Columbia is a Roman name, from the word “Columba” meaning “Dove of Peace”

“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
‘ With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
~These words, written by Emma Lazarus, are engraved inside the statue of Columbia Liberty.

Whether you think of her as an archetype, a Folk-Spirit, or an ancient goddess with a new name, Columbia is the personified ideals of liberty & freedom in America. She represents virtues that the best of humanity unselfishly strive toward.

But have we as a people lost sight of these values? Has she left us? Have we deserted her?

Today, as the Sun reaches 15 degrees Scorpio, the actual Cross-Quarter Day between Autumn Equinox & the Winter Solstice, I honor Her & pray that She blesses us with Her gifts. I ask Her to guide us during this election, since our nation’s identity & ethics are muddled in materialism & We the People stand once more at a crossroads, facing difficult times. How I wish Her statue was still behind the Speaker’s chair in the House of Representatives, having Columbia as a guide for our national leaders certainly couldn’t hurt!

We need the virtues She represents, now more than ever. Venerating Columbia calls us to continue to strive towards our highest ideals.

Personifying values in the form of a goddess has a long history; Rome recognized Libertas, goddess of liberty, among others. Our own Statue of Liberty, actually entitled Liberty Enlightening the World, is directly modeled on classical depictions of Libertas.

As people began to break away from older models of government & the modern nation-state developed, female personifications of countries emerged: the UK was represented as Brittannia, France as Marianne, & Switzerland as Helvetia.

The Statue of Freedom atop the dome of the Capitol combines symbols of Liberty & Columbia: she wears the gown of a Native American, & a helmet topped with the 5 pointed star & the eagle. Unifying these images atop the legislative heart of American government, is a statement that these ideals are the pinnacle of what it means to be American.

America as goddess, personifying the emerging nation of the United States was founded before the Revolutionary War. She was represented in simple Native American garb, standing in contrast to the Old World’s overly grand caricature. In a 1774 engraving, Paul Revere uses an Indian woman to depict America being subjugated by British ministers, who are forcing her to drink vile tea for her own good (a disturbing image of the rape of America)

Another patriot leader, Thomas Paine, included Her in his poem, the “Liberty Tree,” referring to Her as “The Goddess of Liberty.”

“In a chariot of light, form the regions of the day,
The Goddess of Liberty came,
Ten thousand celestials directed her way,
And hither conducted the dame.
A fair budding branch from the gardens above,
Where millions with millions agree,
She brought in her hand as a pledge of her love,
And the plant she named Liberty Tree.

The celestial exotic stuck deep in the ground,
Like a native it flourished and bore;
The fame of its fruit drew the nations around,
To seek out this peaceable shore.
Unmindful of names or distinctions they came,
For freemen like brothers agree;
With one spirit endued, they one friendship pursued,
And their temple was Liberty Tree.

Beneath this fair tree, like the patriarchs of old,
Their bread in contentment they ate,
Unvexed with the troubles of silver or gold,
The cares of the grand and the great.

But hear, O ye swains (a tale most profane),
How all the tyrannical powers,
Kings, Commons and Lords, are uniting amain
To cut down this guardian of ours.
From the East to the West blow the trumpet to arms,
Through the land let the sound of it flee;
Let the far and the near all unite with a cheer,
In defense of our Liberty Tree”.

As the USA became a nation, Lady Liberty became the official symbol of some of its newly formed states. In addition, Lady Liberty images appeared on coins, paintings, stamps, & in sculptures throughout the land.

The Statue of the Republic, now in Jackson Park, Chicago, formally part of the Colombian Exhibition of 1893.

The most famous depictions of the American Freedom Goddess, the Statue of Liberty, (Liberty Enlightening the World), was a gift from France to the United States in honor of America’s 100th birthday, designed by French Freemason & sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi with the assistance of engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. The head of Lady Liberty’s statue wears a crown with solar rays, similar to the crown on the Colossus of Rhodes, a magnificent monument to the Sun God Helios that once stood astride a Greek harbor & was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The seven rays on Liberty’s crown represent the seven continents & seven seas. The torch Liberty holds in Her right upstretched hand is the Flame of Freedom, & underneath Her feet are broken chains representing overcoming tyranny & enslavement. The tablet Liberty holds in Her left hand is inscribed with July 4, the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence & the birth of the USA as a nation. Her flowing gown is similar in design to depictions of Libertas in ancient Rome.

“Liberty relies upon itself, invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light, is positive and composed, and knows no discouragement.” ~From Walt Whitman‘s Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855)

Doesn’t this description sound a lot like qualities held by our Time-Spirit Michael?

What would it be like to rise in our thinking to meet Columbia? To bring Her qualities to bare once again in our great land?

“O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties, Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat, Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!”

~”America the Beautiful” lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates, music composed by church organist & choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark

“…As the United States election occurs on November 8th, we are called upon to direct the clear shining of Michael’s thoughts and the transforming Christ will into the unconscious realm of the dragon where Venus now meets the poison sting of Scorpion”. Read more from the Astrosophy Center

The last segment of the Michael imagination can be a meditative force for the coming days:

Ye, the disciples of spirit knowledge,
Take Michael’s wisdom beckoning,
Take the Word of Love of the Will of Worlds
Into your soul’s aspiring, actively!
~Rudolf Steiner

Join us for our Annual All Souls Festival

Especially scheduled this year on Election Night Tuesday 8 November 2016

Potluck 6 pm, Festival 7 pm – 9 pm

Get away from the media frenzy- As We Create a Healing Sanctuary thru Story & SongTo Honor Our Dearly Departed working with us from the Spiritual World

“Feel how we gaze lovingly into heights that now call you to other work.
May your power reach out from spirit-realms to the friends you left behind.

Hear our soul’s request sent to you in confidence;
We need here, for our earthly work, strong power from spirit lands-
We thank our friends now dead for this.

A hope that makes us happy, a loss that pains us deeply:
Let us hope that you light our lives, far-and-near, un-lost,
A soul-star in the spiritual firmament.”  ~Rudolf Steiner

Nancy Melvin will lead us in a song-circle. 

Engage with Columbia  the Folk-Spirit of America, & The Founding Mothers & Fathers of our country, as well as the Native Americans who were here before us with Hazel Archer Ginsberg 

Contact Deborah Rogers with the names of your beloved ones who have died this year, to be read in the circle beewisdom33@yahoo.com

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Saturday  12 November  2016 Closing event

Calaj.com Artists Matthew Schaefer and Janet Trierweiler Schaefer present:

“Silent Lecture” Art Exhibit & Discussion 

3pm – 8pm Paintings on view (in the un-rented space next to the Branch)

6:30pm – Artist Discussion – topics may include:

                         Setting limits to hold the limitless.      

                         Human systems at work.

                         The fallible element, how it works in art.

                         The steps or ritual.

                         The visible/invisible origin.

                         Finding the spiritual in art through a primitive gesture.

                         A cognitive transformation, instinct to intuition.

Snacks to Share Encouraged

For more info. Contact  Hazel Archer Ginsberg