Here’s the Recording of Sangraal: A Pentecost Pilgrimage with the CRC
Many are called few are chosen to gather in the Upper room – Welcome!
Whitsun has been called a festival of flowers. We see this out among the buds opening under the increasing power of the Sun, under the etheric & astral influences. The heart of humanity as it opens to warmth & light is like the flower, aligning itself to the Sun which permeates the Earth. And what pours down from the Sun, giving the flower, our image in reverse, the potency it needs, is like the tongues of fire descending upon the heads of the disciples, for us humans.
In the Jewish tradition this festival is called Shavuot, a spring holiday that celebrates the grain harvest, & the ripening of the first fruits as well as the giving of the Torah.
The Greek rendering is Pentecost.
This day is also called Whitsun Sunday after the white robes worn by those baptized with fire.
In Italy it is customary to scatter rose petals from the ceiling to recall the miracle of the fiery tongues resting on the heads of the prophets. In France they blow trumpets to suggest the sound of the mighty wind which accompanied the descent of the Holy Spirit. In Russia, the congregation carries flowers, & sheaves of barley.
In Eastern Europe it is called the Festival of the Trinity.
Rudolf Steiner calls it ‘The festival of United Soul Endeavor’.
Rudolf Steiner lectured a great deal about Whitsun. He spoke about Spiritual Science as a Whitsun gift.
Today we can see Whitsun as a festival of the 1st fruits of the Spirit. The festival of today is not bestowed on us by nature. It must be called forth…
Some say it is a festival of the future, for we must grow ripe to withstand the surging of the Spirit. Whitsun is the festival of our true higher self, which as yet only hovers above us like a dove.
At the same time it is the festival of community, arising from the harmonizing of our higher selves which are ONE in the spirit – The Cosmic Spirit of all pervading Love, Healing Spirit, Spirit of Wisdom, The Comforter, Councilor, Paraclete, Sophia, The Spirit of Truth.
“You shall know the truth & the Truth shall make you free.”
Christ fulfilled His Deed for all humankind. And, to each human individual, in order that we may be able to understand this Deed, Christ sends the Healing Spirit, Fulfilling his promise that each person may have access to the effects of the Deed, which was accomplished for all.
~hag
Dear friends –
Our beloved Johanna Rohde passed peacefully on Whitsunday 23 May 2021 at 11:30 pm. Johanna was a part of our community for many years, teaching and practicing therapeutic eurythmy, sharing her talents at the festivals and the local Waldorf Schools. Please hold her in your thoughts & prayers as she makes her journey into the Spiritual World.
“May love of hearts reach out to love of souls
May warmth of love ray out to Spirit-light
Even so would we draw near to you
Thinking with you Thoughts of Spirit
Feeling in you the Love of Worlds
Consciously at one with you
Willing in silent being”.
~Rudolf Steiner
There will be a wake for Johanna at The Christian Community. If you are willing and able to spend an hour or two with Johanna, please contact Mary Spalding.
The church will be open for farewells on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 6 pm.
The funeral ritual will take place on Thursday, May 27 at 12 noon in the church. All are welcome to attend.
The time and place for the Act of Consecration of Man for Johanna will be announced in due time. Please bear in mind the local regulations concerning Covid-19.
With warm greetings, Rev. Craig Wiggins
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day (RSarchives)
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (astronomy.com, Wikipedia, RSarchives)
24 May 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The wee hours of the morning are the perfect time to peer toward the center of our Milky Way, located in the constellation Sagittarius. Look south to identify the Teapot asterism, which appears upright with its spout facing west around 1 A.M.
Farther west (to the Teapot’s right) is Scorpius the Scorpion, whose long tail curves toward the horizon. This region is home to numerous open and globular star clusters, although they’ll be a bit challenging to survey this morning, thanks to the low altitude and waxing Moon nearby in Virgo. But even with our satellite’s bright light saturating the sky, you should still easily spot the constellation’s brightest star, Antares, glowing a deep orange-red.
Sunrise: 5:38 A.M.
Sunset: 8:17 P.M.
Moonrise: 6:19 P.M.
Moonset: 4:28 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (95%) ~astronomy.com
1543 – Death-day of Nicolaus Copernicus. Rudolf Steiner speaks about him in many lectures. See: Copernicus and His Time in the Light of Spiritual Science, Berlin, 15 February 1912
1844- 1st telegraph message by Samuel Morse “What hath God wrought?”
“The act of Faith is the inner Grail-process. When the sacred chalice (heart) is lifted up in the castle of the Grail (skull) and begins to glow, then the words: ‘Faith lives, the dove hovers,’ resounds. The dove of the Spirit descends upon the human Heart aglow in faith and the heart’s Grail sends healing, nourishing, enlightening effects into one’s own being and into the human and natural environs.
As long as only the brain thinks, the reign of the lifeless, of death, spreads evermore. When the spirit moves through the Grail’s fire into human thinking, the Easter, Ascension and Whitsun garden of a new living culture begins to bud and blossom.”
~Emil Bock (shared by Willem Develter)
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We are She – She are We – Embodying Love in Wisdom with Hazel & Ultra-Violet Archer
9:30 am PT / 10:30 am MT / 11:30 am CT / 12:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm GMT / 6:30 pm CET
Hi Hazel,
Let us review again what it must have meant for the disciples of Christ to appear in the upper room, and wherein they experience the following:
The Upper Room
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
15 At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said, 16 “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. 19 And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms,
‘Let his homestead be made desolate,
And let no one dwell in it’;
and,
‘Let another man take his office.’
21 Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— 22 beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” 23 So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen 25 to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell]to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
So, indeed, Hazel, when you announce the passing of Johanna Rodhe on 23rd May 2021, it forms a significant symbol. Your words are the evidence of a life lived in contribution to the spirit .
“Our beloved Johanna Rohde passed peacefully on Whitsunday 23 May 2021 at 11:30 pm. Johanna was a part of our community for many years, teaching and practicing therapeutic eurythmy, sharing her talents at the festivals and the local Waldorf Schools. Please hold her in your thoughts & prayers as she makes her journey into the Spiritual World.”
Beautiful image of the dove hovering over us – waiting on us to think “pure” thoughts. Reminds us of the use of the dove by Noah, a threefold process in Genesis 8. At first, the dove found no place to alight, then next it returns with an olive leaf, and finally it doesn’t return, so Noah knew it was safe to disembark from the ark.