Dear friends – What would it be like to re-think the Michaelmas-Tide as a Moveable Feast like Easter?
When living into the Festival Life in the Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation, many occult realities are waiting to be unveiled, renewed & applied. One such open secret which we have been exploring here is the connection between Michaelmas & Easter.
The goal of the Michaelmas Festival is to be reborn at the time of death. And the maxim of Easter is that we must die to be reborn.
Michaelmas which has been called a Festival of the Future, that we are co-creating NOW, is celebrated on the fixed date of 29 September – the Feast Day of St. Michael & All The Heavenly Hosts.
But we also know that it is a Season – a Tide – that begins with the Perseid Meteor Showers – bringing in the Cosmic Iron needed to fortify our blood – the antidote to the luciferic forces of Summer’s expansion, at the end of August.
We are entering now the next phase: The Draconid Meteor Showers radiating from the Dragon’s Eyes – the stars Eltanin & Rastaban – in the constellation Draco.
Then in late October we encounter The Orionid Meteor Showers taking us into the All Souls Season.
~Umbra Perchiazzi
Recognizing this Michaelmas-Tide has brought many powerful Festival experiences.
“Life after death
Life before birth
Only by knowing both
Do we know eternity”
~ Rudolf Steiner
We know that Easter-Tide: The Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost events are Moveable Feasts – determined by a cosmic alignment: The 1st Sunday after the 1st Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.
~Umbra Perchiazzi
What will it do for our experience to bring in the cosmic connection of the alignment of Sun, Moon & Earth to Michaelmas? To include a contemplation of the timing of the New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox..? Something long time RR contributor Steve Hale has suggested over the years.
Because of the meteoric activity, which brings a cosmic clearing on all levels, I had not felt a strong urge to reverse the Easter alignment & apply it to the Michaelmas Season.
But this year I noticed that the first New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox on Saturday 14 October 2023, will be a Solar Eclipse!
So this caught my attention, & is leading me to consider bringing a consciousness of the Movable Feast into this cosmic coincidence.
Although I do feel that the 1st Sunday after the Autumnal Equinox after the 1st New Moon which is Oct. 15 this year, feels too far in, & way too close to the All Souls Season to count as the Start of the Michaelmas – perhaps it can be seen as the herald of the end?
Just as it is interesting to parallel it with 15 August: The Feast of the Assumption of the BVM, as a start.
And which we can also connect to the creation of a New Vidar/Ramael Festival that we can conceive of around that August time – a heralding of the Michaelmas Fest.
So dear friends, I am proposing we take advantage of this calling to attend the Solar Eclipse on the 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox as Michaelic Warriors for Peace – Holding the powers of the Sun during the time of darkness.
All are invited to tune into our Project Thought-Seed (Egregore 10:10) which is all about co-creating an imagination of the Earth as a Sun.
Find the timing of the eclipse for your neck of the woods & tune in.
We must become spiritual warriors, & endeavor to take up the practice of building up positive imaginations on the inner planes as a counterforce to the adversarial forces working in all worlds. This is a “key-call” to the Spiritual Powers aligned with love & light, to enlist their aid.
Our Good Will becomes a cosmic energy field for healing: “Seed ideas in the group mind of humanity”, of our highest intentions for the evolution of humanity – that the Earth may become a Sacred Planet – a Sun – & every Human Being a Star.
“What is sown in our highest thought will grow and bear seed.”
We can picture Mighty Spiritual Beings noticing our shining. Then we become a beacon which calls for a response. Powerful forces will reply -sending their protection & energy to us on Earth. Then we can work with them to collectively surround any disharmony, embracing with compassion all discord, bringing dis-ease into the light of healing wholeness…
Here is the Meditative Thought-Seed I love to work with:
For Thinking:
“When I think light, my soul shines,
When my soul shines, the Earth is a star,
When the Earth is a star, I am, a true human being”.
~Herbert Hahn
In Reverse:
I am, a true human being
The Earth is a Star
My soul Shines
I think Light
For Feeling:
When I feel Love, my heart sings
When my heart sings, the Earth resounds
When the Earth resounds, I am, a true I AM
In Reverse:
I am, a True I Am
The Earth Resounds
My Heart Sings
I Feel Love
For Willing:
When I will life, my hands help
When my hands help, the Earth heals
When the Earth heals, I am, a free human being
In Reverse:
I Am, a Free Human Being
The Earth Heals
My Hands Help
I Will Life
~hag
We can also employ this powerful Verse
for the Michaelic Age:
We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror
Of what approaches us from the future.
We must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations
About the future.
We must look forward with absolute equanimity
To whatever may come.
And we must think only that whatever comes
Is given to us by a cosmic guidance full of wisdom.
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely,
To live without any security in material existence
And to live with pure trust in the ever-present help
of the spiritual world.
Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
For this let us seek awakening
To the reality of the spirit
From within ourselves,
Every morning and every evening.
Together, Dear friends we can co-create a New Michaelmas-Tide – a circle of protection & light, in the Christic center of the Universe, which has its eternal point within our heart – Ever reflecting out to the periphery of eternal becoming.
The 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox – Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse
| GLOBAL EVENT: | Annular Solar Eclipse |
|---|---|
| LOCAL TYPE: | Partial Solar Eclipse in Cahokia Mounds State Historic SIte, Illinois |
| BEGINS: | Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 10:32 am |
| MAXIMUM: | Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 11:57 am 0.634 Magnitude |
| ENDS: | Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 1:27 pm |
| DURATION: | 2 hours, 55 minutes |
For those who would like to gather in person I will be facilitating a Michaelmas Speaking with the Stars retreat 13-15 October 2023 at Cahokia Mounds – a sacred Mississippian Indian site in Collinsville, Illinois, called by the ancients: Sun City. We will gather to co-create ‘a New Group-Soul United in Christ’ thru Art-Acts, & other activities to consciously rise in our thinking, collectively building a cogitative imagination of Sophia-Michael-Christ, embracing all worlds with love & light. We will be working in the ‘Woodhenge’ zodiac site, as well as Monks Mound, & the Mississippi River trail. Space is limited contact Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
~hag
“For in the past, festivals used to bind human beings strongly together. Just think, for instance, of all that has been done and said and thought in connection with festivals for the whole of civilisation.
In our epoch, Western humanity’s development has again reached a point where we are confronted with the necessity of bringing forth new forms of the venerable, sacred ideals of religion, art and science.
This is what can enter physical life through the establishment of festivals directly out of the spirit – to do something that connects the earth with the heavens, that reconnects physical with spiritual conditions.
If to-day one could see the working of the whole universe when Autumn approaches, if one could decipher the whole face of the universe, and acquire creative force out of it, then the establishment of such a festival would reveal, not only the will of human beings, but also the will of Gods and Spirits. Then the Spirit would again be among humankind!” ~Rudolf Steiner – Michaelmas VII: The Creation of A Michael Festival Out Of The Spirit
6 October 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna in her Last Quarter Phase
Like the Solar Wheel of the year – There are 8 Lunar Phases in the 29.53 day cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter &Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous & Waning Crescent.
Interesting to observe & ponder:
A New Moon in Gemini appears highest at the Summer Solstice & in Sagittarius it is lowest at the Winter Solstice.
A First-Quarter Moon appears highest at the Spring Equinox & lowest at the Autumn Equinox.
The Full Cold Moon appears highest at the Winter Solstice & the Strawberry-Honey Moon is lowest at the Summer Solstice.
A Last-Quarter Moon appears highest at the Autumn Equinox (Michaelmas-Tide) & lowest at the Spring Equinox (Easter-Tide)
Save the Dates for Community Workings
| October 14 | Annular Solar Eclipse |
| October 21-22 | Orionids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak |
| October 23 | Venus at Greatest Western Elongation |
| October 28 | Full Hunter’s Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse |
All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire
Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas
6 – 8 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile
Please Bring Food & Drink to share, & a jar for the prep
RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
Lunar Eclipse Mar 25, 2024
The reprise of the 2017 Great American Eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse
Stay tuned for details about a Retreat for this Global Total Solar Eclipse Event in Fort Worth, Texas
Begins: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 12:22 pm
Maximum: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 1:41 pm 1.005 Magnitude
Ends: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 3:01 pm
Duration: 2 hours, 39 minutes
Totality: 2 minutes, 34 seconds
Lunar Eclipse Sep 18, 2024
Michaelmas as a movable feast is something that seems logical for a long time. I can only think that this year is a possible breakthrough because the annular solar eclipse on October 14th is also a New Moon; the first after the Autumnal Equinox of September 23rd. And, the very next day is a Sunday! Now, how convenient is that?
Many people have considered this idea of shifting Michaelmas from a fixed date to a moving date, based on a similar rationale to Easter, a waste of time, and especially when we have a certain faction that would like to make Easter more of a calendar date, i.e, first Sunday closest to April 5th, which is the date in AD 33 in which Christ was resurrected. Yet, there are more than a few reasons for doing so, and especially at this time in human history. Some might remember where Steiner spoke about the future Michael faculty for Self-Remembering, which is described here in the only place where it is given some detail:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA152/English/RSP1966/19130501p01.html
We can, and should, get into that matter at some point because it is huge for what we are talking about as the incentive for making Michael moveable. The other consideration, which has been discussed before, is what Steiner spoke about here in a Karma lecture just before going to Koberwitz for the Agriculture Course. In this lecture, from June 4, 1924, he is going to propose something related to how the Michael season needs to be expanded, and made into a threefold engagement, like Easter. This is how he introduces the idea of what Michaelmas needs to give most emphasis to:
“When we follow our Ego in its successive evolutions through lives between birth and death and between death and a new birth, we cannot remain within the world of Space at all. For two successive earthly lives cannot be within the same space. They cannot be within that Universe which is dependent on spatial co-existence. Here therefore we go right out of Space and enter into Time. This is actually so. We go out of Space and come into the pure flow of Time when we contemplate the Ego in its successive lives on Earth.
Now consider this, my dear friends. In Space, Time is still present, of course, but within this world of Space we have no means of experiencing Time in itself. We always have to experience Time through Space and spatial processes. For example, if you wish to experience Time, you look at the clock, or, if you will, at the course of the sun. What do you see? You see the various positions of the hands of the clock or of the sun. You see something that is spatial. Through the fact that the positions of the hand or of the sun are changed, through the fact that spatial things are present to you as changing, you gain some idea of Time. But of Time itself there is really nothing in this spatial perception. There are only varied spatial configurations, varied positions of the hands of the clock, varied positions of the sun. You only experience Time itself when you come into the sphere of the soul’s experience. There you do really experience Time, but there you also go out of Space. There, Time is a reality, but within the earthly world of Space, Time is no reality. What, then, must happen to us, if we would go out of the Space in which we live between birth and death and enter into the spacelessness in which we live between death and a new birth? What must we do? The answer is this: We must die!
We must take these words in their exact and deep meaning. On Earth we experience Time only through Space — through points in Space, through the positions of spatial things. On Earth we do not experience Time in its reality at all. Once you grasp this, you will say: “Really to enter into Time we must go out of Space, we must put away all things spatial.” You can also express it in other words, for it is really nothing else than — to die. It means, in very deed and truth: to die”
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/AscenPent/19240604p01.html
Does this not seem to be the essence of a true Michael festival; to see despair and death all around us, and yet, experience resurrection in the final analysis? This is because the brass ring is this notion of repeated earth lives, and our participation. We should be looking for our past lives, or at least the one that we feel is most significant. Freedom awaits when we can do this, and the Michael faculty is ours to develop, just like Gabriel’s faculty is now consolidated as the frontal lobe for abstract thinking. Michael’s is located closer to speech, which can be heard everyday. Thus, hearing is very important.
And when we experience Time without Space we meet the Father Ground of the World who is Death
This upcoming event at Cahokia Mounds will align very nicely with the symbol of Pisces itself:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisces_(astrology)#/media/File:Pisces_symbol_(bold).svg
Picture the curve on the right as the last measure of waning crescent moon = October 13th.
Picture the horizontal line as the new moon = October 14th.
Picture the curve on the left as the first measure of waxing crescent moon = October 15th.
This configuration of the sign of Pisces occurs 12 times a year, and is a reminder that the Sun in its retrograde movement through the Zodiac, which creates Precession of the Equinoxes, entered the sign of Pisces in 1413 AD, which is 610 years ago. In fifteen hundred years, the Sun will move to Aquarius, where the New Isis will have been liberated by all our efforts today to uphold and fulfill the Consciousness Soul age. The Michael-Christ connection leads this on, and the only way it can fail is if humanity fails to nurture this new culture. A huge amount of pressure is being applied since 1998 to uplift Lucifer and Ahriman in a kind of grotesque anti-representative of man, with Sorath replacing Christ in the center. As such, diminishment of human consciousness has increased of late.
I am looking for this year, at this very time, to give us a sign, and I see it as being of the nature of a Pentecostal awakening, followed by an ascent through declining nature, and then the Resurrection overseen by the Michael forces. The lectures, “Michaelmas and the Soul Forces of Humanity”, will help here as a guiding light, ref. GA 223. This is the corollary course to “Cycle of the Year as Breathing Process of the Earth.”
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA223/English/AP1946/MiSoul_index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisces_(astrology)#/media/File:Pisces_symbol_(bold).svg
Can you explain more about what you see as the connection here?
Well, I was first trying to get the Pisces symbol to display, which failed twice. Then, before, I was trying to get you to see the deep symbol of the Vesica Piscis, which also involves the crossing of spheres. Maybe you see that, and want to know how this can be made influential next Friday, the 13th. You obviously know how mystical the number 13 is.
Earth, according to the Sun, is in the sign of Pisces since 1413, which launches the 5th Cultural Epoch, and in 2160 years, will pass over into the sign of Aquarius, where Isis is held in a fully embodied state. Such as it is, we need to work to release Isis now, and long before the Age of Aquarius in 3573 AD. This is the challenge of the Consciousness Soul age today. But, we have Anthroposophy on our side.
What is the likely ingredient here for your conference next week is to show how important Michael is for a moveable festival, but also that the new moon is the completely spherical veiling of the Eighth Sphere. This is something absolutely essential for releasing the New Isis from her imprisonment in Aquarius. Thus, your conference is the first showpiece for this endeavor, if that is what you have in mind. 12 students would be perfect, but you already had that in mind. It is definitely the energy that needs to be harnessed.
Greetings,
A missing link,
Shemini Atzeret (the “eighth day of solemn gathering”) is a one-day festival which immediately follows the seven days of Sukkot.
Redacting a Missing Festival into Solomon’s Temple Dedication.
https://www.thetorah.com/article/shemini-atzeret-redacting-a-missing-festival-into-solomons-temple-dedication
2.
https://www.thetorah.com/article/qohelet-and-the-redaction-of-mesopotamian-vanity-literature
namaste,mkyogi
Thank you for bringing this forward. As I was thinking about this, September 29 could remain the beginning of Michaelmas Season with it culminating as you mentioned. So it could be longer or shorter depending on the date of the new moon. We have the Holy Nights, Lent, the time between Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost, so people are accustomed to having festivals for extended periods. It could be a period of fortification, strengthening, drinking in all the courage we can and assimilating that meteoric iron. God knows we certainly need these imaginations.
Greetings,
Thank you,
SOLOMON, THE FIRST TEMPLE AND THE QUEEN OF SHEEBA
https://factsanddetails.com/world/cat55/sub389/item1387.html
namaste,mkyogi