 Doors open at 5 pm (AGM starts promptly at 6:3opm CT)
Lunch and Dinner on Fri.and Sat.
and Lunch post-conference on Sunday.
As well as Snacks/Coffee-Tea during the breaks.

• $40 will cover only the bare expenses – no meals
• Be a Master Builder Patron for $100 or more, to help pay for the tech costs!

Registration Link

• For any other questions, please contact Jenny Doty at jenny.meyer17@gmail.com

Greetings kindred souls – This year for the APO fund raiser I plan to hold a Dance-A-Thon & Biodynamic Prep-stir on Friday 24 September 2021 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America – Chicago

Featuring Waldorf Alum DJ ‘Grapefruit Effect’ & Ultra-Violet Archer with ‘Circles Edge‘ –

It’s a potluck community gathering, so please bring food & drink to share – Along with your donation to this amazing program.

We also plan to read some poetry from some of the inmates who are working with Anthroposophy!

If you live out of town you can dance in your neck of the woods in solidarity with us. Please show your generous support…

Xox ~hag, hazel@reverseritual.com

Donate here https://secure.anthroposophy.org/…/anth…/campaign.jsp…

Festival Gathering: Tuesday 28 September on the eve of Michaelmas with Rev’s Jeana Lee & Victoria Capon

Potluck at 5:30
Talk at 7pm

At the Rudolf Steiner Branch, 4249 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Meeting The Dragon With Our Four Fold Being – A talk and collaborative sculptural creation

Bring Food & drink for the potluck & a found objects to help build the dragon!
Then our inspiration can come to life through our collaboration.

Jeana Lee was recently ordained as a priest of the Christian Community Movement for Religious Renewal and sent to the congregation in Chicago.  Previously she taught chemistry and math at Green Meadow Waldorf high school.  She enjoys swimming in the lake and is interested in questions of sin and redemption.

Victoria Capon hails from the east coast and is new to Chicago. Before attending seminary she taught at the Waldorf School of Cape Cod. Now she is happily settling into serving the chicago CC congregation and exploring the Windy City

Find a collection of the many RECORDINGS of Presentations, Programs & Festivals HERE

ON-GOING WAYS TO ENGAGE:

Wednesdays 9:30-11:00am CT  – True and False Paths in Spiritual Investigation, by Rudolf Steiner. We incorporate ‘The Calendar of the Soul’, eurythmy, focused discussion and seasonal artistic explorations in our study. All are Welcome. Contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.  Hazel@ReverseRitual.com We meet in person in the Branch Library or join via Zoom
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84457727333?pwd=S2U1b0JGbjZmczR3SXJaUVdlbTJpUT09 Meeting ID: 844 5772 7333
Passcode: true

***

(CLOSED) Fridays 12noon – 1:30pm CT. The Esoteric Path Through the Nineteen Class Lessons by Sergei O. Prokofieff. A serious study for Members of the School of Spiritual Science. Contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg. Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

Sundays 7-9pm CT. Our international group is working with ‘The Effects of Esoteric Development” Contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg. Hazel@ReverseRitual.com, Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/91503499709?pwd=eEtzckt4NjM5OFIyUlJOT0pjYThCUT09 Meeting ID: 953 7461 8565 – Passcode: Logos