Human Wisdom

Yes, dear Friends we have arrived at The 4th week of Advent.

By meeting the temptations of the first 3 weeks of Advent, we arrive at the Threshold to the Temple of the human being – the doorway to the Higher “I”.

This is the week that resonates with the human kingdom with its challenge to come to know what it means to be truly human.

The human being is an arena of great mystery.

Not only is Advent a time of preparation, an inner exercise of Becoming present, since the word Advent comes from the Latin advenire, we are invited “to arrive”.

But before we can arrive to open the present of Love’s Light – we must make our passage thru Advent, where we meet the fire, water & air trials. Part of this preparation is facing up to the  forces of Lucifer & Ahriman which are actively working in us. Inner & outer obstacles are an essential part of our experience. We must find our human wisdom – & the only way forward is to use the gift of wisdom in service to humanity.

William Adolphe Bouguereau

Gaining insight into ourselves is not an easy task – & it is not meant to be. what’s important is that we plunge willingly into the not knowing – consciously taking the journey towards true knowledge – wisdom of the Self. The Greek word ‘seauton’ speaks of our potential.

This journey of knowing ourselves is a lonely path, & yet it requires interaction with others. We become a mirror to each other. If this causes conflicts with others, it is a clue that we have stirred up a memory of a karmic connection from a former life. If such memories remain unconscious, or are denied, antipathy, & antagonism arises.

Antagonism is our signal to “Know Thyself”. The incarnation of Jesus created antagonism from the moment of birth. The family of the Matthew Jesus had to go to Egypt to escape the massacre of the innocents. And the family of the Luke Jesus had to travel to Bethlehem while Mary was heavy with child – giving birth in a sable!

As we discussed in our work with “Inner Experiences of Evolution” – when we work to “Know Thyself” we may go thru many growing pains, like dealing with rejection, which at its core is like a death. Our growth comes in with how we handle this adversity. Can we see that it gives us an opportunity to change our hearts & minds? What would it be like to transform resentment for those that push our buttons, into immense gratitude for the person who is acting as the catalyst for us to overcome our moral failings?

At the heart of this work is acceptance. We are who we are for a reason. We are in a karmic group for a reason. This reason is embedded in the purpose of our life.

This final week of Advent asks us to stop criticizing human behavior – Instead we can understand that we all have the same “Know Thyself” task – Then Love wells up – the new kind of love that was born in Bethlehem. With this understanding Christmas no longer oscillates between abstract mysticism, sentimentalism or materialism;  it is a practicalopportunity in our lives to give birth (which is painful) to a new aspect of ourselves.

Through the light of the Christ star we are guided to “Know Thyself”. Perhaps like at the altar of the Christian Community Churches, we can picture 2 Christmas trees – For only when the Tree of Life & the Tree of Knowledge become one within us will The Christ be born in the inner manger we are preparing for him.

At the heart of this activity, it is helpful to know that along with the regenerative gifts of the Archangel Gabriel present at this season, upheld by the earnest wisdom of the Archangel Uriel below; we can also experience Michael’s sword which thru our conscious intention separates our lower ego from our Higher Self. This gives us the opportunity to unite thinking, feeling, & willing, in freedom.

The gifts of the Three Kings, which comes as the culmination of the 12 Days of Christmas, reminds us of this.

~hag

18 December 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
ADVENT IV – WINTER SOLSTICE
The Midnight Sun
v37

My heart-anointed impulse strives
to bear the spirit light
into world-winter-night
that shining seeds of soul
take root in cosmic ground,
and in the senses’ dark
God’s all-transfiguring Word resound.

The sun enters the sign of Capricorn, the bridge between the heights and the depths. In the mirror verse the sun enters the sign of Leo, whose spiritual attitude is flaming enthusiasm, the power to incarnate the spirit’s summer gift in soul ground that soul seeds of the Cosmic Word now root in cosmic ground, transfiguring our feeling for the whole of life and birthing their heavenly fruit, the Spirit Child, our higher Self, at Christmas.

THE SUN ENTERS THE SIGN OF LEO
Enthusiasm For The Spirit’s Gift
v16
My foresight is commanding me
to harbour inwardly the spirit’s gift
that in the ground of soul
divine fruit ripen
for Selfhood’s harvest.

v16 is the week between Saint Johnstide and Lammas.

Next week’s verse, 38, is always in Christmas week,
so this verse is only in the week of the Winter Solstice
when Christmas is between Sunday and Wednesday,
but this impulse to carry the Spirit Light, the Christ Light, into the world
with heightened consciousness for our spiritual work is shining in our hearts
in the days before the solstice for the world’s need at the turning of its time.
It is the first of the seven appearances of the heart between now and verse 48.

what is prana and pranayama? - Matrika Yoga

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

 ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The 1st Night of Hanukkah begin tonight at sunset

1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia & China

1803 – Deathday of Johann Gottfried Herder, German philosopher, theologian, & poet – associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, & Weimar Classicism.

1829 – Deathday of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, biologist, & academic – an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred & proceeded in accordance with natural laws. He gave the term biology a broader meaning by coining the term for special sciences, chemistry, meteorology, geology, & botany-zoology

1863 – Birthday of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Rudolf Steiner has some very interesting things to say about his assassination  

1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA

1878 – Birthday of Joseph Stalin, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union

1879 – Birthday of Paul Klee, Swiss-German painter & educator

1958 – Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched

1966 – Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker

1972 –President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th

1973 –Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev & Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union

1990 – International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers & Members of Their Families is adopted.

1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments

The 4th Sunday of Advent – 18 December 2022 
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, 2 pm – 3:30 pm CST 
(after Rev. Jonah Evans talk at the Christian Community)

The Individuality of Conscience and the Goetheanum 
with Lucien Dante Lazar

Out of our conscience, we witness the Christ in the other. And through this Seeing, our I is born within us, whose self-conscious interior is the I of God. This is a mystery of John the Baptist.



When Love enters the human heart as an awakening to freedom, the Wisdom of form enters our awareness, and color, that majesty of Light, teaches us about creation. This is a mystery of the painter Raphael.

When the Word approaches us, inspiring us in our language to find the Heavenly Sophia as intellect, we write truth and honor the New Revelation of the Christ and His marriage to Sophia. And out of this marriage, we learn about ourselves. This is a mystery of Novalis.

On this last Sunday of Advent dedicated to the Human Being & the Angels, we will engage in these three Christian gifts through the social encounter, our working with color, and our thinking through language. And we will strive to harmonize these three incarnations of this significant individuality with the birth, death, and resurrection of the Goetheanum.

$10-$50 or pay what you will at the door or online www.rschicago.org/donate(credit card or PayPal)

For more Info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator 
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map) 
https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar 
www.rschicago.org/donate

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’ to designate your payment

For those attending in-person doors open at 5:30 pm for our Potluck meal.

Please bring food & drink to share.

For more Info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618(map) https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar www.rschicago.org/donate

You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Adriana Koulias

Time: Dec 21, 2022, 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89586637726

Meeting ID: 895 8663 7726

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Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kbtvb8sTRI

 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.

52 thoughts on “Human Wisdom

  1. Hi Hazel,

    I am especially intrigued by this presentation today on the 4th Advent Sunday, “The Individuality of Conscience and the Goetheanum”. By keeping the focus on the three incarnation of Elijah, which are John the Baptist, Raphael, and Novalis, aren’t we limiting what Steiner seems to clearly identify as himself as the fourth in this series? This is what I get from his last address:

    https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/InEJRN_index.html

    “And so we see in Novalis a radiant and splendid forerunner of that Michael stream which is now to lead you all, my dear friends, while you live; and then, after you have gone through the gate of death, you will find in the spiritual super-sensible worlds all those others — among them also the being of whom I have been speaking to you today — all those with whom you are to prepare the work that shall be accomplished at the end of the century, and that shall lead mankind past the great crisis in which it is involved”.

    1. The experience brought to us from the initiative of our dear Lucien, was amazing, we worked artisticly with poetry, & wet on wet water color painting creating a social sculputre thru conscious Goethean sonversation that brought forth the essence of Conscience, color & the Word…This was plenty for a 2 hour workshop

      1. It is good to know that the Esoteric Youth Circle lives to breathe new life into old forms. We can grow young again with these activities.

  2. I like your mention of the 2 Christmas trees – the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. It seems that many are still entangled in the Tree of Knowledge – knowledge is useful, but only if it leads one to the Tree of Life. Jesus never said that He was “knowledge”, but He did say He was the “way, truth and the life”. Somehow we need to evolve from merely knowledge to life.

    I also appreciated your description of Anthroposophy; it fits well with what a group of us, mostly from New Mexico, are currently studying regarding our 12 senses. We’re using Dr. Albert Soesman’s book, “Our Twelve Senses”. In the preface to his lectures, Dr. Soesman says his intention is to simplify, as an aid to our understanding, a very deep series of lectures Dr. Steiner gave on the senses in GA 115, titled “Anthroposophy, Psychosophy, Pneumatosophy”. In his first lecture, Dr. Soesman tells us that Steiner considered studying our 12 senses to be the 1st chapter of anthroposophy. He makes a powerful comparison of such a study to Plato’s “The State”, by saying that in chapter 1 of The State are contained all that is in the following chapters of The State. This tells us that Steiner considered the understanding of our 12 senses to contain all that follows in our understanding of anthroposophy, which underscores the importance of this study.

    On top of this, Soesman begins his lecture series with the sense of touch. He tells us that Steiner considered this sense to be foundational, saying, “Steiner said the following about the ultimate secret of the sense of touch: that the human being would never become conscious of the divine without the sense of touch.” This tells me that the understanding of all of anthroposophy and it’s teachings concerning the higher worlds is contained in its first chapter, which Steiner said is the understanding of our 12 senses, and the first sense we need to understand is this sense of touch. Something essential for us to ponder, I’d say. It’s certainly giving me new perspectives on anthroposophy.

    1. Nicely put Thanks Maverick.

      My AAP group is also working with GA 115.
      I haven’t looked at Soesman’s book but many of these folks have.

      I love these references to how all of anthroposophy can be found in: _______________
      We say it also about the Mystery Dramas 😉
      When Steiner makes a statement like that, it’s important to take the hint – & do the work to put that essential key to use.

      I have yet to ponder this one – Thanks for the prompt

      1. GA 115 is unique for the fact that it was designed to be given at three specific points over the years of 1909, 1910, and 1911. By the time of the four Pneumatosophy lectures given in December 1911, Steiner received his “Impulse for the Future”, which has been discussed here recently.

        Yes, I agree that touch is the ground of sense perception. In certain depictions, it is associated with the sign of Cancer, which can be linked in its way to the four rivers that touched and flowed out of Eden. Life is a sense that originated when Man was formed from the dust of the ground, and the breath of life made it the living soul in the sign of Leo. Movement, Balance, Smell, Taste, Sight, Warmth, Hearing, Word, Thought, Ego, they all correspond to the relevant signs of the Zodiac. Thanks, Maverick for keeping this work of Soesman’s Twelve Senses alive, and especially in linking it with Steiner’s unique course over three years. When you get to the Psychosophy lectures from 1910, then the Soul opens up for a survey of what “The Three Mothers” below the Cross on Golgotha mean. And, of course, Pneumatosophy, is the Spirit of the Future. Steiner set this course up for this kind of incentive.

        1. Thanks for your reply Steve; as I read what you noted about the timing of those lectures, I found myself wondering how Steiner timed the introduction of certain subjects. I’m sure he was guided, but how? The planets and their varied relationships may have had something to do with it; it seems he read the activity going on in the heavens better than most of us. I’m sure there were other factors guiding him as well.

          In regards to the senses, Steiner said this in GA 283, Lect. 2: “Man can know nothing of that which is unable to make an impression on the senses.” In other words, all of our knowledge is based on one of our twelve senses, so yes, they are critical to our development. The thing I’m learning, and that Soesman was trying to make with the Plato comparison (how all of the following chapters of his work “The State” were contained in the 1st chapter), is this — it’s been hinted in our group study that our study of the twelve senses may morph into a study of social forms; if this happens, I was thinking how important it is to get a thorough understanding of these senses, and especially the sense of touch, if I ever hope to understand social forms. For all that’s social about us is determined by what we learned about touch from the time we were infants — what I mean is this, that as infants we transitioned from a spiritual world that was interconnected (we refer to it as Oneness), through the womb experience, and find ourselves in a material, physical world of hardness and boundaries. Soesman makes it clear in a diagram in his first lecture that what we call “consciousness” happens as a result of this continual leaving and returning. Steiner somewhere says this is why we need to continually go through the experience of infancy; it’s a continual reminder for us. The sense of touch is the sense that continually reminds us of this leaving and returning — leaving Oneness and experiencing separation, always with the desire of returning to that state of Oneness. It’s when this process loses its intended purpose that our social forms break down; what happens is that infants, if they’re not given the love and comfort required, learn to love instead the separation, the hardness and the boundaries of this physical, material life. This leads to the dog-eat-dog mentality so common today, where ego takes over, and life becomes about being the best, the strongest, the greatest individual. The desire to return to Oneness becomes lost to these souls. This is, I believe, why Steiner says that without the sense of touch, we lose all consciousness of the Divine. And we’re seeing this a lot in our day, this love of the individual’s journey, and the consequent forgetting of the desire to return to our former state, the state of Oneness, where all is interconnected. That has to be one of the great missions behind the Mystery of Golgotha – to restore our desire for Oneness. When you read John chapters 14 to 17, you see how important the message of Oneness was to Christ in his final hours.

          1. “When you read John chapters 14 to 17, you see how important the message of Oneness was to Christ in his final hours”.

            This is a gem of connected ‘touch’, Maverick. I will be reviewing it again. For the expansion into Social Forms, which I assume is to be linked with GA 199, something truly new and alive might be in the offing, and we need that for our movement.

            1. Yes, it’s probably GA 199 they’re referring to regarding Social forms. For the senses, Dr. Soesman’s teaching methods and analogies might not agree to all, but he certainly brings out the essential truths. I look forward to a deeper study of the senses someday in GA 115.

              1. You asked an important question:

                “I found myself wondering how Steiner timed the introduction of certain subjects. I’m sure he was guided, but how? The planets and their varied relationships may have had something to do with it; it seems he read the activity going on in the heavens better than most of us. I’m sure there were other factors guiding him as well”.

                1909 is when Steiner first spoke about Zarathustra; 1910 is when he first spoke about the imminent Second Coming of Christ; and 1911 is when he gave the lectures which depicted Christian Rosenkreutz in a form that can now be understood.

                Yet, and I am wondering if your class has introduced this important element; Steiner has indicated that the 12 senses were the first of the three pre-earthly deeds of Christ. As such, Anthroposophy is the modern thought concept that embraces this fact. The same goes for Psychosophy and Pneumatosophy. They represent the second and third pre-earthly deeds.

                https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA149/English/RSP1963/19131230p01.html

              2. I confess to not knowing much about GA 149, and the 3 pre-earthly deeds of Christ. I do wonder if they’re at all related to what we learn in GA 15, Lecture 1 about the Way, the Truth, and the Life we learn of in our first 3 years of development? I do see Christ Jesus as having moved on from any need to reincarnate again on Earth; that his development here is “finished”, as he said when he expired on the cross, and I understand that he has moved on to a realm where he is preparing a place for us who follow his example. I don’t know how this relates to what you’re saying regarding deeds.

                I’m just now trying to take in GA 102, Lecture 2, where Steiner is speaking of the ascending and descending forces of our zodiac. The sense of touch that’s been mentioned is linked by Steiner with Libra, which is the last constellation which is shifting from one that was descending to become an ascending force. What I find fascinating is that the forces which our zodiac represent, require humans for their development from a descending force to becoming one that’s ascending. Steiner expresses it this way: “All forces which eventually become ascending forces are at first descending forces. They descend, so to say, as far as man. In man they acquire the power to ascend.” Isn’t that amazing, that we’re such an integral part of their process! I don’t yet understand the significance of that, but it fascinates me.

                These developments in our zodiac don’t happen quickly as we count time — in fact, Steiner says that while the soul forces represented in our galaxy’s planetary development happen in what he terms “time”, the zodiacal developments that represent our 12 senses happen in what he terms “duration”. I mention this because Soesman begins with the sense of touch (Libra) — this sense being the most recent in “duration” to have become an ascending force, and is still considered in transition to becoming ascending. Soesman will continue after touch to lecture on the remaining descending forces, which are considered our “night senses”, those which we perceive inwardly, and those five are Life, Movement, Balance, Smell and Taste. These are the remaining descending forces that must move through humans in order for them to develop into ascending forces. Again, we’re talking about “duration”, which must seem like an infinity to our minds. After that he continues with the forces considered our “day senses”, the six that have ascended constellation-wise.

                These are some of the concepts I’m pondering now. I only mention them as a different perspective from what you’re speaking of Steve, in the knowledge that all of these perspectives will give us a whole picture.

              3. There is a certain controversy concerning the depiction of Touch in Libra. Soesman is obviously working from Steiner’s indications here from lecture 3 of GA 199.

                https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA199/English/AP1986/images/199-05.gif

                This creates an adjustment for Virgo, Leo, and Cancer. In other courses, Steiner identifies the following:

                Cancer = Touch
                Leo = Life
                Virgo = Movement
                Libra = Balance

                The first eight are in proper order based on these other courses, which were identified recently on another thread. My thinking is that possibly the transcriber of this lecture got the ordering wrong for some reason.

                Maybe I’ve jumped ahead by talking about the three pre-earthly deeds of Christ and Jesus. I know that the first involved the organized 12-sense system of perception. That is why Cain and Abel was described as being necessary before the generations of Adam and Eve.

                There could be no Way, Truth, and Life without these three pre-earthly deeds. That is why in definite respects it can be shown that Anthroposophy, Psychosophy, and Pneumatosophy represent the externalization of the three pre-earthly deeds in support of describing Spiritual Science in its full trinitarian dimension.

                Maybe that could be a project at some point because Steiner had definite reasons for giving this course, i.e., GA 115 over three years. He wanted to emphasize expansion to its fullest extent, and here we have it when we combine it with the three pre-earthly deeds.

                Of course, there was a fourth deed, but it involved a human incarnation brought forth with all the bells and whistles that would invite the Christ down to Earth at the midpoint of its existence.
                While Christ has ascended since Golgotha, so has Jesus.

              4. Like Kyle, I still haven’t had time to add GA 115 to my reading list, but the more you mention it Steve, the more I’m getting intrigued by it. The three deeds, eventually to become four, remind me of the four virtues the Greeks established: mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and music.

                Something I picked up from Luigi Morelli’s book I was telling Kyle about, was that in earlier post-Atlantean ages, they saw the zodiac as representing the 12 senses, which they referred to as the “upper gods”. The 7 planets they saw as representing our 7 soul qualities, and were to them the “lower gods”. I find this interesting, since the Revelation also has a transition from 7 in the first 20 chapters, to 12 in the last 2 chapters. This, it seems, is representing our evolution from our planetary existence, as souls who incarnate on Earth, into zodiacal existence, where we actually evolve with our Sun. Steiner has mentioned in GA 102, Lecture 2, that this evolution involves “sacrifice”. Sacrifice is an interesting topic, since it seems to play such a large part in our evolution, as Hazel was mentioning recently when discussing the Inner Realities of Evolution.

              5. Living into the pre-earthly deeds really brings perspective to the help our human evolution received (& continues to be blessed with) to combat the effects of the adversarial powers, so that not only our senses but also our organs can develop properly. Every human being is graced with the miracle of being able to stand upright, walk – Speak, & think because of these sacrificial deeds. And the 4th being the deed on Golgotha rescues our entire physical existence. But these gifts are starting to deteriorate & will continue to do so if we don’t enliven them with our conscious understanding of the connection with the Nathan soul & the being of Christ in the future…

                We can also experience the 7 & 12 in the construction of the 1st Goetheanum

              6. I see what you mean Steve. In the diagram you’ve shown, I’m noticing that senses 7 to 9 seem to be out of place. I notice that all of the senses at the top of the diagram, that radiate outwards, align with the list of “ascending forces” that Steiner gives in GA 102, Lecture 2 (if one aligns the senses with the corresponding zodiacal signs as per other lectures), with the exception being when you get to #7. In this diagram it’s Taste; it seems it should be Touch. If Taste is to be associated with Pisces, as it is in other lectures, in the diagram you’ve given it should be Sense #8, the last descending force to ascend, which being Pisces would make sense, being last in the order that is. Again in this diagram, where it shows Sense #9 being Touch, it should be Smell which is aligned with Aquarius in other lectures, since Aquarius is the 2nd last descending force to ascend. As you say, this may have been jotted down by the recorder incorrectly. I have Hearing associated with Cancer, which seems correct in this diagram, since Cancer is one of the ascended forces, actually the 4th to have ascended, so seems correctly placed in the diagram.

                I don’t think I’ll raise this in our study group, as it seems confusing and will take too much time away from the little study time we have, but thanks for pointing out the discrepancy. If the subject does arise I’ll be aware of it. Cheers.

              7. Being born under the sign of Cancer in the tropical zodiac I have always related to touch as being realted to the constellation of the Crab.

              8. It’d be interesting to see what sign your ascendant would be in using the Babylonian sidereal method of astrology. The tropical method hasn’t allowed for changes (something called the “precession of the equinoxes”), and can be as much as two signs off, depending on how close to the cusp of the sign of Cancer you’re located. The same thing happened in ancient Egypt and Persia — the Persians adjusted their system of astrology while the Egyptians didn’t, so the Egyptian system was off by about 30 degrees at one time. Now, in the 5th post-Atlantean age, we’re repeating some of the characteristics of the 3rd, including this astrological issue. It’s easy to see why Steiner callled much of today’s astrology “superstition and dilettantism”.

                The Star House that Brian Gray is associated with offers natal charts using the Babylonian sidereal now – you should check it out sometime, just for comparison’s sake. I’ve used their charts a few times, on various current and past incarnations of individuals, and find them very accurate. (https://www.thestarhouse.org/)

              9. Yes, got it. I was always under the impression I was a Cancer as well, but feel much better with my new designation as a Leo. Seems to fit much better with who I see myself as being.

              10. It is interesting to think how in an earlier stage of life we sought to understand ourselves thru one lens, & now we are looking with new eyes

              11. Thanks Steve – haven’t read this lecture, although I’ve seen the diagram somewhere (perhaps here on this blog). I’ll read it today. Just skimming through, it may hold the answers to some of the questions I have regarding the differences. He speaks about two different systems – the twelve-fold organization of the living human being, which he says corresponds to the macrocosm in the zodiac, and the seven-fold life processes of our soul, which he corresponds to the macrocosm in our planets. I’ve heard him speak of this difference elsewhere, and this is what Luigi said used to be referred to, in earlier post-Atlantean cultures, as the “upper gods” (the 12) and the “lower gods” (the 7). These terms were used in man’s clairvoyant age; now that we’re in the intellectual age, things are described differently. The difference in how the senses correspond might just be found in these two systems. Will look forward to reading this. Thanks again for pointing it out.

              12. The difference between the upper & lower gods came up in Adriana’s lecture last night speaking about what was behind the burning of the Temple of Ephesus

              13. Another indispensable place to look is “Human and Cosmic Thought”, which builds up in sequential fashion how the 12 signs reflect world outlooks, or “isms”. As well, the seven planetary moods are explained. This is also where one can get a sense of what *sense* fits a world outlook, e.g., Materialism in Cancer would seem to be founded on Touch as the primary tactile distinction; Sensationalism in Leo would be Life sense, and Phenomenalism in Virgo would entail Movement, etc.

                https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA151/English/RSP1961/HuCoTh_index.html

    2. Hi Maverick, do you mind I email you about New Mexico? I’m curious about what’s going on there. And Hazel, I’m sure you know some things too, being that you were in Santa Fe earlier this year. Cheers and thanks 🙂

      1. No, don’t mind at all Kyle. Email is lddbonham@gmail.com

        The first character is a small “l” for Les, not a number 1. We just started reading Soesman’s book, so we’re half through chapter 1, after reading together a couple of Steiner’s lectures introducing the topic of the senses.

    3. Thanks for bringing these lectures up, Maverick. I’ve had a bit of reading list going on, but I would like to get to this soon (GA115).

      This sense of touch reminded me of Natural Building. This is something that is making a comeback, or at least being preserved somewhat. It is all hands on, even to a point that an unskilled, or semi skilled, laborer can partake in it… like making mud bricks. There is something very special about this. At least I feel it to be. Besides, natural abodes do have a tendency to make one feel grounded and connected to the Earth.

      1. I’m with you regarding the reading list. I haven’t got to GA 115 myself, and don’t know when I will, but I’m enjoying Soesman’s book. Right now, I’ve picked up Luigi Morelli’s book on “Aristotelianism and Platonism”, examining the two Michael streams that came through the various incarnations of Steiner and Wegman. One thing I’ve noticed with Steiner’s view of the various incarnations — he only seems to have had access to where the souls were when incarnating on Earth, perhaps because those are the only ones that made energetic impressions into the Akashic record? When Cayce traced a soul, he observed “records” that also included time spent in the interim, the realm between death and rebirth, so that for example, in following the line of a “twin soul”, where one half of the twin soul had incarnated on Earth, occasionally the other half remaied in the spiritual world, serving as that individuals guardian angel, or guide, watching over their other half from the higher dimension.

        There is something about natural houses that’s appealing. There was a move several years ago, on Saltspring Island, where people were building houses of straw bales, probably covering them with some sort of mud mixture. I helped to build a mud house when in Kyrgyzstan with Global Village – a very natural process. A timber frame structure, to which VERY rough boards were fastened on both sides of a wall, then mud – lots of mud – applied in the cavity. Some sort of stucco covered, and they were very durable. No basement, of course, and wouldn’t stand up to a quake. Naturally sourced though – the mud was made right in the yard of the owners, with a horse’s hooves being the method of mixing the mud. A horse was roped to go in a circle, with a rider keeping it going around, and water and dirt from the yard continually added till the right consistency was reached. Very educational.

        1. In many of the karma relationships lectures Steiner speaks about the time in-between incarnations of various individualities pointing up how they spent more time in one sphere of another gathering powerful forces say from Venus or Mars which then showed itself in their next incarnation…Fascinating…

          Thanks for sharing your straw bale experience. I also have been able to participate in this kind of building. So sculptural. We also made clay ovens.

        2. That must have been quite the experience in Kyrgyzstan, Maverick. Natural building does seem to be having a revival of sorts, even if it is a small revival. The thing is, from a pragmatic standpoint, it is actually cost effective and if we design our homes in relation to the environment, we can then reduce the use of utilities through means of passive solar heating and such. With adobe, for instance, the bricks retain the warmth from the Sun during the day and keep the house warm at night… likewise, help keep it cool during the day. Modern building pays no attention and just builds according to design rather practical function. For instance, I worked in a home that was somewhere around 2.5 million, state of the art HVAC system, hardly any window that open… and it just cost a fortune to keep the place cool and warm. Such a waste.

          At any rate, strawbale, cob, adobe, bamboo, wood, rammed earth, etc… anywhere we go we can implement these natural designs.

          ——

          In regards to Steiner, there is an individual he speaks of, Robert Blum, who he happened upon his biography which began at his death! That is, his biography began after crossing the threshold. Steve pointed this out to me some time ago.

          1. Yes, in Steiner’s biography he mentions working with the late father of the family he was tutoring never having met him in person. He talked about how he helped Steiner teach the childre.

              1. Actually it wasn’t the Specht Family. Herr Specht was very much alive & ended up firing Steiner for writing what he deemed an anti-semtic letter…

              2. At any rate, Robert Blum died in 1848. I remember that Steiner regretted Herr Specht’s misunderstanding of his article, and thinking it to be antisemitic.

                Steiner actually gave the eulogy for the father that died, who he had never met; such was the vividness of the descriptions of the
                children. He fell in love with the daughter. This was in the Vienna days.

              3. To supplement his income while working in Weimar Steiner again became tutor to the Eunike family.
                The father Eugen Friedrich Eunike had just died, and Anna was left behind as a widow with four daughters and a son.
                Rudolf Steiner had a deep connection with the deceased, following his after-death retrospection into the spiritual world.
                These insights helped Steiner form his seminal work “The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity”.
                When the family moved to Berlin the friendship with Anna soon turned into a civil marriage, which Steiner kept very private. But we may see some clues to this relationship in the Mystery Dramas.
                The two separate when Steiner gets involved with Theosophy; and in 1911 Anna Eunike dies at the fairly young age of 58.
                I often wonder if she selflessly sacrificed her unused etheric forces to help Rudolf Steiner in his mission.
                During that time he was an instructor for the workers institute. Then he starts lecturing on occult themes.

              4. Very interesting. Steiner’s relationship with the deceased probably took place in the 4th dimension, in something called the Borderland, the place where disincarnate entities are until they begin their sojourns through the planets & zodiac. This is the place where most “psychics” make contact with disincarnate entities. Most psychics, however, settle for almost any contact; I’m sure Steiner wasn’t like that, but had specific goals in communicating with this deceased individual. It also explains how he received such timeless insights for his Philosophy of Spiritual Activity.

              5. This relationship interests me very much, as well. I see Anna Eunicke as a very important person in Rudolf Steiner’s development. Yes, I think they were both supportive and inspiring from the spiritual world. Weimar was a pivotal period from 1890 to 1897. Biographies have two directions and they both involve living.

              6. I have been studying this chapter intensely:

                https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA028/English/APC1928/GA028_c20.html

                “When I must speak in this way of the two “unknown known” I am aware that what I have to say will be called by most men “mad fantasy.” For this has to do with the way in which I was able to draw near to the two men in that sphere of the world in which they were after they had passed through the portal of death”.

                From this I can gather that the father from the Vienna period was an influence in Steiner’s writing, “The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe’s World Conception”, c. 1886, and the father from the Weimar period was an influence in the writing of, “The Philosophy of Freedom”, c. 1893.

                This leaves Anna Eunicke herself as a third influence, and I think and feel that this really began in earnest after her death in 1911.

          2. I suppose natural building will be more of a “rural” fad, since I can’t foresee the Wall Street billionaires who are currently buying up the housing market in cities will allow it to become anything else. Their concern is for profits, not the environment.

            Thanks for the Robert Blum reference; I’ll have to check it out. Cheers.

            1. It is still very hard to get building permits & pass inspections with this kind of natural architecture. I guess like as you said Maverick a mud house dosen’t hold up well under various conditions like earth quake etc…

            2. But that’s the thing, what Wall Street billionaires do, or anyone in positions of power, is really of little consequence. We have to think in terms that the majority, as in, what the public opinion of today is… which is lagging 1000 years behind.

              Modern homes are by no means impermeable to natural disasters, anyway, or even general aging. In fact, most modern homes run ruin after several decades. Adobe homes can last a couple centuries… with some maintenance of course! But this is the mentality that many still think, that natural buildings are just ‘mud’. It’s not entirely true, and these buildings can be aesthetically breathtaking with the right approach. It’s being done as we speak! Architecture can and does influence one’s consciousness. This really is what architecture is about, for better or worse.

              So, it is only a fad if people think it not possible. But what is ‘possible’ requires imagination. The un-said things implied with spiritual science, I believe, are perhaps the most difficult to convey. One issue that I see, is that it has to be treated in its own accosts, rather than a graft on modern society. Forgive the long winded response! This is why I think it inconsequential what the Wall Street people do. For there are always places, like New Mexico, where even natural building is up to code. It can be done… and if the city life doesn’t allow it, then perhaps the cities will also be an inconsequential place in the future. It is simply totally, and way out of sync with the natural rhythms of the earth. We are not meant to be out of sync with our Home, which is the Earth. We cannot possibly be Lords of Earth while being in an ecosystem that just takes and takes and cuts itself off from natural cycles… produces waste, lots of it, and really doesn’t offer much in return… except that some awesome people live in them. But that’s about it. Awesome people don’t need to live in a city to have culture.

              1. It’s true that the friend that I worked with to build the straw bale adobe lives in New Mexico. He has a business that is booming…And he is very creative – the homes are custom & often look like hobbit houses. He builds in all kinds of cool features like shelves & round windows. He uses recycled colored glass bottles & other recycled material – beautiful to behold & I would imagine a wonder to live in. I went to one of his workshops where he gathers folks to show them how it’s done. A powerful community experience.

              2. You’re sounding like a builder, and like someone who appreciates a good home atmosphere. The problem with the Wall Street billionaires is that they’re making it impossible for hard-working folk to afford to buy a home, and also to afford to rent now, since they’re buying up blocks of homes and turning them into rentals. By buying up all the homes in a neighborhood, it makes the supply scarce. Warren Buffett is one, Blackstone Group is another, and many more are climbing on this bandwagon, and its leading to increasing homelessness. That’s why I mentioned them; nothing to do with the quality of a good home.

              3. There is a fellow who lives in the Netherlands, who has built an earth-home into the side of a hill. So, it can be done, even with a simple plan like this. As such, nature communities could very well be the thing of the future if expectations prove to be what they are in today’s foreboding climate. The issue, of course, is who takes responsibility for the furtherance of these initiatives, which require the same kind of thinking that would want to sustain the Zinniker farm, as Hazel exhorts in her fashion. Kyle gives a very nice plead here, and so where does this take us? I like very much what Luigi Morelli is doing, and how it has taken him to Ecovillage, Ithaca, New York. He is the bright shining face in back of the children who love it there in the group photo.

              4. Yes, I thought the Ecovillage project looked outstanding as well; Luigi always seems to be involved in some good projects. A home in the hillside eh? Maybe the Lord of the Rings series was onto something – we can become part of a Hobbit community, with homes half in the ground?

              5. Interestingly, this fellow I have in mind who built an earth home also wrote a book about J.R.R. Tolkien’s Ring legend. His home, from what I understand, enables him to work within the dark light of the Sun, much like a Druid, who would assess the mysteries of the Christmas season wherein the lower gods occupy. Of course, since Christ united Himself with Earth, He also can be found dwelling there. Earth homes have a long legacy:

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_shelter

              6. Yes, they do Steve, especially when you consider the Mound Builders, who were Atlanteans that were scattered when their continent sank. You still have some evidence of them in the U.S. – the Serpent Mound in Ohio, a World Heritage site according to Google.

              7. Hi Maverick,

                You had said something earlier about working “in helping to build a mud house when in Kyrgyzstan with Global Village – a very natural process”. Are you a builder for Habit For Humanity?

                https://www.habitat.org/lc/eurasia/pdf/2012_KYRGYZSTAN_GV_HANDBOOK_Barskoon_2012.pdf

                Earth homes can also be places where spiritual-scientific researches are conducted, and this fellow I have in mind has been doing this for many years with little fanfare. I would like to name him. He goes by the name of Munin Nederlander, and has written an important book on the legend of Kitezh, which is based on the vision of a Utopian paradise.

                https://www.imagilogos.nl/Werkgroepen-MuninNederlander.php

              8. Yes, it was probably that 2012 trip. Karen Sturnick of Port Townsend, WA. was our team leader. We stayed in Barskoon, worked on the house in Barskoon, swam in Issyk Kul Lake as we were there when it was hot. Tried, but don’t know how to share a pic on this blog. That handbook was probably the one sent to us.

            3. You’re right, Maverick. It is a pretty concerning issue. This does make it near impossible to do this sort of thing within greater city areas. My step father had written a paper on neo feudalism in the late 90s, but alas it probably disappeared when the old computer went to the trash bin. I’m short, what you are describing is a type of neo-feaudalism, just a different face to it. Perhaps a hope in individuals that have the capital, if they in turn buy land, they can easily build communities… at least provide the foundations for them to get it started.

              But, there are places like New Mexico, where this is more a possibility. The hope is that, if there’s enough of these places, people will see living examples of it actually working.

              Outside of the rural settings, retrofitting is perhaps one way to go. A builder by the name of Sufi Koku has quite the mission regarding this – based in the east coast around Maryland, primarily. She deals a lot with strawbale, but also has worked with contractors with retrofitting… like natural plasters, clay… interior stuff.

              At any rate, things can be done. Even in the twin cities, people have chicken coops in their backyards. So there are some things people can do to become less dependent on these vast corporate infrastructures that are so consuming in terms of energy and resources.

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