Many of the essay’s here on the RR blog take their inspiration from themes presented by the seasonal round, promoting a co-creation with divine spiritual beings. I work to tie this into the idea of Occult History in light of Anthroposophia – which reveals world karma.
Spiritual Science tells us that the current Michael epoch began in November of 1879. A time when as the human soul forces were increasingly being darkened by materialism, spiritual light began to shine into this darkness (for those who seek to see in the dark). This creates a special double-sided light/dark quality to November.
TODAY 9 November, holds a power spot in the wheel of the year. It is just after the actual astrological Crossquarter time between the Autumn Equinox & the Winter Solstice, bringing us the festival season of All-Souls Tide which open us to the spiritual world where we can more powerfully work with the dead.
Rudolf Steiner notes that on this date in history Goethe has Faust go down to the Mothers, the spiritual archetypes of existence.Mephisto -Ahriman sought to persuade Faust not to take up this poetic spiritual deed. He lied to him about the spirit light which gestates there in the darkness, & declared the spiritual world to be ‘a nothing’.
On 9 November 1888 Rudolf Steiner gave the lecture ‘Goethe as the Founder of a New Science of Aesthetics’ afterward Cistercian Priest Wilhelm Neumann told him that while he was speaking, in a flash of karmic lighting, he saw Steiner as Thomas Aquinas! This was the initial event that led Steiner to the systematic construction of his Spiritual Scientific karmic research, which he later called his “core mission”.
Larry Young
3 x’s 7 years later, Rudolf Steiner spoke of the greatest spiritual event of our time – the incarnation of Ahriman in the West. In total Steiner spoke of this event in 8 lectures, 5 of which fell in November. In 1919 he gives the most precise indication as to when this incarnation would take place: “Before even a part of the 3rd millennium will have elapsed”. One of Ahriman’s tasks is to possess human beings with the fear of the spirit.
Do we have the courage to overcome this fear – giving us the goal of recognizing the doings of this adversarial being – to see the signs of its incarnation here in America? If we take up this task in equanimity we help usher in a world-historical opportunity for the development of new spiritual capacities.
For this we are called.
~hag
Here are some other November 9th threshold events:
9 November 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waning gibbous Moon shines with the Pleiades, Aldebaran, and Mars late these evenings.
Also TODAY 9 Nov. Uranus is in opposition with the Sun in Aries. (thanks Steve Hale)
1888 – Rudolf Steiner’s ‘Aquinas experience’ – after giving a lecture on ‘Goethe as father of a new aesthetics’ the Cistercian priest Wilhelm Neumann, Steiner’s friend made this remark: “The seeds of this lecture you gave today are to be found already in Thomas Aquinas”. This opened Steiner to his earlier incarnation.
1918 – The second German Empire ends – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, & Germany is proclaimed a Republic.
1923 – Hitler’s attempted coup in Munich
9–10 November 1938 – Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany, carried out by SA paramilitary forces and German civilians. The German authorities looked on without intervening. Jewish homes, hospitals, & schools were ransacked, as the attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers. The rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria, & the Sudetenland, & over 7,000 Jewish businesses were either destroyed or damaged. Kristallnacht was followed by additional economic & political persecution of Jews, it is viewed by historians as part of Nazi Germany’s broader racial policy, & the beginning of the Final Solution & The Holocaust.
1989 –Fall of the Berlin Wall: East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to travel to West Berlin
~Hail claw in my heart Talon of the Hawk Bearer of animal urges… Hail star in darkness White spider legs dancing on a web of night I’ve made my home within The bitter herb I drank killed & cleansed & freed me & yet the dark moon dragon Still spills fire water on the wings of the dove Stealing ashes from the Phoenix To set my teeth on edge… As I prepare to meet the Baba Yaga The sun angles oblique A golden seed Staring at the corn Husks rustle & blink bare Like a scorpion sting I cling & spit And now The work continues… ~hag
So friends, let’s check-in. How is the Full Lunar eclipse playing out for you? How was your night/early morning? – Anything to report? Together we can tally up our experiences for spiritual scientific research. Can you still feel the shadow which is indeed lingering in the etheric, or has the poison been transformed into medicine?
So far I have received a handful of accounts that mention troubled sleep, disturbing dreams or body discomfort; & another handful reporting encounters with their beloved dead across the threshold. A few friends did eurythmy, or sang. And a bunch of folks said they didn’t engage because it was cloudy…I admit it is compelling to actually witness these cosmic & earthly events, but even if we can’t see them physically in the sense world, the energies are there, working even more insidiously because we are not consciously taking them up.
I fell into the category of having nightmares, & actually one of the characters is across the threshold with the ‘so-called dead’. I tossed & turned & kept looking at the clock to see what time it was. Finally when I saw 3:33 am I knew that was my sign to rise up & get to work – I peeked outside my bedroom window, & yep, there she was – Bella Luna with the bite of the eclipse in progress. My cat was mewling, I thought she wanted breakfast, but no, she couldn’t wait to go out into the nocturnal scene.
The sky was completely clear. From my backyard garden I could see Orion’s Belt pointing down to scintillating Sirius with its rainbow colors, which set off the blazing orange of Mars high above. Aldebaran & the 7 Sisters of the Pleiades were less distinct as they held witness.
At first I stood at the threshold of my kitchen doorway, where the event was unfolding in its frame, remembering how Ernst Katz, a teacher of Anthroposophy & professor of physics at the University of Michigan, used to say that he would never step out into the night during an eclipse. The energies were too overwhelming for him.
As I prayed the ‘Our Father’, taking each of the 7 lines as a universe unto itself, the bright light of Bella Luna was rapidly being diminished by the shadow of our Earth. I was surprised how fast the darkness moved. I worked a bit with the Prologue to John’s Gospel, but then felt called to alternate between the 5th panel of the Foundation Stone Meditation & the Lord’s Prayer.
As the eclipse was nearing totality, I kept feeling drawn – no compelled – to go outside & my speaking became more emphatic, which woke CG my beloved. When he saw what was happening he said let’s go out. Ok I thought – when 2 or more are gathered – so we grabbed coats & stepped into the highly charged atmosphere. It was after 5 am & the totality brought Andromeda into the mix. Whereas before, the darkness had moved so quickly, now as the luminary became rust red, time seemed to stop.
I kept up the prayers, adding this Steiner verse which I like to do along with the eurythmy gesture for ‘Love A’ over & over.
“In purest outpoured light shimmers the godhead of the world. In purest love toward all the lives Outpours the godhood of my soul I rest within the godhead of the world There shall I find myself within the godhead of the world”.
It was after 6 am & I actually started to feel a wave of panic – like the light was never going to return, so I prayed ever more earnestly & spoke the 5th panel centering on the ‘Cosmic Spirit-Light of the World’ – calling to Michael who stands with us – that humanity may hold the shield & sword of light.
Just then CG & I saw a shooting star! This was such a powerful affirmation, especially because I had several close encounters with shooting stars while I was at Kimberton Camphill, which is a story for another day.
Finally around 6:30 am, as the moon was sliding ever Westward, we could see the top of Bella Luna lighting up to look like a silver chalice that had been turned on its head. As the illumination pushed down, it appeared to us to resemble the blackboard drawing by Rudolf Steiner for Lesson 12 where he shows the human eye looking up into cosmic expanses. This impression was carried behind the tenement building as the Eastern sky lit up with the dawn.
Coming inside the warm house really felt like a homecoming – back to Earth & the human realm. I made some biodynamic Zinniker eggs & we talked over our impressions as the Sun came up.
What an extraordinary journey. All day I have felt heightened, lack of sleep can lift me out of myself a bit. The atmosphere still seems extra permeated with layers of unnamable forces. I wonder what effect it will have – on our midterm elections – & in the long run. How do we work to employ these kinds of cosmic & earthly opportunities to strengthen of our human evolution..?
With you in the Christ-Light
~hag
Daniel Bonnell
“Driven by the Spirit into the Desert” with Rev. Patrick Kennedy The Southeastern Pennsylvania Branch of the Anthroposophical Society invites you to
Join us for a webinar onSunday, November 20, 2022 at 3:00 PM EST
Our spiritual evolution does not take place separate from what is happening in the world. What used to take place in the hidden places of mystery schooling in the world is now a factor within history: The school of our becoming is life itself. In this presentation we will pick up the key elements that Rudolf Steiner names in his lecture from July 30th of 1918 and with them see better into the nature of what is happening in our time. What is revealed places us within powerful cultural streams of the present time – “Americanism, Bolshevism and Jesuitism” – and reveals the profound challenge we are called to face in establishing the truly a human – and a truly human culture – within this context. It is a societal level expression of what is revealed as a mystery image at the opening of the ancient gospel texts: the temptation of Jesus in the desert.
Proceeds will benefit the Seminary of the Christian Community in North America
Bio:
In April of 2006, Patrick Kennedy was consecrated into the priesthood in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to attending the seminary in Stuttgart, Germany, Patrick studied and worked in the field of early childhood education and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz in cultural anthropology. He has worked as a priest in the congregations in Devon, Pennsylvania and the Greater Washington, D.C., area. Then, in Chestnut Ridge, New York, he took up the roles of both seminary director and resident priest in the local congregation. In July 2019, Patrick, his family, and the entire seminary moved to the Toronto area.
_______
Shining a Light into the Darkness
Path of Knowledge inner development is itself a process of shining light into the darkness.
As social challenges are intensifying, we are called upon more urgently to develop new capacities in understanding the human being, nature and medicine in wholeness. This series will focus on historical thinking influences which still darkly affect the soul of every modern human being.
Because we see everywhere today that the “light shines into the darkness and the darkness comprehends it not”, what is our response to the recognition of darkness which lives within the thinking of each of us?
This series is open to all who study anthroposophy.
Proceeds will benefit anthroposophic organizations worldwide.
Dear Friends – I am just now landing back from the AAP training with many insights that I hope to share soonly. But I want to send out this message tonight before the Lunar Eclipse begins at 2:02 am CT – so that we might make it our intention to tune in together – to hold the light in the dark. But even if you are reading this after the fact – the eclipse energy is written in the astral script – so, you can still add your enchristened enegries into the mix!
I have often commented on the extremely interesting fact that the ‘powers that be’ have deliberately chosen to hold elections on a Tuesday – the day associated with the planet Mars – bringing with it all the patriarchal associations of male control, war & aggression; but can also provide us with the will for action if we choose to direct our passions for justice & not martial power over, tuning in instead to the Buddha energies that seek to reach us now from the red planet.
Another thing to ponder is that elections are always held during the season of All Soul-Tide, when the veils between the worlds are thin. Those of us who work with the “so-called dead” know how powerful & healing this interaction can be. The question is how are the ‘powers that be’ working with them?
Rudolf Steiner’s research tells us that: “Certain occult brotherhoods, however, make it their business to work in exactly the opposite sense; they want to retain the wisdom exclusively within their own narrow circles, in order to exploit it in connection with their lusts for power. We are living in the midst of this struggle.”
Ok, so that’s a lot to ponder with just a regular election day – but this year is especially fraught: Starting this evening – in the middle of the night – at 2:02 am Central Time – is the beginning of the Lunar eclipse of the Full ‘Mourning Moon’ – 8 November– Election Day 2022 –
2:02 am CT – Penumbral Eclipse begins – The Earth’s penumbra start touching the Moon’s face.
4:16 am – Total Eclipse begins – Total moon eclipse starts – completely red moon.
4:59 am – Maximum Eclipse – Moon is closest to the center of the shadow.
5:41 am – Total Eclipse ends – Total moon eclipse ends. Moon close to horizon, so make sure you have free sight to West-northwest
6:40 am – Setting – Moonset
6:49 am – Not directly visible – Partial Eclipse ends Below horizon
7:56 am – Not directly visible – Penumbral Eclipse ends Below horizon
To add to this eclipse energy we also hear Speaking: The Sun, Mercury and Venus which are all in the constellation of Libra, the Scales.
Mercury will be behind the Sun (in superior conjunction with the Sun). This all takes place in the descending Lunar Node, the tail of the dragon, and will stand opposite the Full Moon Total Eclipse – conjunct Uranus in the ascending Lunar Node, the head of the dragon, in the stars of the Aries the Ram!
PLUS: This potent configuration of planets will be in a T-square (at 90-degree angle) to Saturn in Capricorn – which creates a confrontational relationship with Mars.
Here are some curated inspights from astrosopher Jonathan Hilton: ‘In astrosophy, one can understand these lunar nodes as significant cosmic portals or gateways. They are, in a sense, open doors between the cosmic realm and the earthly realm where cosmic forces from the higher spiritual solar spheres may stream unobstructed by the envelope of the lunar sphere into the Earth sphere. Perhaps many of you are aware of the significance of the Moon Node returns in human biography, when the lunar nodes return after 18.6 years to their place at the human birth, thus, opening up the cosmic realm in human biography and bringing new developmental impulses into the human life. So, in a general sense when a planet is in a lunar node, one can say that its impulses are streaming more directly into the Earth sphere and are more accessible.
These nodes are also the source of eclipses, because when the Sun and Moon are along the same axis in these nodes at the same time, the Earth will stand directly between the Sun and Moon causing the Sun to be blocked from shining on the Moon while the Earth shadow passes across the Moon.
These eclipses can be seen as omens of evil and danger, for the Sun activity is blocked allowing the lower “shadow beings” of the Moon to be let loose upon the Earth, since they are not held in check by the sunlight on the Moon.
So here we have, setting up our Election Day, this potential for the subconscious, lower astral forces, or “evil thoughts” to influence or “possess” human souls.”
This eclipse is also occurring with the Moon conjunct Uranus in the Dragon’s Head ascending node, Uranus can be used by the opposing forces to arouse the lower astral forces or, as Steiner says, to attract the evil thoughts which are present in the cosmos to approach ‘those human beings who are desirous of being possessed by them’.
It is for this reason, that we who can be conscious, meet this event with the full presence of the Christic forces of the true I AM, the Spiritual Sun – awake to the working of subconscious forces.
Remember that also in this picture of the Lunar Eclipse Moon and Uranus, we also see standing opposite, the Sun conjunct Mercury and nearby Venus in the stars of the Scales. Mercury and Venus are more of the nature of the Sun and can become real tools of transformation for human beings to consciously work with.
So, with Mercury, Sun, and Venus in the Scales, the stars of Michael, the stars of the threshold, we can hear the cosmic beings speaking to us to address the challenge of this eclipse configuration with Uranus; to recognize the help of Michael in the battle in which we find ourselves on the threshold between the higher thinking and the lower dragon forces which want to drag humanity down into ever darker materialism and the old forms of the past. This configuration altogether can be taken up in contemplation on many levels as a picture of the need in humanity to raise our thinking, to stand on the threshold, and consciously employ the Christ ego force in our thinking and will to transform and heal in this time of transition.
But there’s more: This Eclipse configuration with Moon and Uranus in Aries opposite Sun, Mercury, Venus in Libra comes into a T-square with the planet Saturn in Capricorn. The meaning of this takes us again back to the events of 2020 and the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Capricorn at solstice/Christmas 2020 – setting the stage for the ‘Corona’/ covid experience.
The stars of Capricorn carry both a past and future vision of destruction, catharsis and initiation. They carry both the memory of the Great War in Heaven on Ancient Moon evolution as well as the vision of the 7th Cultural Age and the end of our Epoch which brings the War of All Against All.
Saturn in a square relationship to this eclipse configuration reveals the struggle, the confrontation and conflicts we carry within our humanity around our shared world karma. It wants to bring us back on track with the Divine Plan of evolution, through whatever karma must be taken up to do so. It also stands as a question, reminding us of who we are from our origins and asking us how we will meet this eclipse moment.
One of the most powerful lectures by Steiner is his lecture on the Mystic Lamb, from The Influence of Spiritual Beings on Man, GA 102. In it he develops a picture of the zodiac and the human being in evolution in relation to the Christ. This picture of the mystic lamb can be a balm for us during the eclipse.
Libra – Sun, Mercury, Venus: Michael offering; Heart-thinking; Humanity on the Threshold between the dragon and the divine wisdom; standing between worlds holding the balance through the I AM.
Aries – Moon, Uranus: The new clair-thinking; Imaginative thinking and the Spirit Self; the true I AM; the Lamb of God who sacrificed for humanity
Capricorn – Saturn: the Father Will; World karma and the divine plan of evolution at work through catharsis; cosmic memory of our true nature and our evolutionary goals; the great division and War that will ultimately lead to reunion.
In this context of the significance of Saturn in this configuration, and the karmic call of the Father memory for the I Am to become active and awakened in humanity, I am reminded of Steiner’s re-phrasing of the Prologue to John’s Gospel in Lecture 7 of The Pre-Earthly Deeds of Christ, GA 152.
May we carry this thought into this eclipse configuration:
In the Primal Beginning is Memory, And the Memory lives on further, And Divine is the Memory. And the Memory is Life. And this Life is the Ego of Man Which streams into Man himself, Not he alone, the Christ in him. When he remembers the Divine Life In his Memory is the Christ. And as the radiant Life of Memory Christ will pour Light Into every Darkness of the immediate present. ~Rudolf Steiner
~from Jonathan Hilton, read the whole article here: Astrosophy.com
Working with The Lord’s Prayer, & the 5th panel of the foundation Stone Meditation are also very powerful now.
Blessings my dear Michaelic Warriors as we carry the sheild & hold the sword of light during this time out of time
~hag
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler ALL HALLOWTIDE II The Ripening Of Creative Powers v31 The light from spirit depths strives outwards like the sun, becomes life’s strength of will and shines in senses’ dullness to birth the forces that ripen creative powers in human work the soul initiates.
This is the third verse of the Light Quartet, that begins with v5, when the light from spirit depths reveals the gods’ creative work, and culminates in v48 with the awakening of love in the human heart. Its mirror is the second one, v22, when summer’s light became the spirit light in us to raise the fruits whose ripening will lead us to our higher self. Rudolf Steiner once spoke of how with every breath of air, we take not only air but also light into ourselves and that we transform this light within us and make it our own as we do any other substance: we digest it, that is, we make it an integral part of our self (qv. The Archangel Michael 11/30/1919).
AUTUMN PRELUDE II The Ripening Of Self v22 The cosmic light lives on with inner power, becomes the light of soul and shines in depths of spirit to birth the fruits that in the couse of time will ripen the human Self from Cosmic Self.
~My soul duels with worms Hidden in the clay of being That would gnaw the scroll of mythos Witch i carry in my heart whole & speak thru the living word… No worries I will cut bait & continue singing… ~hag
31 October 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The Halloween Moon this year is first quarter (exactly first quarter at 1:37 am CDT tonight). It hangs in the south in early evening, with distant Saturn glowing steadily to its upper left. Much farther left of Saturn is brighter Jupiter. As night deepens, the dim boat-shaped pattern of Capricornus emerges shyly behind Saturn and the Moon.
The first day of All-Hallows-Tide, observed until November 7 (Western Christianity)
Halloween (Ireland, Canada, United Kingdom, United States etc…)
Hop-tu-Naa is a Celtic festival celebrated in the Isle of Man on 31 October. Predating Halloween, it is the celebration of the original New Year’s Eve (Oie Houney). It is thought to be the oldest unbroken tradition in the Isle of Man
Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season & the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year. It is the cross quarter between the autumn equinox & the winter solstice.
The Mound of the Hostages, a Neolithic passage tomb at the Hill of Tara, is aligned with the Samhain sunrise. It is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature & many important events in Irish mythology happen or begin on Samhain.
It was the time when cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures & when livestock were slaughtered for the winter. As at Beltane, special bonfires were lit.
Like Beltane, Samhain was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world & the Otherworld could more easily be crossed. This meant the Aos Sí, the ‘spirits’ or ‘fairies’, could more easily come into our world. Offerings of food & drink were left outside for them.
The souls of the dead were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend & a place set at the table for them.
Mumming & guising were part of the festival, & involved people going door-to-door in costume (or in disguise), often reciting verses in exchange for food.
Divination rituals & games were also a big part of the festival.
The first day of the Day of the Dead, celebrated until November 2 (Spanish: Día de Muertos) The multi-day holiday focuses on gatherings of family to pray for & remember members who have died, & help support their spiritual journey.
Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars called ofrendas, honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, & the favorite foods & beverages of the departed, & visiting graves with these as gifts. Visitors also leave possessions of the deceased at the graves.
Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The holiday has spread throughout the world, being absorbed within other deep traditions for honoring the dead.
683 – During the Siege of Mecca, the Kaaba, catches fire & burns down. The literal meaning of the Arabic word ka`bah (كَعْبَة) is “cube”, or “House of God”, considered the most sacred site in Islam, a similar role to the Tabernacle & Holy of Holies in Judaism.
503 years ago, on Oct. 31, 1517, the story goes, that the small-town monk, Martin Luther, marched up to the castle church in Wittenberg & nailed his ‘95 Theses’ to the door, lighting the flame of the Reformation — the split between the Catholic & Protestant churches. Luther’s act is one of the cornerstones of world history, & remains a lasting symbol of resistance.
Nearly all of American history bears the imprint of that act of protest. Luther’s challenge, the protection he obtained, & the reformers he inspired laid the foundation for the establishment of colonial America.
In 1934, an African American pastor from Georgia made the trip of a lifetime, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, through the gates of Gibraltar, and across the Mediterranean Sea to the Holy Land. After this pilgrimage, he traveled to Berlin, attending an international conference of Baptist pastors. While in Germany, this man — who was named Michael King — became so impressed with what he learned about the reformer Martin Luther that he decided to do something dramatic. He offered the ultimate tribute to the man’s memory by changing his own name to Martin Luther King. His 5-year-old son was also named Michael — and to the son’s dying day his closest relatives would still call him Mike — but not long after the boy’s father changed his own name, he decided to change his son’s name too, & Michael King Jr. became known to the world as Martin Luther King Jr.
Another dynamic measure of the influence of Martin Luther is the quintessentially modern idea of the individual — of our personal responsibility before ourselves & our God, rather than before any institution, whether church or state. This was as unthinkable before Luther. The contemporary idea of “The People,” along with the democratic impulse that proceeds from it – The more recent ideas of pluralism, religious liberty, & self-government all entered history through the door that Luther opened.
Luther’s second unyielding act of courage was at the ‘imperial diet’ held in the city of Worms in 1521, when he made it clear that he feared God’s judgment more than the judgment of church leaders in that room.
And suddenly the individual had the freedom & possibility of thinking for themselves.
Martin Luther was not inclined to tilt at papal windmills. In fact, until about 1520 he was a vigorous champion of the church. He desired desperately to help Rome elude the fate it ended up experiencing. In fact, in a case of Oedipusian irony he became the very man who brought about everything he had hoped to avoid. As his story illustrates, it was a sublime & ridiculous decoction of forces that created the perfect storm that burst over the European continent, creating what we now call the Reformation.
Today the Catholic & Lutheran churches are taking the memory of 1517 in hand. Pope Francis joined leaders of the Lutheran World Federation in Sweden to hold a joint service in a spirit of unity after 500 years of division.
1517 – Deathday of Fra Bartolomeo, Italian artist
1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards. Riots break out in New Delhi & other cities – 4,000 Sikhs are killed.
VeraPavlova.
On All Hallows-tide, the eve of All Saints’ Day, it was a Medieval Christian tradition for the poor to go to wealthy homes offering to pray for the recently departed in that household, since folks knew that prayers could help the dead on their journey in the after-life. And as a token of their appreciation, the rich would give them food & beer.
Many Halloween customs come from this same ritual. Visitors would show up holding lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips with candles inside, which represented souls in purgatory. Masses were held so that souls wouldn’t feel neglected & haunt believers. There were costumes & masks, & mummers plays to depict the various stages of the after-life.
But after the Protestant Reformation — which can be traced back to a different Oct. 31 event (exactly 500 years ago today): Martin Luther’s 1517 publication of his 95 theses — the idea that souls could be saved in this way began to lose popularity in many of the new denominations.
Some Catholics kept up the practice of going door-to-door on the eve of All Saints’ Day, which became known as “Souling.” By the 1840s, when a wave of Irish & Scottish immigrants brought the custom to the U.S., it was basically a pagan/secular pastime. Young people danced outside tenement apartments in exchange for gifts. Costumes were made out of old clothes, & faces painted with burnt corks, while tricks included stuffing cabbages in chimneys & whacking each other with bags of flour.
Although the Irish Catholics faced widespread prejudice, the celebration having been stripped of its Catholic underpinning, quickly proved to be popular. As those immigrants began to assimilate, newspapers reported the custom trending among 19th century college students. In the early 1900s, high schools, rotary clubs & charities began to throw Halloween parties. By the 1930s, North America had a new term for the old tradition: Trick-or-Treating. And as suburban swelled in the 1950s, Trick-or-Treating grew into the kid-friendly practice seen today.
Here in America, Halloween calls for an interaction with spooky strangers, that come out of the night, knocking on our door, shouting, give me a treat or you’ll get a trick. On a spiritual level, trick-or-treat, can be seen as a demand that strangers, a symbol of the unfamiliar parts of ourselves, give up their gifts to us. There is a lot of energy that gets locked up in the dark, & Halloween is an opportunity for us to dialogue with the dark, the shadow side of The Self, & call that energy back.
Light & dark are not opposites, but 2 parts of the same cycle. In order to fully appreciate the festivals of light, which return with the Winter Solstice, we must 1st grow in the dark womb of our perennial inward journey. With the veil between the worlds so thin, great transformations are possible, since the power of all the dimensions are available to us.
It is not only the veil between the physical & spiritual worlds that thin, it can also be the division between any 2 polarities, like the left & right hemispheres in our brains for instance, or between any 2 realities that are struggling to coexist, like war & peace for instance. This dark night can represent a resolution of paradox, a respectful meeting of the different sides of the same coin, witch can initiate the healing transformation required, in order to let the light back into our lives, once we’ve come to understand & own our side of the dark…
Look for me there, in the dark…
xox~hag
Dear friends – I am heading out for another session of my AAP training at the Kimberton Camphill, so this All Hallows post will be my last until I return on 8 Nov. just in time for the Lunar Eclipse, which also happens to be election day here in Chicago. I voted early, taking the time to research all the candidates, which is not as easy as it used to be, the entitled apathy of these politicians is blatant. But there are a few folks out there fighting for Medical & Reproductive Freedom, who care about community, workers rights, & the environment, who think that we should put kids before guns…etc…So if you are willing to really take your civic duty seriously, & are willing to vote beyond party lines, you can make a difference – VOTE!
Our Annual All Souls Celebration – A Community Circle to Honor Our Beloved Dead Wednesday, November 2, 2022 In-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL. 60613
Doors open 5 pm 5:15-6:00 Potluck Dinner & Conversation Transition to the Upper Room 6:05 Verse for the So-Called Dead 6:10-6:20 Singing 6:20-6:30 Speak Their Names 6:30-6:40 Social Art for the Dead 6:40-7:10 Conversation RE Experience 7:10 Closing Verse
For those wishing to attend All Souls Day Vesper Service (Ultra-Violet Archer will be lading the singing) at The Christian Community, please arrive at the Church and be seated by 7:25 pm The service will begin promptly at 7:30pm
2135 W WILSON AVE CHICAGO, IL 60625 Church calendar.
Dearly Beloved – On this Eve of All Hallows Eve, do you have the courage to look beyond the mask of the material world, into the spirit realm, the place of our beginning, the time of our unborness, the abode of our ending, when we shuffle off this mortal coil, only to begin again & yet again, as we strive toward the eternal…?
Mat Bouten
Take heart my friends, for every ending is a new beginning. At All Hallows–tide we stand at the Cross Quarter between Autumn Equinox & Winter Solstice, a time when great transformations are possible. Since with the veils between the worlds so thin, the power of all the worlds are available to us.
Ulrich Osterloh
What is it like to bring awareness to this most important human initiation, this true rite-of-passage? Can we work to consciously “Cross the Threshold”, as we do in meditation, in sleep & ultimately in our life between death & rebirth..?
Katlyn Breene
As far back as ancient Persia, Mesopotamia & Sumeria, we find many initiation myths like the Epic of Gilgamesh, & the Descent of Inanna, that describe communicating with the dead & a journey to the underworld.
In Ancient Egypt we find: The Book of the Dead = ‘Book of Coming Forth by Day’ also called the ‘Book of Emerging Forth into the Light’; an ancient Egyptian funeral text illustrated with vignettes depicting the deceased & their journey in the afterlife. It was placed in the coffin or burial chamber. The Book consists of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person’s journey through the Duat, or underworld, & into the afterlife. It was written by many priests over a period of over a 1000 years.
Perhaps since in our time now we are recapitulating this epoch we might gain insight by looking into this text with modern eyes.
From ancient Greece we have the story of Demeter & Persephone, as Queen of the Underworld, connected to the secret festival of Thesmophoria, celebrated exclusively by the women. They dressed in white robes & observed strict chastity before & after the ceremony. According to Greek mythology, Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, was gathering flowers one autumn day when she was taken by Pluto, god of the underworld, to his subterranean kingdom. This was re-enacted as an initiation rite of death & resurrection. The 2nd night the women fasted & lowered wild boar, sacred to the goddess Circe & Hecate, into chasms in the earth as a sacrifice.
Francis Davis Millet
On the 3rd night the bones from former festivals were placed on altars & mixed with seed corn, which was then sown in the fields as a kind of magical fertilizer to ensure a good crop. Then they had a big feast. They would also cast herbs on their beds & sit on the ground to promote the fertility of the corn.
Although this festival was sacred & solemn, there was a lot of rather bawdy jokes in the style of the wild Crone Baubo, the sexually liberated Goddess of Mirth, who jested with Demeter to try & cheer her up after the loss of her daughter, & get her to bring fertility back to the earth again.
Paul Sérusier
The Romans had a similar festival in honor of Ceres. Also with the Eleusinian mysteries, we see initiation rites enacted to gain inspiration from the gods & the ancestors.
Robin Samiljan
The full moon of October is known as the Hunter’s or Blood Moon – Which came early this year aligned with the Jewish Festival of Sukkot. This was called ‘The Final Harvest’ – Traditionally, the hunters would be out in force. After the end of the breeding season, & before the severe weather comes to kill off many of these creatures anyway, they were taken for the cooking-pot, to supplement what might otherwise be a rather meager winter diet.
With all this death around, it is not surprising that people’s thoughts turned to human mortality.
The Celtics call All Hallows or Samhain their New Year. Autumn is also the time of the Islamic New Year. Likewise for the Jewish people, with their New Year Rosh Hashanah; & at the end of the High Holy Days Sukkot is celebrated, where they build a hut & invite the ancestors & the elemental beings to come to the feast. When you think about it, it makes sense to let the old year die away – like the plant life, during this transition into the dark.
It is also traditional to look toward the future, & to dress up as what you want to Become for the New Year. To ask questions, like: Who have I been? Who am I now? & where am I going…? Who do I want to become?
And these are the kind of questions we can ask our beloved dead.
Paul Serisr
In Wales the souls of the dead are known as ‘the Silent Company’, but when they are welcomed with bwyd cennad y meinv, “the food for the embassy of the dead.” They become our helpers.
We can think of our ancestral allies in 3 ways:
1. Ancestors of the Blood – A common ancestral guide is a relative we knew & had some kind of positive connection with in this lifetime, quite often a loving grandparent or great-grandparent.
2. Ancestors of the Soul – This is an ancestral guide from a past life who may have been some kind of teacher or mentor to us.
3. Ancestors of Humanity – These were heroes whose lives were dedicated to the service of human evolution, like Casper Hauser or Jeanne d’Arc. They can be called upon in times of crisis, as Dion Fortune & her group called upon King Arthur & Merlin during the 2nd World War.
Terri Fenny
Dear friends, let’s take this opportunity to part the veil – letting go of our sense bound thinking, to consciously work with our spiritual helpers in this time great uncertainty. Let us set the table with our intention to join together in communion to celebrate the feast of life in all its aspects; as we build a picture of wholeness on the inner planes, which will ray out into all worlds.
~hag
30 October 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Mars stands stationary against the background stars of Taurus – the Red Planet is north of Alheka (Zeta [ζ] Tauri), which marks one of the Bull’s two horns.Because it’s nearing opposition, Mars is visible during most of the time it’s dark overnight. You can opt to catch the Red Planet either in the hours before dawn if you’re an early riser, or after it clears the horizon by 9 pm local time if you’re a night owl. ~astronomy.com
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler HALLOWEEN Soul Sunlight v30 In sunlight of my soul thought’s fruit matures; all feeling turns to sureness of self-awareness. I joy to sense the autumn’s rousing of the spirit; within me will the winter wake the summer of the soul.
Halloween was originally the Celtic Wise Woman festival of Samhain [‘Summer’s End’]. The summer’s being now begins to shine as the summer of the soul, the cosmic light living on with inner power. Its mirror verse, v23, of imaginative consciousness has changed after Michaelmas to an inspired one, an autumn awakening of a higher self that can be born as the Spirit Child at Christmas.
AUTUMN PRELUDE III The Yield Of Summer v23 In autumn haze the senses’ lure fades; a mist arising veils the light’s revealing. In widths of space I see the autumn landscape fall asleep; the summer’s yielded me her being for me to reap.
Dear friends – I am heading out for another session of my AAP training at the Kimberton Camphill, so my All Hallows post tomorrow will be my last until I return on 8 Nov. just in time for the Lunar Eclipse, which also happens to be election day here in Chicago. I voted early, taking the time to research all the candidates, which is not as easy as it used to be, the entitled apathy of these politicians is blatant. But there are a few folks out there fighting for Medical & Reproductive Freedom, who care about community, workers rights, & the environment, who think that we should put kids before guns…etc…So if you are willing to really take your civic duty seriously, & are willing to vote beyond party lines, you can make a difference – VOTE!
Our Annual All Souls Celebration – A Community Circle to Honor Our Beloved Dead Wednesday, November 2, 2022 In-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL. 60613
Doors open 5 pm 5:15-6:00 Potluck Dinner & Conversation Transition to the Upper Room 6:05 Verse for the So-Called Dead 6:10-6:20 Singing 6:20-6:30 Speak Their Names 6:30-6:40 Social Art for the Dead 6:40-7:10 Conversation RE Experience 7:10 Closing Verse
For those wishing to attend All Souls Day Vesper Service (Ultra-Violet Archer will be singing) at The Christian Community, please arrive at the Church and be seated by 7:25 pm The service will begin promptly at 7:30pm
2135 W WILSON AVE CHICAGO, IL 60625 Church calendar.
