Greetings & Happy New Year Dear Friends – While I was at the ‘Fire in the Temple’ Holy Nights Gathering, my soul was filled with life changing spiritual treasures which I have been eager to spill from the fullness of my loving cup. But somehow I couldn’t find the words that would begin to convey this powerful social & deeply evocative experience.
Camphill Beaver Run in Pennsylvania, is in the same neck of the woods where I travel for my AAP trainings at Camphill Kimberton – located in what some folks call the ‘Keystone’ or ‘Quaker’ State outside the City of Brotherly Love, where the Appalachian Mountains run thru the center, with the Allegheny & Pocono mountains rolling thru the Camphill communities rich with Biodynamic agriculture & the selfless impulse of service initiated by Dr. Karl Konig.
I always travel a day before the convergence commences – It gives me a chance to commune with the Spirit of Place & get a lay of the land. The weather was super mild & sunny, so I hiked around, drawn to a flowing brook where I strongly felt the aura of the indigenous Lenape of the Algonquin Tribe, whose name means “the real people”.
Later in conversation at the Whitestone house where I was staying, I had a long conversation with a co-worker & teacher at the Karl Konig School. I learned that when Dr. Konig went on a lecture tour to Silesia he met & married Tilla Maasberg, who was a Moravian. It was thru her that Konig was brought into a deep connection with the social & religious impulses of the “Herrnhut” brotherhood which was dear to Tilla.
The village of Herrnhut “The Lord’s Watch,” came about thru a little band of Moravian fugitives asking if they might take asylum on the land of Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf, who agreed to shelter them on his estate.
Count Zinzendorf was dismayed at the division between denominations & longed to unite the different factions in a spiritual peace. He was the first to speak of “Ecumenism.”
Herrnhut become a gathering place for many religious exiles. Folks spoke different languages – customs & creeds varied. Lutherans, Schwenkfelders, Separatists, Reformed & Brethren, lived side by side. As we might well imagine, squabbles developed. But then the community began a Bible study, holding all-night prayer vigils where they could confess & confront their sins in good will with one another, to work thru their karma. The community established “bands” – groups of 2 or more who would commune together encouraging each other spiritually.
The Holy Spirit moved thru their hearts, & the differences dissolved. Folks embraced one another in forgiveness & a spirit of love. Christ became central to their thinking.
They established a 24 hour around-the-clock prayer vigil which lasted one hundred years!
The Herrnhut Brotherhood was a busy & industrious community fostering arts & crafts & team work: spinning, weaving, carpentry, pottery, & farming…
Herrnhut became a remarkable experiment in what a Christian community could be, as well as a major catalyst for social reform. Dr. Konig brought some of this impulse into his anthroposophical Camphill intiative.
I knew Karl Konig had been in an internment camp with several other Anthroposophists, where he worked on his drawings for the Calendar of the Soul, but I had not known about this piece of history. It was fascinating to learn that he was introduced to this stream. I am always amazed how our biographies bring us into contact with various people & influences that go on to form the destiny of our lives.
I carried this enlightening conversation deeply into my thinking, & found this powerful impulse living thru my experience of the “Festival of Offering” which we were invited to participate in twice during the gathering.
This service is held every week at Beaver Run in the magnificent Rainbow Hall – a mini Goetheanum with a vaulted stage dome that has colored windows, which they open for color therapy sessions twice a week.
For the Festival of Offering the stage is set all in red – red curtains in the background, a red altar with a sharply peaked triangular top & 2 thrones with the same shape. In the center in a thick blue frame is ‘The Study of Christ for the last supper’, by Leonardo da Vinci.
Below that are 7 white candles in black holders, taller on the ends, tapering down to the middle. 3 lay people dressed all in black carry the service, which is a sublime evocation that includes prayers & a seasonal Gospel inspired reading. At the end these co-worker officiants come thru the congregation & touch our third eye in a call & response benediction.
This service is full of profound reverence which speaks to the heart of every “I”. What I found most compelling was the magic moments when after looking upon the scene of the red altar, one closes the eyes – & the striking after image pulses in – the red altar becomes pure etheric green – the image of Christ shimmers from blue to purple to red – the center transforms into a Sun filled yellow. The black candle sticks & the 3 servers in black, glow white & yellow with red aura outlines – it’s incredible – awe inspiring – exhilarating!
A veritable training for our etheric vison! I am still holding these images which are forever etched in my mind’s eye, purifying & imprinting these Christened etheric vibrations into all my sheaths.
Of all the potent content, the loving hospitality, the living example of a healthy co-working community, the deep conversations & connections, of which I will attempt to share over the next days – This Festival of Offering touches me like a flash of revelation that has beckoned me across the Threshold into an active vison of the etheric Christ…
I pray I can continue to carry this revelation into the practical envisioning of the etheric Goetheanum, as we head toward the Centennial renewal of Anthroposophy – the opening of the tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz – giving us the opportunity to read & speak the ‘Temple of the Word’ that was imprinted into the starry script when the ‘Johannes Bau’ became a burnt offering – a sacrifice like the 2nd crucifixion which was an offering that makes possible the opening of our etheric sight. May we all see 2023 as The Year of WE!
~hag
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
Here are the Christmas and New Year verses that I’m sorry I didn’t send Hazel in time for her Christmas Eve post. I hope you’ve all had enlightened Holy Nights, and now at Epiphany may the fiery force of the Cosmic Word arise in you from the heart’s love world, the first of just 3 mentions of love in the Soul Calendar.
CHRISTMAS
The Spirit Child
v38
I feel the Spirit Child set free
from spell in womb of soul;
in heart’s bright radiance
from seed of holy Cosmic Word
the heaven’s fruit of hope
is growing into farthest worlds
rejoicing from my being’s ground of God.
NEW YEAR
The Chalice of the Sense of Self
v39
Devoted to the spirit’s revelation
I win the light of Cosmic Being;
thought’s clarifying power grows
to give me who I am
and waking in me
from thinking’s power Selfhood’s feeling flows.
EPIPHANY
Love’s Offering
v40
And when I am in spirit’s depths
then in my ground of soul
the heart-formed love world fills
my self-bound vain delusions
with power of the World Word’s fire.
The mirror verse:
SAINT JOHNSTIDE II
The Spirit Bond
v13
And when I am in senses’ heights
the gods’ true Word from spirit fire-worlds
is flaming in my depths of soul:
“Foreseeing, seek your vision, find your star,
divine in spirit ground
the spirit bond with who you are”.
Candlemas – a Cross-Quarter Festival Heralding Spring – with Willow Summer & Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Wednesday 25 January 2023 – Program – 3 pm – Potluck – 5 pm, Please Bring Food & Drink to Share
Storytelling: The Alchemy of Celtic Triple Goddess Brigid,
The Year of the Water Rabbit –
Tu B’Shvat –
Rudolf Steiner’s Seed Meditation – from ‘How to Know Higher Worlds’
‘Charm the Plow’ – Bless & Consecrate the Farm tools
Three Springs Community Farm 15300 Bodega Hwy, Bodega, CA 94922
Contact Willow for more info.
Velsum Voices Presents: ‘New Nightingale, New Rose’
A Benefit Concert to support Nancy Jewel Poer and the community events at White Feather Ranch
Saturday, 28 January 2023, at 2 pm PT
In the Peace Garden at White Feather Ranch, Placerville, CA
All Ages – Love Donation – Contribute what you will
Come join us for Velsum’s West Coast Debut!
Dress in warm clothes for a hearty heart-filled afternoon of music and celebration. We will have an outdoor fire. If it is too chilly we can meet in the Ranch House. Pack your own picnic lunch or dinner.
Can’t make the concert? You can still Donate to Nancy’s web site
*RSVP to receive directions to White Feather Ranch hazel@reverseritual.com
‘Velsum‘ is a musical initiative formed through Lucien Dante Lazar and Ultra-Violet Archer. The songs are inspired to develop our human capacity for Love and Logic. Velsum is a celebration of harmony, rhythm, prayer, and the human voice. Each song is permeated with a sincere interest in the other, the self, the world, and the cosmos. ‘”Velsum’s music is a product of listening.” We hope that by listening to these songs, you feel heard. ~Velsum
Lucien and Ultra met as children at the Chicago Waldorf School, and became friends and collaborators as young adults. They now write, record and perform original music through the initiative Velsum. They debuted the show ‘New Nightingale, New Rose’ last winter at Angelic Organics Farm, and have performed it throughout the Midwest. Through weaving harmonies, poetic recitations, and movement, New Nightingale, New Rose invites the audience on a quest for love and wisdom. A joyful experience awaits young and old!
Here is a short video clip of Velsum, and here you can find their link to all links! https://linktr.ee/velsum
~Velsum: Ancient Futurism~ Lucien Dante Lazar and Ultra-Violet Archer
Here is a short video clip of Velsum find them on Instagram, Bandcamp, apple music, soundcloud, spotify, youtube
Ultra-Violet Archer – (b. Chicago, IL, 1999) is a songwriter and music producer, exploring music as a tool for healing and storytelling. After studying at Oberlin College & Conservatory and spending a year in Järna, Sweden, at the International Youth Initiative Program, she currently studies music at Columbia College Chicago. She strives to make music that invites people to honor the parts of themselves they feel but can’t yet put into words. https://linktr.ee/UltraVioletArcher
Lucien Dante Lazar (b. Chicago, IL, 1994) is an interdisciplinary artist whose praxis is founded in the intersections of art, science, and spirituality. He received his BA from Bard College (2016), his MFA from California College of the Arts (2020), and is currently working on his PhD in the Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness program at California Institute of Integral Studies. His dissertation will concern the pedagogy of spiritual development through the diversity of the arts.
Dear Hazel,
Thank you for the beautiful blog entry about the gathering. It is a gift to read someone’s perspective who is coming from the relative “outside” and see aspects of Beaver Run again that one can easily lose sight of in the work, challenges and fragilities of every-day life. Thank you especially for sharing your observations about the festival of offering, despite attending it for years I had not become conscious of the complementary colors appearing.
One brief comment: You write that Karl Konig had been in a “concentration camp”; this may be misunderstood, I believe. He (along with the other men starting Camphill and other anthroposophists) was interned on the Isle of Man for approximately 6 months (I believe 1939/40), because they were refugees from Austria and thus suspicious to the British government when the war broke out. While they were interned, my (superficial) understanding is that they were treated much better than in what many people may understand under “concentration camp”, having the opportunity to come together and engage in esoteric work. They were released in the course of 1940 and returned to Camphill (the women had actually been the ones moving into that property with the men gone).
Thank you again for making the trip to join us for the gathering, and sharing your reflections, experiences and insights, in the reflection group, plenums and in writing.
Warmly, Raphael Knauf
Hi Hazel,
I am moved by your closing words here:
“I pray I can continue to carry this revelation into the practical envisioning of the etheric Goetheanum, as we head toward the Centennial renewal of Anthroposophy – the opening of the tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz – giving us the opportunity to read & speak the ‘Temple of the Word’ that was imprinted into the starry script when the ‘Johannes Bau’ became a burnt offering – a sacrifice like the 2nd crucifixion which was an offering that makes possible the opening of our etheric sight. May we all see 2023 as The Year of WE!”
There are a number of important issues that involve the Centennial renewal of Anthroposophy, and the first is likely the reviewing of what Steiner had to say to the members of the anthroposophical movement in the aftermath of the burning of the Goetheanum. These necessarily critical remarks are contained in the volume, Awakening to Community, GA 257, and designed to establish the needed rudder for the boat that had been listing for years, even as Steiner continued as the greatest teacher of the Christ Impulse since Christ Himself. The years, 1913-1923, were fraught with challenges and difficulties, and especially World War I, and its aftermath. Steiner held true to the course, but chose to leave the administrative leadership in the hands of others. In early 1923, he felt the need to act like the leader that he was, and start the process of renewal with himself at the helm. Thus began a new initiative, which would come true by year end. The Refounding of the General Anthroposophical Society.
What is needed in 2023? Is it a true renewal, or a memorial. A true renewal would require some unflinching truth as to what happened to the best laid-out initiatives you could find on the planet. The paragraphs and statutes were air tight. Such was Steiner’s meticulous organizing abilities. The future course seemed realizable. Then, something happened that only the perpetrator knew would have the effect of bringing down the ship again into the uncharted waters of Scylla and Charybdis.
We might as well be as truthful and honest as possible in this assessment. 2023 has seen much water under the bridge by now, and my hopes for a real renewal of original purpose is as palpable as yours, or anyone else seeing what this year could mean.
Thus, opening the grave of Christian Rosenkreutz could provide a surprise. He was never gone:
“Christian Rosenkreutz is an individual who is active both when he is in incarnation and when he is not incarnated in a physical body; he works not only as a physical being and through physical forces, but above all spiritually through higher forces.
As we know, man lives not only for himself but also in connection with human evolution as a whole. Usually when man passes through death his etheric body dissolves into the cosmos. A part of this dissolving etheric body always stays intact, however, and so we are always surrounded by these remaining parts of the etheric bodies of the dead, for our good, or also to our detriment. They affect us for good or ill according to whether we ourselves are good or bad. Far reaching effects emanate also from the etheric bodies of great individualities. Great forces emanating from the etheric body of Christian Rosenkreutz can work into our soul and also into our spirit. It is our duty to get to know these forces, for we work with them as rosicrucians”.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA130/English/RSP1984/19110927p01.html
Yes, CR has been & will continue to be present.
The Rosicrucian analogy of opening the tomb is 2-fold: one aspect is the connection to the tomb of Christ which we hear about in Matthew 28:1-20, Mark 16:1-20; John 20:1-31- In Luke 24:1-53 we hear: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” And then the disciples on the Road to Emmaus see him in his etheric body when they break bread together. So this connection has to do with a revealing of the etheric body of Christ on earth.
The 2nd aspect shows us that what the great Christian Initiate Christian Rosenkreutz brings often needs 100 years to ripen, so this imagination of opening the tomb is a resurrection of a seed impulse that he brought earlier which was not able to become fruitful in the past, but which after ripening in the tomb can now become manifest in the world in a new form.
In the case of our Centennial & the opportunity for the renewal of Anthroposophy everything points to us working toward developing our etheric understanding, our perception of the life forces at work that connect us to the Christ, CR, & all Christian initiates, including the individuality that we called Rudolf Steiner – available in that realm…
Let us not linger at the tomb in memorial, but seek the spirit that must be released from the tomb to new life.
Indeed, most noteworthy. Mani is also a figure of high repute – the initiator of Christian Rosenkreutz. He will certainly need to be a part of what stands to be the forthcoming of the next 100 years of development, and especially in consideration of 1998 being the commencement of Sorath’s third incarnation in our present time. Rudolf Steiner’s death nearly 98 years ago makes the opening of the tomb for a renewed presence a very palpable possibility in the near term. My vigilance and expectation is with yours in these matters of real potential in the offing.
Yes, Let’s align with every spiritual helper, every Chirist filled initiate, every human heart striving for love & light…
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