15 August 2018 –“Speaking with the Stars”: La Bella Luna hangs over Spica at dusk. Look lower right of them for bright Venus, & left of them for bright Jupiter.

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

My best friend is the person who in wishing me well, wishes it for my sake. ~Aristotle

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Feast of Isis

Himmelfahrt Mariae

Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary, is the day the mother of Jesus Christ, ‘died’. Her body was not subjected to the usual process of physical decay but was “assumed” into heaven & reunited there with her soul. This holiday, which has been celebrated since the fourth century CE, is a Christian version of an earlier harvest festival &, in many parts of Europe, is known as the Feast of Our Lady of the Harvest.

For centuries celebrations were held in the honor of the goddess Isis of the Sea, who was born on this day according to mythology. With the coming of Christianity church leaders decided that the easiest way to handle this pagan ritual was to simply change it into a Christian holiday, hence the introduction of Assumption Day came forth.

In Italy remnants of the ancient celebration include night time bonfires & public illuminations, symbolic of the Sun. The idea of prosperity is also evident in the throwing of coins from windows down to the street in some cultures. Symbolic images of the Virgin Mary & her assumption into heaven are paraded throughout the day. Blue is the color most often associated with the Virgin Mary. It symbolizes truth & clarity, & it is the color of the sky, which symbolizes heaven. The lily, which is a symbol of purity, chastity, & simplicity, is also associated with the Virgin Mary.

Like the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption was not always an official dogma of the Roman Catholic Church – not until Pope Pius XII ruled it so in 1950. It is regarded as the principal feast day of the Virgin Mother.

636 – Arab–Byzantine wars: The Battle of Yarmouk between Byzantine Empire & Rashidun Caliphate begins.

717 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik begins the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople, which will last for nearly a year.

718 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Raising of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople.

778 – The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed

1038 – Deathday of King Stephen I, the first king of Hungary

1057 – Deathday of King Macbeth, killed at the Battle of Lumphanan by the forces of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada

1248 – In honor of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, is laid

1281 –The Mongolian fleet of Kublai Khan is destroyed by a “divine wind” for the second time in the Battle of Kōan in Japan

1309 – The city of Rhodes surrenders to the forces of the Knights of St. John, completing their conquest of Rhodes. The knights establish their headquarters on the island & rename themselves the Knights of Rhodes

Galilei

1534 – Jesuit Order Founded

1549 – Jesuit priest Francis Xavier comes ashore at Kagoshima, Japan

1769 – Birthday of Napoléon Bonaparte

1812 –The Battle of Fort Dearborn is fought between United States troops & Potawatomi at what is now Chicago

1843 – Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark (Tivoli inspired Walt Disney to create Disneyland)

1910 – Very 1^st performance of Rudolf Steiner’s 1^st Mystery Drama “The Portal of Initiation” opens in Munich

1914 – Julian Carlton, A servant of architect Frank Lloyd Wright murders seven people & sets fire to the living quarters of Wright’s Wisconsin home, Taliesin

1914 – The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship SS Ancon

1915 – A story in New York World newspaper reveals that the Imperial German government had purchased excess phenol from Thomas Edison that could be used to make explosives for the war effort & diverted it to Bayer for aspirin production

1917 – Deathday of Hermann Joachim, Anthroposopher & Freemason. Rudolf Steiner did his funeral address see GA 261

1935 – Will Rogers & Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft develops engine problems during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska

1939 – The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in LA

1941 – Corporal Josef Jakobs is executed by firing squad at the Tower at 7:12am making him the last person to be executed at the Tower of London for espionage

1945 – Surrender of Japan in World War II, Korea gains Independence from Japan. The Allies proclaimed V-J Day a day after

1947 – India gains Independence from British rule after near 190 years of Crown rule & joins the Commonwealth of Nations

1948 – The Republic of Korea is established south of the 38th parallel north

 

1965 – The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock

1969 – The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in upstate New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era

1971 – President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard by ending convertibility of the United States dollar into gold by foreign investors. Nixon also announced a 90-day freeze on wages, rents & prices

2001 – Astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside our own. They had discovered two planets orbiting a star in the Big Dipper

2013 – The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivoran species found in the Americas in 35 years

2015 – North Korea moves its clock back half an hour to introduce Pyongyang Time, 8½ hours ahead of UTC

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My POD (Poem Of the Day)

~She is the early light
& the purpose of dusk
Who Is
The song bird of The Logos renewed…
She will
Rattle the seeds of the sistrum
To Awaken
A brilliant moment in eternity: Today
I will
Lift Her veil…
~hag

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Titian

 

– “I AM STANDING ON HOLY GROUND” –

Today on this Feast of the Assumption of Mary, I am cultivating the feeling that as I move through the world, that everywhere I go, wherever I am, I am standing on holy ground. In my backyard this morning, watching the butterflies & beetles, I was imagining all the life processes that unfold outside of my conscious awareness: my body digesting food & the circulating of my blood. I pictured the trees working with the elemental beings, taking in carbon dioxide, water, & sunlight to synthesize their nourishment. I felt the micro-organisms in the soil beneath my feet endlessly toiling away to create humus.

I ‘see’ the bee as a spiritual messenger – an interlocutor – Carriers of the Solar-Logos – an intermediary, between the human being & the Spiritual realms – Opening us to those peripheral dimensions of human awareness where super-sensible perceptions can awaken.

The bee carries a signal or frequency that enables transformation; it enables the sterile to become fertile & initiates the process of regeneration…

I don’t perceive any of these things directly; they’re invisible to me, & yet so alive & active & real.

And so I ask: What other growth & transformation might be going on in secret?

Ahh, what a perfect time to tune-in to all the vitalizing alchemy that is usually hidden, as I contemplate the mystery of the Assumption of Mary, the Mother of god.

Xox – Blessings & Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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by Grace Kahn

20 August 2018 ~MORAL MONDAY~ CHICAGO 7 pm – 9 pm 

“When The Trees Melt Away In A Sun Soaked Cotton Dream”

A going going gone Party for the CWS Class of 2018 –

an  Art Exhibit  with  Musical Performances from the Youth at Elderberries Chicago 4251 N. Lincoln Ave.

Illustrations by Grace Kahn, & other Chicago Waldorf School Graduates

Songs from “Beyond Blue and Red” by  Ultra-Violet Archer 

$10 Donation –MORE or less (Youth under 21 FREE)

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How We Will: Organizing a Bare Bones Threefold Cultural Revolution

 30 Aug. 2018 at 12 PM to 3 Sep. 2018 at 2 PM 

Registration is now open for How We Will 2018 –

Hosted by The Elderberries 3Fold Cafe Chicago & Urban First Aid – Art As Medicine 4251 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618-2953

We want you in the room! We need your voice and your experiences as we shepherd in the Threefold Commonwealth at Elderberries Threefold Chicago! Please join us as a diverse group of community-change-makers, bringing in new forms of: Culture, Economics and the Rights realm, share what it takes to move from ideas to ideals to action.

Rudolf Steiner spoke very clearly at the end of WWI, about what would take place if the entanglement of the economic and political leaders of the day were to continue unabated to the detriment of civil society: a great civil unrest and a humanity at the grave of civilization. He was also very clear that at the beginning of the 21st century a new impulse would be needed for the future of earth evolution and humanity. We are that new impulse.

Through Tilling the Soil of Our Souls, where the essence of Freedom, Liberty and fraternity /Kinship, can take root, the essence required for this societal shift and structural change, we will work towards a culture of selflessness throughout the weekend so that a new America can truly come into being. We ourselves will have to be the image of this new humanity striving towards and embodying, as best we can, a Beloved Community.

Brian Gray, of Rudolf Steiner College, will join us as we dedicate Elderberries 3Fold Chicago Café to Willi Sucher and his work with the starry worlds.

Presentations, Strategizing, Biography Work, Story-telling, Art Practices, and Threefold breakout groups, will allow us to have a creative dialogue throughout the weekend. John Bloom, Nathaniel Williams, Leah Walker, Kiara Nagel, Elizabeth Roosevelt Weeks, Johannes Kronenberg, Seth Jordan, Kait Ziegler, Destiny Nolen, Dottie Zold and Frank Agrama, will help us tease apart where these three realms and their principles rightfully stand, building moral imaginations for a more conscious community.

Theory U will be the bare bones of our organizing which brings about a safe space for deep listening, suspending our judgments, fears and cynicisms. It is crucial to come to understand the structural principle of the Threefold Commonwealth concept and even more so that we find a way to our humanness in the places we disagree. Through ‘making room for the other’ and ‘allowing the other to be free’ we will find those co-creative ideas waiting to be lifted up for a healthy eco-system begging in our time to be born.

Panel discussions will take place: ‘Against All Odds: Standing for the Future’ – Fred Janney of Anthroposophical Prison Outreach, Dr. Molly McMullen-Laird of Rudolf Steiner Health Center in Michigan, Dr. David Gershan, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg of the Elderberries Grailroad initiative, Joan Jaeckal of the Shade Tree Community School in Watts, and Dana Erickson, Mylene Carberry, on the Front Lines. Robbie Solway will co-lead a conversation on Youth led questions concerning ‘brother what ails thee?’ These panel discussions will also open out further for friends to share their own initiatives and experiences.

Who do you want in the room? Who is missing? Feel free to share with anyone who might find this Forum worth considering. 

 https://howwewill.blog/

 #HowWeWill2018Chicago

#ThreefoldingOurCulturalRevolution

Elderberries Threefold Café is opening it’s second lighthouse for social healing, in the heart of the nation, Chicago. We are stepping into a new future, after 10 years of building community through kindness, care and consideration.

As usual, lifting up the future will take a lot of boots kicking and brows sweating, working side by side, to bring our new space into reality. The mission of our café, is to form co-creative safe spaces across the country where youth and elders, in diverse community, can meet one another, find their work together, and serve the community and each other.

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‘THIS WAR IS NOT INEVITABLE’ (The Threefold Social Organism Theatre Project )

A talk at The Rudolf Steiner Branch with Michael Burton

Thursday Sept. 13th 2018 at 7 pm, Performances: Friday at CWS, Sat. Urban Prairie Waldorf school 

In 1917 Rudolf Steiner’s Threefold Social Organism  was an attempt to save a devastated Europe.  100 years later do we have a new chance? 

Written by Michael Hedley Burton and performed by Michael Burton and Christian Peterson

Concerning the birth of the idea of the Threefold Social Organism in 1917-1919

Rudolf Steiner launched the idea of the Threefold Social Organism (Threefold Social Order) in 1917 in the hope that this would help shorten the war and prevent another great conflagration from breaking out at a later date. The times were against him then and he was unsuccessful, but the question of the hour is: “Did what Steiner attempt in those years plant a seed that has waited a hundred years to mature in our own age?”

Suggested donation: $15, $25 or more depending on your circumstances

For information about The Threefold Social Organism Theatre Project please contact Lightweight Theatre on 518 928 0491 or michaelburton999@yahoo.com.au or visit www.wordrenewal.org