Friday the 13th July 2018
What is at the root of “triskadekaphobia” (the fear of the number 13)?
Well it could be because all numbers have their own cosmic vibration, & “13” is considered an unstable number. From the time when humans first used numbers to measure things, the number 12 has represented a common cosmic standard. There are 12 months of the year, 12 hours on the clock, 12 signs of the Zodiac, 12 Tribes of Israel, 12 Apostles, 12 Knights of the Round Table & so on. The number 13 represents disruption to the established order.
Perhaps the modern basis for the aura that surrounds Friday the 13th stems from Friday October the 13th, 1307. On this date, the Pope of the church in Rome, in Conjunction with the King of France, carried out a secret death warrant against “the Knights Templar”. The Templars were terminated as heretics, never again to hold the power & riches that they had stewarded for so long. Their Grand Master, Jacques DeMolay, was arrested & killed on that Friday the 13th.
In the Christian faith, 13 is the number of people at the Last Supper, with the 13th guest at the table being the traitor, Judas. Also legend has it that Adam & Eve ate the forbidden fruit, on a Friday, & later died on a Friday, & in Christianity, Good Friday is always a solemn occasion.
The Scandinavian belief that the number 13 signified bad luck sprang from their 12 demigods, who were joined by a 13th, Loki, an often cruel trickster god who brought humans great misfortune.
Whether or not a person considers Friday the 13th unlucky, belief in superstitions is thought to offer a sense of control in stressful situations. Today’s beliefs may very well be tomorrows superstitions.
But, let’s consider that in pre-Christian societies, reliance on a lunar calendar meant that Friday the 13th could coincide with the Full Moon or New Moon. And Friday named after the Goddess Freya, was a day to honor the goddesses & planet Venus in a day-long love-fest! Friday the 13th symbolized a day for everyone to let go, revel, sacrificing routine. Such breaks in the usual order allowed for the restoration of balance & harmony.
So maybe we will choose to take a cue from our forebears. They saw the number 13 as a lucky omen, a time to make a fresh beginning, seeking new roads to success & satisfaction. What if we took today to consciously open our heart & mind to new opportunities, luck & love?!
But just to be safe, don’t step on a crack!
~hag
From Jonathan Hilton of the Astrosophy Center: …on the 12th we have an exact alignment of Earth, Sun, and Pluto. This alignment has not occurred since 1931 (we can think back in history to both the political situation then and to what Steiner spoke of about the etheric Christ event in early 1930’s). Sun in Twins opposite Pluto in Archer aligns along this great vertical axis of our cosmos seen from two perspectives. Geocentrically it is the line of the Solstices, winter/ summer, when the Sun reaches its highest point of the year and its lowest point of the year. It is related to our consciousness and thus our sense of Selfhood. This line is also the line of our galactic center, the belt of the Milky Way runs thru these constellations. In fact our galactic center is just at the point of the arrow in the Archer, a significant imagination!
So now we have the Earth/Sun/Pluto aligned in Archer and we also have Saturn in Archer. Pluto, is a planetary sphere, that according to the research of Willi Sucher, is connected both with the highest and lowest in humanity, particularly with regard to the new faculties to be developed out of the consciousness soul. It is often associated with explosive, earth-shaking, but often transformative world events, such as revolutions and natural disasters. It is also connected to the nuclear realm. Its potential is to ultimately lead to the transformation of the physical body and physical earth as we ultimately develop Spirit-Man. The shadow of Pluto is that it can become a tool of the most destructive forces of the third evil realm which is just beginning its real activity in our times; these are the Asuras, the fallen spirits of personality or of egoism.
This alignment and Saturn also in Archer, point us to a very significant time in world karma in which the very nature of our identity as a human being is being challenged yet also hopefully inspired. We are answering the question, What truly is the human being? Who are we? Animals, machines or spiritual beings? In the Archer we have the very image of the human being who is striving to transform the animal nature (the horse) which represent the old forces of clairvoyance and instinct from the past which no longer work as well as the impulse and passions of the lower animal nature which hold us back from our true nature. Arising out of this half animal is the human being who is aiming with the bow and arrow for the goal of our true spiritual nature. Archer represents this struggle and challenge which we must work out on our own to discover who we truly are.
Now there are great forces at work in the world which would divide, which would lead to destruction and polarization; which want to keep us from recognizing our shared spiritual humanity. The world is being “shaken up”, even convulsed, but this can lead to our higher awareness…out of the challenge of this evil we can find the good.
“Men speak of good and evil, but they do not know that it is necessary in the great plan that evil, too, should come to a peak, in order that those who have overcome itshould, in the very overcoming of evil, so use their force that a still greater good results from it….The good would not be so great a good if it were not to grow through the conquest of evil. Love would not be so intense if it had not to become love so great as to be able even to overcome the wickedness in the countenances of evil men. Therefore you must not think that evil has no part in the plan of creation. It is there in order that through it may come the great good”. ~Rudolf Steiner, Lecture 8, Apocalypse of John
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
587 BC – Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem ends following the destruction of Solomon’s Temple.
1218 – Deathday of Jacopo De Fazio, best known as the blessed Jacobus da Varagine, an Italian chronicler & archbishop of Genoa. He was the author, or more accurately the compiler, of Legenda Aurea, the Golden Legend, a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medieval church that was one of the most popular religious works of the Middle Ages.
1527 – Birthday of John Dee, English-Welsh mathematician, astronomer, & astrologer
1863 – New York City draft riots: In New York City, opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.
1889 – Deadday of Robert Hamerling, Austrian author, poet, & playwright
1963 – Deathday of Albert Steffen, a poet, painter, dramatist, essayist, & novelist. He joined the Theosophical Society in Germany in 1910, & the Anthroposophical Society in 1912 & became its president after the death of its founder, Rudolf Steiner, in 1925. Steffen was chief editor of the society’s journal, Das Goetheanum, from 1921-1963. His earliest works, predating his encounter with anthroposophy, already manifest a spiritual awareness. His later works, which reflect a vision of the world permeated by metaphysical powers of good & evil, draw on a wide range of esoteric European & Asian traditions. A Glimpse in to his life
1973 – Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the “Nixon tapes” to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break-in.
***
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Mine is
A heart of ruby-red
Crimson hot
& dark as murder on a Holy Day…
Mine is a heart of emerald,
The gnarled roots
Of a rosewood bursting with thorns
& bright blossoms in the Sun...
~hag
***
How To Know, Confront, and Work with Evil
A Weekend Workshop with Rev. Bastiaan Baan
At the Christian Community, 2135 W. Wilson Chicago, Il. 60625
Saturday 4 August 2018, 10 am – 8 pm
Sunday 5 August 2018, 11:45am – 5 pm
Fee is a Sliding Scale $25 – $100
Please RSVP to Rev. Ann Burfeind
***
by Grace KahnBy Sophia Karris
20 August 2018 ~MORAL MONDAY~ CHICAGO 7 pm – 9 pm
“When The Trees Melt Away In A Sun Soaked Cotton Dream”
A Going Going Gone Party for the CWS Class of 2018 – an Art Exhibit with Musical Performances from the Youth at Elderberries Chicago 4251 N. Lincoln Ave.
Illustrations by Grace Kahn, & Sophia Karris.
Work by Shanti Rogers, Art booth by Liz Rosu-Rosenberg
Songs from “Beyond Blue and Red” by Ultra-Violet Archer
Chance Schneider & DJ Grapefruit Effect
$10 Donation –MORE or less (Youth under 21 FREE)
***
How We Will: Organizing a Bare Bones Threefold Cultural Revolution
Hosted by Urban First Aid – Art As Medicine & The Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago 4251 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618-2953, United States
31 Aug. 2018 at 12 PM to 4 Sep. 2018 at 2 PM
The Cultural Revolution continues! Organizing for systemic change – a separation of powers into three different spheres of action:
Culture – Economics – Political
Freedom – Kinship – Equality
2018 is a pivotal year in the United States and also around the world. We will step into organizing the three spheres particularly, through what lives already in our community and then seeking beyond to allies and partners.
Step by step organizing strategies and tools will be at the forefront of this bare bones session of How We Will – 3folding our Cultural Revolution. We will strategize together as to how to bring about a community of like-minded organizations working in agriculture, education, medicine, art and more which can open up a conversation on Rudolf Steiner’s work for a threefold consideration.
First up Kait Zielger for our How We Will: Threefolding our Cultural Revolution strategy sessions. Mid July Kait will be at the Goetheanum in Dornach where she will present her work on Theory U at the Youth Section gathering and then will co present with Gerald Haefner at YIP in September.
Elizabeth Roosevelt Weeks will co lead a conversations throughout the Labor Day weekend in Chicago: Periphery & Center – The work at Elderberries Threefold Cafe in Hollywood has specifically been around how to create a culture of selflessness where we make room to the ninth degree for the other.
Rudolf Steiner shares: ‘He who would be a true member should strive in the deepest places of his soul for inner tolerance towards his fellow-men. To understand one’s fellow-man ? even where he thinks and does things which one would not like to think and do oneself ? this should be the ideal.’
Strategizing a way forward no matter what country you live in! Nathaniel Williams and his community are working on a new form of economics in their upstate New York neighborhood and we are aiming to hear about this and to really break down into groups along the lines of the Economic, Cultural and Political spheres to find a way forward.
In times like this, when ALL is falling down around us, we need a full on systemic change. Our time is asking for a separation of powers where the rights gained are not just taken away at whim by whoever is ‘in charge of’ the government and depending on their own political/economic/religious ideology.
The way we are battling for our rights is putting money at the forefront versus our values. We need our values in the front first. What are our values as citizens of the United States? Do we value human beings and the earth and all living beings or do we not? It feels like the last ball has dropped and the judiciary can really no longer do it’s job as it’s the last bastion that would uphold Equality and it is so polarized along political lines that it no longer serves rather it serves the smallest percentage of human beings who are able to buy more Rights for themselves. In a Threefold system you cannot buy more Rights for yourself as there is no money in politics.
Economic system is dead. Here we would raise up a Beloved Community
Political system is dead. Here we would establish in our societal laws Equal Rights for all
Civil Society yet to be born. here we would honor Freedom of the individual.
Not about Socialism or Communism or Capitalism but a time for a fourth way which honors moving away for me me me and me and mine a 4.0 Economy – from Ego to Eco.
Our team here in Hollywood will also share the tools we have learned working with the Poor People’s Campaign around Fusion Coaltions.
More Presenters TBA so stay tuned
We will also be building out the cafe space two weeks before and two weeks after for those who can stay and help get this Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago up and running!
WE NEED HOUSING!
For more info. Contact Frank Agrama
***
Poetic Imagination, Metamorphosis and the Evolution of Consciousness with Luke Fischer
Sunday 16 September 2018, 2 – 4pm
In this lecture, poet and philosopher, Dr Luke Fischer will discuss ways in which the poetry and thought of Goethe, Rilke, Barfield, and Steiner contribute to an understanding of the evolution of consciousness and of the particular significance of poetic imagination. He will also shed light on how his own poetic and philosophical writings have addressed these topics.
Poetry Reading and Piano Recital
Poet and philosopher, Luke Fischer, will share poems from his poetry collections A Personal History of Vision (UWAP Poetry, 2017) and Paths of Flight (Black Pepper, 2013). Pianist Ryan Senger will perform classical piano works.
Bio: Luke Fischer is a poet, philosopher, and writer. His books include the poetry collections A Personal History of Vision (UWAP Poetry, 2017) and Paths of Flight (Black Pepper, 2013), the monograph The Poet as Phenomenologist: Rilke and the New Poems (Bloomsbury, 2015), and the children’s book The Blue Forest (Lindisfarne Books, 2015). He has co-edited a number of works, including a special section of the Goethe Yearbook (2015) on “Goethe and Environmentalism.” He won the 2012 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize and his poems have been anthologized in the Best Australian Poems (2014, 2015, and 2017). He holds a PhD in philosophy and is an honorary associate of the University of Sydney, Australia. For more information see: www.lukefischerauthor.com
***
Veil Painting Workshop with David Dozier
Friday Sept. 21, 2018, 7 -9pm
Saturday Sept. 22, 10 am – 5 pm
Sunday Sept. 23, 10 am -1pm
Workshop fee: $135.00 for RSB members, $160.00 for non-members Supply fee: $135.00*
Veil Painting is a watercolor technique special to artists working with the writings of Rudolf Steiner. Transparent watercolors are thinned far more than usual and glazed over one another on white paper to achieve subtle color washes, or ‘veils.’ The colors are never mixed anywhere but on the paper, and then only one at a time in a wash over dry colors. To avoid loss of time to stretching watercolor paper and waiting for it to dry overnight, students will use 300# cold pressed watercolor paper or heavy illustration board for wet media. We will focus on technique and work with painting motifs using Goethe’s Luster Colors (red, yellow, and blue) and Image Colors (white, black green, and peach), also exploring Goethe’s use of Characteristic Colors, Non-characteristic Colors, and Harmonious Colors in varying combinations on small panels, the Goethean color wheel on a larger panel, with space for a free painting to try and find an image out of the color itself. Supplies: All supplies will be provided for participants out of the supply fee, and will become their personal materials to take home including; brushes, paper, color, jars, rags, tape, ruler, pencil, sharpener, eraser. Participants will be completely equipped to work at home after the workshop, including colors and where to buy additional supplies when needed.
To Register Send check by September 7th to: David Dozier 1050 Columbia Ave. #3E Chicago, IL 60626
*Anyone taking the workshop that believes they already have all the tools and materials they need and wishes to avoid paying the supply fee should speak to Mr. Dozier personally at 773-627-0060, and review their tools and materials against the supply list with him by September 1st, since supplies have to ordered at least two weeks in advance.
Bio: Since 1997 David A. Dozier has taught art history, digital art, painting in oils, pastels and watercolor, black & white drawing, calligraphy and block printing at the Chicago Waldorf School, as well as drawing skills to adults in the Arcturus Rudolf Steiner Education program. He has a Master’s degree in Education (with a Certificate in Waldorf Education) from Antioch New England Graduate School, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communication from Layton School of Art and Design with academic accreditation from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI.
***
Saturday 20 September 2018 MICHAELMAS Festival at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Stay Tuned For Details
***
AGM 2018 Friday, Oct 5 – Sunday, Oct 7 in New Orleans, Louisiana
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE!
First Grace United Methodist Church 3401 Canal Street, New Orleans (Check out their amazing history here!)
Pre-conference: Thursday, Oct 4: Living in the Branches National Branch and Group Gathering
Free event! $25 lunch/refreshments fee.
Some travel scholarships available.
Email with questions.
National Youth Conference (Wed pm, Thurs, Fri am October 3-4-5):
MY HEART’S VOCATION: Finding Ourselves within Community
Click here for Youth Conference schedule and registration!
$250 Early Bird (until September 5th), $275 Standard
$375 Sponsorship (supports financial assistance) $60 Youth
Includes Friday light reception, snacks, beverages, and Sunday light brunch! Limited financial assistance available. Email to find out more.
Conference Schedule
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE!
Thursday, October 4
9:00-3:30 First Grace Methodist Church
Living in the Branches: National Branch and Group Gathering
National Youth Conference (Details coming!)
4:00-9:00 Central Region Gathering
Friday, October 5
7:45-9:30 am – Bayou St. John Songtrail: meet under the McDonough Oak.
10:00-12:00 – Class Lesson and Conversation with Joan Sleigh
1:00 pm Opening
1:30-2:30 Keynote Conversation with Orland Bishop
2:30-2:45 Trio Sharing
2:45-3:30 Here and Now with the General Council
4:00-5:15 Concurrent Sessions (Choose on site)
Cain and Abel: Building a bridge between the Two Streams, with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Exploring Transformation Through Our Own Biography, with Janey Newton
5:30-6:15 Central Region Interactive Panel
6:30 DINNER
8:00 Momento Mori Ritual (Stay tuned for details!)
Saturday, October 6
8:00-8:45 Singing or Speech
9:00-10:00 Keynote Discussion with Joan Sleigh
10:00-10:15 Trio Sharing
10:45-12:00 Concurrent Workshops (Choose on site)
Initation of the Heart: The Fifth Gospel, with Patrick Kennedy
General Council Annual Update Session
Transforming Community – Creating the Future: Young People Discovering Their Purpose and Place, with Bart Eddy
12:00-1:30 Lunch (Table Topic Discussions)
1:30-2:30 Youth-Led Panel
3:00-4:15 Participant Research and Initiative Sharing Sessions
(Click here to submit your research/initiative sharing proposal.)
OR
3:00-4:15 Pageant Participant Preparation with Marianne Fieber-Dhara (Details at the conference!)
4:30-6:15 Concurrent Sessions (Choose on site)
Orland Bishop: The Seventh Shrine
House of Hope, with Thea Lavin
Anthroposophical Contemplative Practices in Everyday Life
6:15-7:30 DINNER
8:00-9:30 Confluence of Karma: A Pageant Of Dedicated Service
Sunday, October 7
8:00-8:30 Group Speech
8:30-8:45 Trio Sharing
8:45-10:00 Now and Next (Art, Reflection, Closing Plenum, Singing)
11:00-12:30 First Grace Church Service, or Tour of Raphael Village [link]
Lunch on your own!
Post Sessions (Included in Conference Fee)
2:00-4:00 Lisa Romero: Contemplative Practices
2:00-4:00 John Bloom and Laura Scappaticci: “So That Good May Become”–Working with the Foundation Stone
See you in New Orleans!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE!
Schedule subject to minor changes.
Limited Financial Assistance Available.
Email community@anthroposophy.org for an application.
***