Getting Ready

“The first light of Advent is the light of stones.
Stones that live in crystals, & in seashells & in bones.”

Sulamith Wulfing

Greetings friends on this 1st Sunday of Advent – Everything feels displaced for me this year – Even our Thanksgiving weekend was more untraditional than usual. Somehow this morning I don’t quite feel ready to meet the sting of Advent – Latin for ‘that which is coming’ – A time of preparation, of waiting in the dark, for the return of the light, at Winter Solstice, a time deeply connected with the challenge of the Scorpion.

Can we overcome the consequence of the error & evil in our astral nature, reflected also in society so strongly today, which has separated us from our true divine nature – So that we might prepare the way for the birth of Christ in us at Christmas-tide..?

YES! We can use Advent as a time for transforming the fallen parts of our souls, so we can truly meet the Christmas birth. Advent is a true festival of our current time in world evolution -a karmic call to rededicate ourselves to our spiritual development with its focus on the confrontation with evil.

Cornelis Cornelisz

In the northern hemisphere, the darkness, & the death of nature, mirror the descent of humanity from the light into the darkness of matter at the Fall. 

This ‘missing of the mark’ gives us the chance to cultivate freedom. I am ever striving to connect inwardly to the love, conscience & intelligence of my higher self, listening deeply to what is coming up in my thoughts & feelings.  

I offer them up as questions, as hopes, for transformation, for healing, for redemption of my lower self. It’s hard to sit still, to wait, to be observant, to be malleable & open to change. I have received many not so pleasant insights into parts of myself that need purification, terrifying, or shameful glimpses into my double. Sometimes coming from very unexpected sources, blunt synchronicities, various frenemies, uncanny dreams & visions.

The transformation of the Scorpion, into an Eagle, is a big step; but we can go furtherWe are called to bring in the essence of the Dove! This must be our work –  Opening to the Michael-Sophia-Christ flame, the true I Am, born anew in the chalice of the heart at Christmas.

I am inspired by the image of Mary – the Mother God – gestating the emergent body of Jesus within her. Every breath she takes, every beat of her heart, every thought in her mind, devoted to forming the perfect human being capable of holding the divine.

I think of the approaching soul of Jesus, the pure, innocent Nathan soul, described in Luke’s Gospel, preparing to enter into this immaculate body – This soul which has never incarnated into a human being before.

But then I can’t help comparing that original purity & dignity with the way people treat each other these days – so much cliquish derision, cruel disrespect & hatred; all the discrimination – Delusions! that separate & enslave us.

Then I try to think about how this is part of some great plan – to wake us up – to divide the wheat from the chaff, so that we can reclaim our place in the universe as conscious, Christened human beings.

Sulamith Wülfing

Can we use this time to become more aware of the way in which we are disconnected from our source?  Can we strive to fulfill to our purpose, as we work to remember our Divine origin?

YES! We celebrate Advent to awaken our connection with the cosmic purpose in the Universe.

With Prayers for Peace & Healing-
I Am  ~hag

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler

ADVENT I
New Selfhood’s Wonder
v34

Mysteriously to feel
with newly risen sense of Self
old treasure re-enlivening in me
shall rouse a tide of cosmic forces
that pouring into my endeavour for the world
will print me into what is real.

LAMMASTIDE III
May Memory Awake My Self
v19

Mysteriously to sheathe
my life’s new seed with memory
be now my striving’s further aim
that strengthening it shall awake
my inner power to become

Greetings Dear Ones – Yes, the Holiday Season is upon us.
Come join us today at 2 pm CT on this 1st Sunday of Advent
27 November 2022 

‘Being Mary’ – A Creative Advent Exploration
with Rev. Jeana Lee

Doors open at 1:45 pm, program starts at 2 pm CT 
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society
4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map)

Rev. Jeana Lee grew up in the central coast region of California before attending Smith College where she earned a degree in Chemistry.  She encountered Anthroposophy and Waldorf Education while living in Boulder, CO, and worked as a Waldorf high school teacher in Spring Valley, NY.  There she met The Christian Community and was ordained in May of 2021.  She is now a priest in the Chicago, IL congregation.

For more info. contact the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer
https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar
www.rschicago.org/donate

Holiday Market at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 
4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago
10 December 2022 – from 11 am – 4 pm

Handcrafted gifts, décor & toys
Featuring Live Music, Puppetry & Candle Dipping!!!

If you would like to be a vendor contact Elizabeth Kelly 
eilisaineariadne@gmail.com

Resurrection of the Temple (The first Goetheanum) by Rita de Cassia Perez, Adriana’s mother

The ‘Envy of the Gods’ – The ‘Envy of Human Beings’

Presented by Adriana Koulias*

A Winter Solstice offering preparing us for the Centennial commemoration of the burning of the first Goetheanum.

21 December 2022, at 5 pm PT, 6 pm MT, 7 pm CT, 8 pm ET

Here is a link to the World Clock for your time zone

Online & in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago

Dear Friends – This special presentation is supported by your generous donations. $10-$50 or pay what you will www.rschicago.org/donate (credit card or PayPal)

Please type ‘Adriana’ on the line of your payment that says: Purpose

To register & receive the Zoom code email your receipt of payment to the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.

For those attending in-person doors open at 5:30 pm for our Potluck meal. Please bring food & drink to share.

 Work on building the First Goetheanum, which was designed and supervised by Rudolf Steiner, began after the laying of the double dodecahedron foundation stone on the 20th of September 1913. Construction proceeded for a decade under enormous difficulties in the political, economic and cultural realms, brought on by the advent of the First World War. After the war when the building was near completion, the First Goetheanum was destroyed by an arsonist on New Year’s Eve 1922/1923.

This NYE 2022-23 will be the 100th anniversary of this event and the world is again facing many difficulties, political, economic and social.  Adriana’s lecture will explore what Rudolf Steiner meant by the ‘Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human beings’ and how a consciousness of this during the coming 12 Holy Nights can provide the necessary strengthening for the coming twelve months.

During this presentation Adriana will speak about the three gifts given by Rudolf Steiner in 1913: The naming of Anthroposophy, The Fifth Gospel, and The Laying of the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum. She will explore with us how we can link our hearts to the old Goetheanum during the coming 12 Holy Nights to prepare ourselves for the coming 12 months in 2023, so we can work towards a Cosmic New Year.

In this way we will celebrate the Jubilee of the Christmas Conference and the resurrection of the living impulse of the First Goetheanum in the most auspicious way.

For Rudolf Steiner tells us: ‘My dear friends, may this link our hearts to the old Goetheanum which we had to consign to the elements. May it link our hearts also to the Spirit, to the Soul of this Goetheanum. With this vow before whatever is best within our being we want to live on not only into the new year. In strength of deed, bearing the spirit, leading the soul we want to live on into the new cosmic year.’ ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human Beings.’

Adriana Koulias was born in 1960 in Brazil. Adriana moved to Australia when she was 9 years old where she lives today. She has studied art, operatic singing and nursing.  She has been studying Anthroposophy (awareness of our humanity) as given by Rudolf Steiner for 33 years and has since 2002-3 integrated this knowledge into several novels and a number of books, international lectures and articles online and in magazines.

12 thoughts on “Getting Ready

  1. It is most interesting, and seemingly important, that this Advent season has five Sundays, beginning November 27th, in order to place the candles in the ornamental wreath that is one of the expressions of the lead-up to Christmas. This year, December 25th occurs on a Sunday. There are various traditions in which the four candles that encompass the first four Sundays express something important. One of these traditions, which could be considered anthroposophical, conveys the first three candles as indicating:
    1) Faith
    2) Hope
    3) Love

    And yet, Steiner somewhere indicated that Faith, Hope, Love needs to be slightly rearranged in order to indicate the proper relationship of Faith to the Astral Body, Hope to the Physical Body, and Love to the Etheric Body. Thus, Faith, Love, Hope would be the better distribution of the first three candles of the Advent Sundays of November 27th, December 4th, and December 11th. The candle for December 18th is one that seems to call for the Joy in seeing/experiencing the birth of the Lord of Israel, as chapter two of the Gospel of Luke indicates when the Nathan Jesus is presented at the Temple in Jerusalem. The 5th candle, this enables the prayer for Peace/Harmony in the World, does it not?

    Now, a significant riddle exists in the timing of the first Sunday of Advent, and it concerns Saint Andrew’s Day, which is November 30th, and this year is on Wednesday, or Mercury’s day. I have wondered for years as to why Advent is based on Andrew, who was a disciple of Christ, and one of the first two to follow Jesus after John the Baptist pointed out to them, “Behold the Lamb of God” on the day after the Baptism. Thus, it seems clear now that Advent is also relevant to the advent, or beginning of the discipleship of Christ in these two former disciples of John. The beginning of the eyewitness accounting of the Gospel of John occurs here, and this cannot be disputed. Yet, what has always perplexed me is why the other disciple who follows with Andrew is never identified; never named. Did he disappear somehow? Or did he write the account contained in the Gospel of John until being finally named at the beginning of chapter 11, and wherein the name, Lazarus, is first spoken? It is three years into the ministry of Christ on Earth when chapter 11 begins, and Lazarus is now sick and cannot write anymore. So, who is writing now?

      1. What about the other observations? The unnamed disciple deserves just as much recognition as Andrew, don’t you think? It is like it has always been known through external evidence that there were two Jesus children, but too much of an inconvenience to scholars to try to figure it out.

        1. Advent comes on different dates every year so I don’t associate it with Andrew.
          I had never thought that the Gospel of John was written by anyone else but Lazarus John the disciple whom Jesus Loved, so have no comment.

          1. The first Advent Sunday is said to be the Sunday closest to November 30th, which is Saint Andrew’s Day, and that is why November 27th is the first Sunday. If Sunday had been the 26th of November, like it will be in 2023, then December 3rd would have been the first Advent Sunday. So, Andrew’s feast day is important because it is the factor for the dating of Advent. Why? Likely because Andrew represents the advent, or beginning of the Discipleship of Christ. He is one of the first two to follow.

            With regard to Lazarus, all I am trying to do is find out if we can associate him with the unnamed disciple who first follows Christ with Andrew. This would have been the perfect opportunity to experience all that took place in the three years, and make a chronicle accounting of it. Please remember, Lazarus isn’t named until the beginning of chapter 11, and it is close to the Passover event of the Jews, and the first one for Christianity.

  2. Hello Hazel. Like many others, I too have been feeling displaced this past year and longer. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve felt this lost in life since my teen years. It’s been decades now, but as a teacher I lived into this season with all my heart. Reading your article brought back inspired recollections of the many Advent and Christmas celebrations I’ve been part of over the years. I caught a glimpse of something wonderful, and it lit my soul up! Thank you once again, Hazel. May memory awake my Self.

    1. Greetings Dear Bruce – Yes it has been longer hasn’t it…
      I can see you staning in the candle light of a glorious Advent spiral,
      walking into the center to find yourSelf!
      There we meet
      xpx

      1. “YES! We can use Advent as a time for transforming the fallen parts of our souls, so we can truly meet the Christmas birth. Advent is a true festival of our current time in world evolution -a karmic call to rededicate ourselves to our spiritual development with its focus on the confrontation with evil.”

        33 And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed— 35 and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

        https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+2&version=NASB1995

          1. I really hope that the Reverend reads your blog because the latest discourse concerning the identity of Lazarus would be a good exercise for all CC priests. You likely know of what Emil Bock had to say about it in his book, “The Three Years”. He goes far enough to say that the rich young ruler, after admitting that he cannot give up his mammon, continues to follow Christ, and only after witnessing the youth of Nain being restored to life by Christ, does he finally decide to sell his wealth in order to become Lazarus, ref. Luke 7: 11-17.

            You had written this, which first prompted me to cite this wonderful second chapter of the Gospel of Luke:

            “I think of the approaching soul of Jesus, the pure, innocent Nathan soul, described in Luke’s Gospel, preparing to enter into this immaculate body – This soul which has never incarnated into a human being before.”

            This chapter has Mary and Joseph going to two relatively far places from Nazareth, which they obviously have to walk. First to Bethlehem for the census, and wherein the child is born, and then some maybe forty days later they go to Jerusalem for the Presentation at the Temple. In both instances, they return to Nazareth. Now, what interests me is that it is made clear in the Luke and Matthew gospels that the respective children reside in different cities; the Luke child in Nazareth, and the Matthew child in Bethlehem. So, why have scholars of the Bible failed to acknowledge that there were two Jesus children for all these years? Only Rudolf Steiner made this clear, and even he didn’t catch on until the lectures on the Gospel of Luke, given in September 1909. Even now, scholars only see the need for one Jesus.

            I happened to read your biography with your closing remark and find it most remarkable how active you have been in life. I can see how the will and ambition has been your mainstay, and yet you are seeing the need to be more renouncing of what could be considered the desire to yield and surrender. I can also relate, although I did know about the existence of the Anthroposophical Society from the beginning of my association since 1986. How could you go 25 years without knowing about the GAS, and even having a child in a Waldorf school?

            1. The CC priest does not read my posts.

              Yes, I admire Emil Bock’s writings.

              Interesting point about my bio. And now I am once again working outside the Society…full circle.

              1. I admit to never having joined the Society, but got a letter from John Bloom the other day. I see that Deb has also moved on.

                Emil Bock was a very prolific writer, and able and worthy successor to Friedrich Rittlemeyer.

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