2 August 2017 – Astro-Weather: The waxing gibbous Moon stands at its highest point above the southern horizon as darkness falls this evening. If you look a few degrees Her lower left, you can’t miss Saturn. The glorious ringed planet shows up nicely against the backdrop of southern Ophiuchus on any clear night.
Bella Luna reaches apogee, the farthest point in its orbit around Earth, at 12:55 pm CDT today. It She is 251,671 miles from Earth’s center.
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Gina Bigalow
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
“An ethical misunderstanding, a clash, is impossible among ethically free human beings. Only someone who is ethically unfree, who obeys natural drives or the conventional demands of duty, will thrust aside someone who does not follow the same instincts and the same demands. To live in love of action, and to let live in understanding of the other’s will, is the fundamental maxim of free human beings.” — Rudolf Steiner, The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
216 BC – The Carthaginian army led by Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army at the Battle of Cannae
Feast day of “The Virgen de los Angeles” (the Virgin of the Angels) is Costa Rica’s patron saint, also known as La Negrita. According to tradition, La Negrita, the Black Virgin, is a small (less than a meter tall), representation of the Virgin Mary found on this spot on August 2, 1635 by a native woman. As the story goes, when she tried to take the statuette with her, it miraculously reappeared twice back where she’d found it. The townspeople then built a shrine around her. In 1824, the Virgin was declared Costa Rica’s patron saint. La Negrita now resides on a gold, jewel-studded platform at the main altar in the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Cartago. Each August 2, on the anniversary of the statuette’s miraculous discovery, pilgrims from every corner of the country (and beyond) walk the 22 km from San José to the basilica. Many of the penitent complete the last few hundred meters of the pilgrimage on their knees.
1832- Birthday of Henry Steel Olcott – an American military officer, journalist, lawyer & the co-founder & 1st President of the Theosophical Society. Olcott was the first well-known American of European ancestry to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. From 1874 on, Olcott’s spiritual growth & development with Helena Blavatsky & other spiritual leaders would lead to the founding of the Theosophical Society. In 1875, Olcott, Blavatsky, & others, notably William Quan Judge, formed the Theosophical Society in New York City. Olcott financially supported the earliest years of the Theosophical Society & was acting President while Blavatsky served as the Society’s Secretary. In December 1878, they left New York in order to move the headquarters of the Society to India.
1921 – Birthday of Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor & actor
1922 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-Canadian engineer, invented the telephone
1922 – A typhoon hits Shantou, Republic of China killing more than 50,000 people
1924 – The last of Rudolf Steiner’s “19 Class Lessons” was given in Dornach.
1934 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg
1939 – Albert Einstein & Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon
1943 – Jewish prisoners stage a revolt at Treblinka, one of the deadliest of Nazi death camps where approximately 900,000 persons were murdered in less than 18 months
1968 – Deathday of Antonio d’Achille , Aquinas scholar
1969 – Deathday of Anna Samweber – an active co-worker in Berlin with Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner-von Sivers. Her anecdotes & recollections were recorded by Jacob Streit during an intensive two days shortly before Anna’s death. They contribute a warm & intimate picture of Rudolf Steiner, the man, & his work. “Frau Dr Steiner owned a lovely diamond watch with her initials inscribed on the lid. It was broken, and I had to take it to a well-known watchmaker who lived a long way from the Motzstrasse (the house at 17 Motzstrasse in Berlin was where Rudolf and Marie Steiner lived from 1903 – 1913, and where the work of the Anthroposophical Society was carried on). It was late on a cold and foggy November evening when I made my way in the direction of Nollendorfplatz, where the building site for a subway was situated. I was walking along a long, wooden blank wall when suddenly two human shapes appeared from the dark and attacked me. I remembered that once Rudolf Steiner had told me that if ever I was in need I could call on him. So when these two attackers went for me, the one holding me from behind so that the other could rob me, I called inwardly and spontaneously: ‘Doctor, help me!’ At the same moment both fellows fell back like lightning and were gone. When Rudolf Steiner came for breakfast the next morning he greeted me with the words ‘Good morning, Sam. What was the matter that you cried so loud last night?’ When I told him about my experience and he had listened quietly, he said simply: ‘But I did help you, didn’t I?’ “ ~Anna Samweber from her book Erinnerungen an Rudolf Steiner (Reminiscences of Rudolf Steiner)
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POD (Poem Of the Day)
~My soul is a trembling veil…
The rioting roses churn my nectar…
I fly in a frenzied froth that caps my vision…
Will you dance the leminscate
In serpent flight with me…?
~hag
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Lammas is also a festival of regrets and farewells, of harvest & preserves. Reflect on these topics, alone in the privacy of your journal, or share them with others around a fire.
Regrets: Think of the things you meant to do this summer or this year that are not coming to fruition. You can project your regrets onto natural objects like pine cones & throw them into the fire, releasing them. Or you can write them on dried corn husks or on a piece of paper and burn them.
Farewells: What is passing from your life? What is over? Say good-bye to it. As with regrets, you can find visual symbols and throw them into the fire, the lake or the ocean. You can also bury them in the ground, perhaps in the form of bulbs which will manifest in a new form in spring.
Harvest: What have you harvested this year? What seeds have your planted that have borne fruit? Find a visual way to represent these, perhaps creating a decoration for your house which represents this harvest for you. Or you could make a corn dolly or learn to weave wheat, which was used by early farmers as a resting place for the harvest spirits.
Preserves: This is also a good time for making preserves, either literally or symbolically.
As you turn the summer’s fruit into jams, jellies & chutneys for winter, think about the seeds you will keep to plant next year. How can you keep them sweet in the store of your memory?
Cathy Cassetti
Speaking of sweet: The traditional day for the blessing of beehives is August 8th. The last day of the honey harvest, so the bees will be sure to have enough fuel for the winter.
Bee Love –
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Kari Marie Olson
The Bridging Project – Between Life and Death from Soul to Soul
August 2, 2017 – 7:15 pm CST (8:15 pm EST)
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to our conversation with special guest Gisela Wielki.
Gisela Wielki was born and raised in Germany. Obtained her degree in early childhood education, followed by a three year study at the Seminary of the Christian Community in Stuttgart (ordained in 1970.) Gisela was sent to the New York Congregation in 1972, and then lived in Chicago from 2002 to 2010 as a one of the founding directors of the English speaking seminary. Gisela has spent many years working with children, youth and young adults in Christian Community summer camps, youth and young adult conferences
Please read to prepare for the session:
Our theme for the evening shall be multifaceted:
Death is not the final stage of life
There is no deathday without a birthday
What is death? Who is death?
Not so, death is not just an entry into a new state of consciousness.
Death and the significance of the body
Death and the building of a new body through Christ and with Christ
Pen and paper may be useful
Option 1. Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended)
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/762393301
Option 2. Call in using your telephone.
United States: +1 (312) 757-3129
Canada: +1 (647) 497-9350
Access Code: 762-393-301
Please join us!
Agenda
7:15 Welcome and introductions
7:18 Verse
7:20 Introduce guest speaker
7:25 Guest Speaker: Gisela Wielki (50 minutes) 8:15 Q&A – Please state your name, location before asking a question
8:28 Close with verse
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The Central Regional Council is hosting a Bridging to the ‘Great American Eclipse’ in St. Louis – August 19-22, 2017
Speaking from Soul to Soul with the Solar Eclipse At the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Motherhouse, St. Louis, Missouri August 19, 5 PM CST through August 21, 5pm CST
Read the article from Das Goetheanum
RETREAT CONTENT: At this Central Regional retreat, we take The ‘Bridging Project’ into the realm of ‘Speaking with the Stars’. In the life between death and re-birth the human being is engaged in an intimate conversation with the ‘Stars’. We will prepare for, view and work to hold the light during the ‘Great American Solar Eclipse’, which will sweep from West to East across all of America, and will be visible in the St. Louis area on Monday August 21st 2017. Through the social arts of folk eurythmy, song, study, color, meditation, and an interactive pageant*, we will engage with the spiritual significance of this powerful cosmic and earthly event. Afterward we will process, share and continue the conversation, working to understand the mysteries of the will.
- Click to read the PDF of the Pageant: From Light Thru Darkness into New Light’ – A ‘New World Drama’ for the ‘Great American Eclipse’
click here for a List of possible activities to do around the Solar Eclipse
RETREAT LOCATION: The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Motherhouse is located just south of downtown St. Louis, Missouri, overlooking the Mississippi River(https://www.csjsl.org/motherhouse-services/take-a-tour.php). On Monday, we will travel to a TBD park or nature area about one hour south of St. Louis to experience the full solar eclipse, returning to The Motherhouse in the late afternoon.
TRANSPORTATION: Transportation is at the discretion of the participants (not included in retreat cost). The planning team will try to facilitate ride sharing opportunities if you request our assistance. The closest airport is Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (Code: STL) ( http://flystl.com/)
LODGING PLANS: The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Motherhouse has 8 single and 2 double rooms available for the CRC conference. A few rooms have private bathrooms, and there are several shared bathrooms across the hall from the bedrooms. Rooms will be assigned on a first-registration basis to conference participants. If capacity allows, we will try to accommodate additional participants, whether at Carondelet or at local members’ homes.
MEALS: Meals will be provided by the Sisters of Carondelet during the fixed times listed below. Conference participants not staying at The Motherhouse are also able to order meals through this registration form. Vegan, vegetarian, non-dairy and gluten-free diets can be accommodated if requested in advance. Coffee, tea and ice water will be provided. Breakfast: 7:30 AM – 8:30 AM $7 Lunch: 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM $10 Dinner: 5:15 AM – 6:15 PM $11
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The Sisters of Carondelet are environmentally conscious, and no disposable water bottles are allowed in the property (but re-usable bottles are allowed) Additional information will be provided to registered participants in July
click here to register
