‘It’s a small world after all’

3 July 2019 – “Speaking with the stars”: Arcturus, the brilliant yellow-orange star high in the southwest after dark, is the leading light of Bootes the Cowherd. The constellation’s brightest stars form a kite shape extending up from Arcturus. The kite is rather narrow, bent a bit left at the top, about two fists at arm’s length.

Moon, Mercury, Mars, Pollux, Castor very low at dusk, July 3-4, 2019

While evening twilight is still fairly bright, the thin waxing crescent Moon guides the way to the low line of Mercury, Mars, Pollux, & Castor disappearing into the sunset, .

Tomorrow, the 4th of July 2019, the Earth is at aphelion, its farthest from the Sun for the year.

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 Looking at the past to see the present, co-creating the future:

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Those who work with the Original indications in the Calendar of the Soul know that Rudolf Steiner lists the birth & death days, as well as other significant occurrences of various individualities, along with the dates in the calendar.  He said of this: “What is presented here can be useful to those who wish to follow the path of mankind’s spiritual development” ~Rudolf Steiner

Image result for Cornelius_the_Centurion Gerbrand van den EeckhoutGerbrand-van-den-Eeckhout
CGerbrand van den Eeckhout

Deathday of Cornelius – a Roman centurion who is considered to be the first Gentile to convert to the faith. Cornelius receives a vision in which an angel who instructs Cornelius to send the men of his household to Joppa, where they will find Simon Peter.

The conversion of Cornelius comes after a separate vision given to Simon Peter (Acts 10:10–16) himself. In the vision, Simon Peter sees all manner of beasts & birds being lowered from Heaven. A voice commands Simon Peter to eat. When he objects to eating unclean animals, the voice tells him not to call unclean that which God has cleansed. When Cornelius’ men arrive, Simon Peter understands that through this vision the Lord commanded the Apostle to preach the Word of God to the Gentiles.

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283 – Deathday of Anatolius. Prior to becoming one of the great lights of the Church, he enjoyed considerable prestige at Alexandria, & was credited with a rich knowledge of arithmetic, geometry, physics, rhetoric, dialectic, & astronomy. He was one of the foremost scholars of his day in Aristotelean philosophy.

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Deathday of St. Norbert of Xanten, who avoided ordination to the priesthood & even declined an appointment as bishop. One day as he rode to Vreden, a thunderbolt struck him off his horse. After this near-fatal accident, his faith deepened, he renounced his appointment at Court & returned to Xanten to lead a life of penance. St Norbert was a great devotee of the Eucharist & Our Lady.

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1035 – William the Conqueror becomes the Duke of Normandy

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1863 – The U.S. Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, PA, ended after three days. It was a major victory for the North as Confederate troops retreated

Image result for 1940 –In order to stop the ships from falling into German hands the French fleet is bombarded by the British fleet causing the loss of three battleships, 1,200 sailors die.

1940 –In order to stop the ships from falling into German hands the French fleet is bombarded by the British fleet causing the loss of three battleships, 1,200 sailors die.

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1944 –Minsk is liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration

Image result for 1988 – United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.

1988 – United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.

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1988 – The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing a connection between Europe & Asia over the Bosphorus.

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As the power of ‘Independence’ reverberates in our collective consciousness…Can we rise in our thinking to meet “Freedom, Equality, & Fraternity”…While imagining that the “bombs bursting in air” are beautiful, gentle fireworks of realization & enlightenment, going off like light bulbs in American minds…

Working towards a Global Interdependence Independence Day. A mutual dependency upon the independence of every nation & its people…Imagine everyone celebrating our differences with great admiration & respect…

We have all heard of Betsy Ross right? I just love this enterprising woman who led a very interesting life. She was actually disowned as a Quaker because she married an Episcopalian, who was later ironically killed while guarding a munitions dump. So here she was a young widow, telling George Washington that she thought the 5 pointed Star would look much better on the flag then his idea of having 6 pointed stars, true story.

I can just picture her sitting in the back room of the small upholstery business she ran by herself, with this mighty symbol that she helped design, laid out on her sweet lap, sewing away.

Now I’m not much for nationalism with all its borders & power over others kind of patriotism, but I must admit I love to see a well-made flag flapping in the breeze. All flags are cool – Crests with their ancient symbols, & especially those colorful banners you see on the porches of houses, shaped like butterflies or autumn leaves. I’m just a sucker for a glyph in the wind.

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We all know what we’re talking about when we say ‘the 4th’ right…But when was the last time you stopped to think about what ‘the 4th’ is really all about. When I looked on the internet it gave me hit after hit on picnic ideas, & recipes for apple pie, hints on BBQ techniques, free patriotic screen savers, many downloadable versions of the “rockets’ red glare” with animated fireworks displays; & yet somehow they forgot to mention the fact that fireworks were a Chinese invention, an ancient art form that we took & made into gun powder. I’m serious, is baseball & burnt wieners all there is?

Does anyone want to give us some history here, or a brief overview of the meaning of Independence Day? I was never much good with all the details, the dates & names & such, so history isn’t my strong point, but I’m always able to get the big picture, & it seems to be about freedom from oppression… ‘No taxation without representation’…& all that…the center point being the Declaration of Independence.

When was the last time you read this important document of our countries origin? You can print it off the net. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are, Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…

The rest of the document goes on to give a laundry list of the crimes against the colonists by the king of Great Britain, whose name happens to be George the 3rd…(who says history doesn’t repeat itself, many of these same crimes were perpetrated not so long ago by George Bush & his dynasty)

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Have we gained independence from one tyranny all those years ago, only to allow it to happen again on a world scale? Maybe it’s time to open our eyes & read the fine print of our birthright, reclaim our rights & go forward as a united community of World people, in peaceful justice, in equity, in reason, with compassion, having come through so much pain, to really start to, not just declare our independence, but to really live it…As individuals, as well as with the united community of the whole planet…

We have a strong voice…this is our world…our sacred space & we can sing any reality we want to…& I don’t know about you, but I’d rather sing ‘America the Beautiful’, or even something like, ‘It’s A Small World After All’, then the war worshiping ‘Star Spangled Banner’ any day…

America Guided By Wisdom, 1815 (litho) engraved by Benjamin Tanner (1775-1848)

So for our next song, I’ll get off the soap box, & let the power of our united heart-beats, our collective rhythm be our anthem…to bring healing & forgiveness to the old wounds & hope for the future… blessed be…

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We can rise with the fire of freedom
Truth is the fire that burns our chains
& you can stop the fire of destruction
Healing is the fire running through our veins’.

Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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