EPIPHANY’s Transcript Transmission: Joan of Arc vs. ‘the proud boys’ on the ‘I Think Speech Podcast‘

Dear friends, reports of an armed militia at the Capital were just coming in as I was ineptly trying to iron out all the tech stuff – The news put me on edge, I was distracted, nothing was going right, like it did at practice &, well, it’s no excuse but, I regret to inform you that I neglected to push the record button during our epic Festival: Joan’s Epiphany: ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’ featuring the premier of Nancy Poer’s magnum opus, JOAN OF ARC – HER GIFTS FOR OUR TIME. The good news is you can still watch the amazing film on youtube.

But Nancy’s beautiful remarks & the many inspiring comments from participants, as well as the powerful eurythmy session are only inscribed in the ethers. (Lucien did not want his “Singing Through Joan of Arc Passage” recorded, so that was all good)

I am so sorry, I should have tried harder to get a tech assistant (please if you have experience with running zoom & want to team up, let me know) Needless to say I woke up to many emails from folks who were called away from our offering, compelled with disgust to follow what was unfolding with the violent mob of white men that stormed the Capitol. You of course were looking forward to the recording. So, while I cannot give you a replay of our Festival; which was interestingly enough, acting as a counterforce to that mob of bullies waving the Confederate flag; I can share the thoughts on ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’ that I offered & give a sort of transcript of our event…

I began by thanking the Festival’s committee, for making it possible to meet in person in the Elderberries space, which was difficult because the heating system went down in the August tornado, so folks had to labor to put up tarps & bring in space heaters so we could gather where Lucien’s amazing tapestry hangs, the piece integral to his artistic offering. It is literally ‘The Passage’ which he sings thru to Joan.

Folks gathered, & I opened the space with a prayer that Steiner gave in Berlin, January 1915, around Epiphany, Joan of Arc’s birthday, dedicated to those who were fighting & dying in the 1^st world war, which was just then really heating up.  At that time every one of Steiner’s lectures had an opening & closing verse devoted especially to those sacrificed young souls who were crossing the threshold in droves at that time. And so let us offer it today in remembrance of their sacrifice, as well as acknowledging those that are crossing the threshold now as spiritual warriors.

Out of courage shown in battle,
Out of the blood, shed in war,
Out of the grief of those who are left,
Out of the people’s deeds of sacrifice –
Spirit fruits will come to grow,
If, souls with knowledge of the spirit,
Turn their mind to spirit realms.

YES, this is our work today dear friends, to turn our minds to spirit realms. Anthroposophy tells us that it can often be the karma of those that die before they reach the age of 72, to offer up their unused etheric forces, to help fortify human evolution, & as Nancy mentioned during our planning call the other day, Steiner says ‘Don’t waste it’. For me, that is one of the particular reasons why we have chosen to work with the energies of Joan of Arc here at the Branch, since Michaelmas.

Nancy Jewel Poer, who has worn many hats: Waldorf Educator, Home Death Consultant, Writer, Life Coach, & Film-maker, to name but a few; has been working with the energy of Joan of Arc for many years.  Somehow Dottie Zold mentioned to Nancy that we had dedicated our Michaelmas festival to Joan, & that we planned to go deeper with this work for our Epiphany festival, & Nancy was very enthusiastic about this idea; so I asked her if she wanted to bring something. Well she immediately said yes, & began her systematic research gathering images & quotes from Joan’s trial. Then with her team, Joseph & Kai, out there at White Feather Ranch, in the beautiful Sierra foothills; they worked tirelessly thru-out the entire Holy Nights, laboring long hours, to artistically render the life story of this amazing Michaelic warrior, in a film.

Nancy acknowledged her team & said a few words before we streamed the video. (Being the non-tech bungler that I am, we had a few issues with sound at the beginning, so it’s good that you can just go to the youtube anytime to take in JOAN OF ARC – HER GIFTS FOR OUR TIME

Afterwards, many folks made comments & asked questions – so many striking thoughts shared in the chat. Then I went on to speak about Epiphany, which is often defined as a sudden, intuitive insight into the essential meaning of reality – We can certainly say Joan of Arc had an epiphany – a revelation -a call to duty. Epiphany is also often described in relation to the appearance or manifestation of a deity, which we of course know was the case with Joan.

In the festival year, Epiphany is also called 3 Kings Day, The Adoration of the Magi, when after following the Star of Bethlehem, the students of Zarathustra bring their gifts to their reincarnated teacher – And how interesting that this year WE got to follow Jupiter & Saturn; our Christmas Star shining some insights into our vision of 2020 –

AND we must also remember, what the Eastern Orthodox still hold dear, the occult truth that Epiphany commemorates the manifestation of Christ, at the Baptism in the Jordan – the birth of the Cosmic Being of Love on Earth -a mighty moment in time – a seed, that we need to nurture & unfold – that we must strive to understand & live into.

I learned the other day that Greta Thunberg – another truly Michaelic Soul – was born on January 3^rd just 3 days before Epiphany, on the 9^th Holy Night, which if you are following the path, from Jesus to Christ, as I do, during the Holy Nights, brings us into the realm of the Cherubim, who we see holding the flaming sword, guarding the threshold to the garden of paradise – So that’s interesting.

But what I was called to bring today was inspired by what Rudolf Steiner says in the ‘The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations – specifically5^th Lecture: The Nature of the Christ Impulse and the Michaelic Sprit Serving It, which is where our opening verse came from; & is all about ‘reversal events’ in connection between Joan of Arc’s deed & the start of the 1^st world war.

Steiner gave the lecture in Berlin, in January 1915 – 501 years after Joan of Arc’s auspicious birth, right at the start of what has been called the Great War. It made a deep impression on me. I hope it moves you to take action as it did me. For I have felt called to ask myself: What is the true mission of The Maid of Orleans? Which leads me to ask: What is OUR mission, as Anthroposophers? Or even better: What is the task of humanity at this time; & how does it relate to Joan of Arc’s deed?

Jehanne or Joan is the feminine form of Johannes or John, which is, in the case of John the Baptist & St. John the Divine, a title of initiation – so right there we have a mighty clue.

The powers working thru her directed her to battle against the inflammatory Luciferic forces of deception prevailing in humanity at that special time, right before the beginning of the Consciousness Soul Age. Steiner indicates that this began a year after Joan’s birth, in 1413. And during the call we talked about how the Knight’s Templers were burned at the stake a hundred years earlier in 1314. Looking closely here we must consider the reversal of the numbers from 1314 to 1413.  Obviously a topic for another talk, but important to contemplate in regard to Joan’s mission.

And as Nancy’s film so beautifully shows, Joan of Arc, with the aid of Michael, (& his helpers St. Catherine & St. Margaret) was able to vanquish the seductive Luciferic forces which were vying to prevent this shift in human consciousness.

Steiner describes the miracle of her birth, how she went thru a sort of pre-earthy initiation during the potent time of the 13 Holy Nights, incarnating on Epiphany, the day the Christ came into a human being at the Baptism!

And we can also point to her equally auspicious death. Yes it was gruesome; she endured so much, not unlike like the Templars & the sacrifice of The Christ. In her case, it occurred because all the selfish Luciferic forces of her enemies joined together to bring about her death by fire. At her witch trial she said that within 7 years after of her death…”the English would meet with a much greater reversal of fortune than any they had known before”. We can see here, that the soul of Joan of Arc continued working across the Threshold to shape these events after her death – That what the spiritual powers want to bring about, will occur, whatever the external conditions may be. She was inspired into on earth by spiritual powers for 7 years, & then after 7 years of her working from the Spiritual world, the ‘reversal of fortune’ came for England. We must remember that many great individualities are working with us from across the threshold.

The Maid’s adversaries were able to bring about her death, but they were not able to prevent her mission. This reminds me of the mission of Casper Hauser. It would interesting to investigate these connections.

The power behind the will of the Maid of Orleans – the forces of Michael, are working still against the immoral Luciferic forces that rage in the world. And Dear friends, it’s obvious that weare also having to deal with hostile forces in our time, but now-a-days the selfish, vain, inflaming forces, have teamed up with the hardening, materialistic forces of Ahriman, that have been building up especially since the industrial age. These forces are in evidence everywhere, especially if we turn our attention not only to the all-pervasive electronic or mechanical element, but also thru, what Anne Dale called during our Holy Nights study, ‘The Black Mirror’ – cyber-space; which can be a distractive shrouding for the reappearance of Christ in the etheric realm, if we are not awake & consciously consecrating this medium in the name of Christ.

Awakening to the presence of Christ in the realm of formative forces is OUR calling, our mission, for our time!!! –

If we remain unconscious of these forces, the elemental beings behind every sense impression become enslaved by Lucifer or Ahriman. Yes friends, Spiritual science tells us that if we don’t meet the spirit behind what we take into ourselves, if we don’t meet the world with reverence & wonder, with gratitude & awe; just habitually unconsciously gulping it all up like junk food, then we are feeding the dragon within, which seeks to stupefy us – keeping us from fulfilling our divine mission of releasing these elemental forces, which can then help us to develop new spiritual organs to receive the Etheric Christ!  

This resonates to what Lucien Dante Lazar was speaking to in regards to developing the etheric heart, the prompt for our Social Sculpture after his “Singing through Joan of Arc Passage”

Otherwise these inflaming & sclerotic forces are what make us sick. And they influence our entire earthly life, laying the groundwork for societal effects like pandemics – & creating the fear based events happening NOW all over the globe.

Some brilliant person on the call likened it to how in Joan’s time the Bishops of the Church were given complete authority over human beings, & how the modern materialistic Scientists running the plandemic now are the new Bishops controlling reality in our time.

Do you see how these 2 forces are working together – to inflame our anxiety, (or in the case of ‘The Proud Boys’ inflame the false ego) which then makes us run into the arms of blind control..? (or to take up guns & seek to take control)

Ok, that was a lot, but it is a sort of groundwork for me to talk about the reversal events in the connection between Joan of Arc’s deed & the start of the 1^st world war, from the lecture I mentioned earlier. There Steiner speaks about how a sort of denial of the build up to the 1^st World War had been present for a long time in the astral world, but was held back by something that was also astral: by the fear, doubt & hatred held in the feeling life of human beings. These negative astral forces were able to hold the war back, to prevent it, for a while. Steiner says: “…at 1st a fearful denial was able to stop war from breaking out. But then with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, there emerged a ‘REVERSAL EVENT’ – this recalls the words from Joan of Arc: “the English would meet with a much greater reversal than any they had known before”.

So do you see, in that case of Joan’s time, the selfish Luciferic forces which Joan was able to hold back for a time, made a reversal & came back to destroy the English after her death – that her sacrifice was what tipped the scales for it to happen. And in this case of the world war, all the elements of fear from the Ahrimanic powers, began to gather around the sacrificed soul of the Archduke, creating a focal point, ‘a tear at the threshold’.

I know it’s hard to think about this; but we do know that anything that has a specific character on the physical plane will have the opposite character in the spiritual world. Everything is reversed. An element that had a blocking effect, keeping the 1^st World War at bay, was now acting in the opposite way, as a spur, an incitement, to war. So we see that a flip of the elements of fear, of the deceiving Ahrimanic elements, became a catalyst for war; which now a 100 years later, has led to the events of our present age, where there is constant war, in all realms of society. Which we are seeing, as we speak with an armed mob, somehow moving past the police to smash into the U.S. Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory; where they then spent several hours inside the building, vandalizing offices & the House floor.

Friends, we know that there are powerful energies at any point of transition; this is such a point in time. – Will we step in with our positive energies demanding change, bringing good will into focus?  A transition especially at the gate of birth & death is a powerful yet vulnerable time. When we send positive thoughts to meet that threshold, those energies become healing forces. But there are those, in what Steiner calls the ‘dark brotherhoods’, who seek to harness that power for destructive purposes. I mourn for those folks who are dying all alone in the locked down nursing homes, without friends & family, without human touch, without the possibility of the 3 day vigil. What is happening for their souls?

But, fear not dear friends, Steiner tell us that when we name & recognize what is happening in the physical realm, we can reverse it in the spiritual realm!

We must not try to deny these materialistic Ahrimanic elements. And we must cultivate the forces to purify our astral body so the inflaming vainglory Luciferic elements don’t inflate our false ego, or make us want to escape.  We must bring our focus to the adversarial forces, which are meant to strengthen us. We must develop the courage of Michael to see it as something that is necessary in our time, something that has to be present, so that we can learn to reverse it thru our heart-thinking – transforming these forces thru love.

WE – have to be the ones to reverse it. When we are awake, & able to recognize what the adversarial powers are doing in the world, it is our job to reverse it. We are the ones we have been waiting for – And as Joan said ‘I was born for this’. We were born for this; & we are not alone. The question is: How do we make it possible for divine spiritual forces, the ‘ever present help of the spiritual world’, to enter into our actions? – Without seeking to run away & hide, without pulling the covers over our heads; or sleeping thru this opportunity; without blindly following the materialistic narrative? How do we offer conscious resistance to this deceptive Ahrimanic element in our age, the way resistance was offered to the Luciferic element at the time of Joan of Arc?

The antidote dear friends is: Building thought-forms that forge a path forward, towards a spiritualization of human culture! We must cultivate our ability to form ideas & concepts into a thinking-will for good – A heart-thinking – activating the Cultural Sphere. This is what the Festival Life does so beautifully. It helps us spiritualize human relationships, thru art, & science, & education, & spirituality – to bring spirit to matter, & matter to spirit.

This creates the true unselfish Freedom we need in order to enter into a true Sister/brotherhood, with Equity. This is the prerequisite foundation needed to manifest the 3-fold social organism. Which we can only do if we stop listening to the prejudices & propaganda currently pounding us deeper into the false narratives – a voice that speaks loudly at times, or can be the faintest of whispers from the dragon within.

I have to admit that part of me was, I don’t think excited is the right word, more like called to be awake, when I heard that during our Joan’s Epiphany Festival, people were storming the Capital – Hey, we need a revolution, I only wish it wasn’t fueled by the selfish Luciferic forces working thru the inflamed egos of mad men with confederate flags & machine guns.

If it had been peaceful protestors calling on Columbia the Spirit of America, seeking to free the children locked in cages, they would have been shot dead on the steps.  Or people asking for an open unbiased scientific examination of the current corona crisis, demanding we follow the money, they would have been shot dead on the steps. Or black people demanding justice & a stop to systematic racism, they would have been shot dead on the steps.

The only revolution that can work is a complete revolution in our thinking, feeling & willing. Otherwise we are just being played between these 2 adversarial forces.

We can generate the great strength we need to offer a conscious resistance to these inflaming & hardening forces by approaching the spirit, not only thru the inner powers of revelation & faith, like in the case of Joan of Arc; but by concentrating our powers of understanding on what spiritual science has to give, starting with common sense; which gives us the moral foundation that opens us to divinely inspired wisdom, filling us with light. And when we take ahold of ourselves with this attitude, we can consciously work with what Michael, the Spirit of our Age, has to give us now in our time – Meeting every test & trail with a conscious heart-thinking, motivated by the wisdom of love.

In the opening verse Steiner reminds us:
‘Spirit fruits will come to grow,
If, souls with knowledge of the spirit,
Turn their mind to spirit realms’.

And so dear friends, as we remember the deeds of Joan of Arc, especially during this season of Epiphany, we are also reminded of our current task, to name & tame the modern beasts, to take our will forces in hand, to flip evil on its head, to reverse it, so that it serves the good – Like dear Greta Thunberg & many, many, people young & old, who have dedicated themselves to be Spiritual Warriors for Peace, & the light of truth.  See you in the 10:10. Blessings dear ones, thank you for being part of this Spiritual Revolution.

~hag