POD (Poem Of the Day)

~My song raps itself around
The belly of the New Sophia
Pulsing in union with The Logos
In rhythm with the Sun streaming
In the All-Space of the Fixed Stars
Forming fresh consonants in Time
Into the aura of imaginations
That inform my soul thru rolling vowels
Of planetary bodies
That sing their echo into my open ear…
~hag

“One gets smart through experience, but wisdom is the force that streams into us from the spiritual world and then streams out again. Wisdom also comes from the mouth of babes. When what streams out comes more from the feeling, it is wisdom, but when it stimulates a person into action so that productivity predominates, it is love.

But one has to know what love really is. Someone may feel sympathy for a person’s misfortune, but that isn’t real love. Sympathy only becomes love if one steps in and helps them.

Wisdom and love make up the I. The I is love and wisdom that have become will. This is the higher triad.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Esoteric Lessons, Hamburg. 31 May 1908

Dear friends – Our task is to make this spiritual wisdom which has imprinted into our feeling life from the spiritual world, conscious. We do this by noticing the after images & complementary colors that come with memory, taking the feelings out of the astral, using them to stimulate the etheric body instead. Then when we stream out with our feelings – we can consciously unite with the soul of all we see in the world.

We become truly wise when our feelings can add to the wisdom in the soul of the world.

When we do this we are using our imagination to become inspired. We look out at the beauty of nature, for instance, & we are filled with reverence & awe. When we bring our soul forces consciously in hand, we can enter the soul-life of another human being to unite with them – we feel ‘moved’ by their joys or misfortune & together we can share a common fellowship or love. This brings in intuition.

~hag

7 June 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: From an article by Dr Elizabeth Vreede: ” Comets represent an element that does not wholly enter the usual sphere of cosmic law, although they still contain a trace of the direct working of spiritual powers, indeed, of the very highest — the Seraphim and Cherubim. Before ordinary law may be broken through, the very highest power and insight is required. The various comets, indeed, are agents of a very special nature in our planetary system, their polar antithesis being in the moons. Just as the moons are a kind of corpse which the planetary system trails along with it, so, on the other side, the comets may be spoken of as constant purifiers of the spiritual atmosphere within the solar system. In earlier times men thought of them as the “scavengers of God,” and many superstitions have gathered around them. To the eye of Spirit, too, the mission of the comets is perpetually to expel impure astral forces from the Cosmos or to introduce new impulses.“

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day(RSarchives) 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (Rudolf Steiner’s orginal Calendar of the Soul, Anthrowiki, Wikipedia Commons)

7 June 1924 – Beginning of the “Agricultural Course” on the Koberwitz estate of Count & Countess Keyserlingk – The Founding of Biodynamic Agriculture by Rudolf Steiner.

Following the occult responsibility of a great initiate, Rudolf Steiner waited until the seeds of an idea came to him from striving individuals in order, when the time was ripe, to plant, & nurture a new impulse in the world.

Steiner’s Agriculture Course encompassed just 8 lectures presented over a 10 day period during the Whitsun-tide of 1924, from June 7^th thru the 16th, at the small village of Koberwitz, Silesia (now Kobierzyce, Poland).

Count Carl Keyserlingk was an anthroposophist, & the estate manager of 18,500 acres at Koberwitz. He managed 18 farms, with more than 1000 workers. So Keyserlingk was keen for Steiner to present a course for farmers – Especially since there was concern among the farmers about of the rapid change in agricultural practices in the wake of the supply of cheap synthetic nitrogenous fertilizer flowing from the adoption of the Haber-Bosch process for the ‘fixing’ of gaseous nitrogen which was first demonstrated in 1909 & which was then rapidly industrialized on a grand scale for explosives, & after WWI, for fertilizer.

Ehrenfried Pfeiffer’s account relates that: “Count Keyserlingk set to work in dead earnest to persuade Dr. Steiner to give an agricultural course. As Dr. Steiner was already overwhelmed with work, tours & lectures, he put off his decision from week to week. The undaunted Count then dispatched his nephew to Dornach, with orders to camp on Dr. Seiner’s doorstep & refuse to leave without a definite commitment for the course. This was finally given.”

Keyserlingk was the driving force behind the agriculture course. He was described by Elisabeth Vreede, who was at the course, as “one to whom farming itself was a priestly office” According to the Astrosopher: “Count Keyserlingk had realised the dire need for a complete revival of cultural methods”.

Steiner described his Agriculture Course as: “A course of lectures containing what there is to be said about agriculture from an anthroposophical point of view.” Steiner stated that “the contents of these lectures were to serve, in the first place, as working material for the Association of farmers which had just been founded in the Anthroposophical Society”. Steiner stressed the importance of practical demonstrations: “As to the farmers – well, if they hear of these things from a fellow-farmer, they will say, “What a pity he has suddenly gone crazy!” … But eventually when he sees a really good result, he will not feel a very easy conscience in rejecting it outright”. 

He empowered the Agricultural Experimental Circle (AEC): “enhance it and develop it by actual experiments and tests. The farmers’ society – the “Experimental Circle” that has been formed – will fix the point of time when in its judgment the tests and experiments are far enough advanced to allow these things to be published”.

He stressed the importance of confidentiality: “No kind of communication was to be made about the contents of the Course until such time as the members of the Association felt impelled to speak out of the results of their own experimental work”. Steiner was cautious because the interests of what we now know as ‘big Ag’ was just starting to put pressure on farmers to use their products. There were spies from the growing industry that wanted to buy up the rights to this new impulse so that they could suppress it. And indeed the Count was very much harassed by those who worked to discredit the  Agricultural Experimental Circle (AEC).

It was critical that a project development plan was set in place at Koberwitz to keep the impulse going, because the Ag Course was never repeated as such, since Steiner was seriously ill. His public life – & life itself, were drawing to a close. The continuing vitality of this vital agricultural impulse was dependent on the successful passing of the baton unto others. The AEC began with 60 members of the Koberwitz Course (out of the course’s total enrollment of 111), with Ernst Stegemann & Carl Keyserlingk appointed by Steiner as chairmen.

By 1929, the Natural Science Section of the Goetheanum reported the positive news that the work of translating Steiner’s ‘hints’ was by then a global enterprise: “Dr. Steiner’s new methods for Agriculture have been investigated and applied on a practical and on an experimental basis.”

Steiner was prophetic in much of what he taught. He presented the farm as “a living organism”. He spoke against a purely chemical view & a chemical reductionist view. Long before the costs of nitrogen pollution were monetized, Steiner, with great vision, put it in a nutshell: “There is a big difference between nitrogen and nitrogen. He spoke of “the degradation of the products of agriculture” & observed that: “Nowadays people simply think that a certain amount of nitrogen is needed for plant growth, and they imagine it makes no difference how it’s prepared or where it comes from. Where it comes from, however, is not a matter of indifference.”

Steiner urged the adoption of a holistic view, & he stated that “we’ve lost the knowledge of what it takes to continue to care for the natural world.” He urged his listeners to take “the macrocosmic approach”& to “see individual plants as parts of a single whole.” He was critical of the approach where living things are “neatly pigeonholed into separate species & genera”, adding: “But that is not how things are in nature. In nature, and actually throughout the universe, everything is in mutual interaction with everything else.”

“The most important thing is to make the benefits of our agricultural preparations available to the largest possible areas over the entire earth, so that the earth may be healed and the nutritive quality of its produce improved in every respect. That should be our first objective.” ~Rudolf Steiner

I am grateful every day for our connection to the Zinniker Farm – the oldest Biodynamic Farm in America, just 2 hours from the Windy City.

If you are in the area, come join us as we honor the farm in a community celebration of the St. John’s Festival. Can’t make it in person? You can still support the farm with your good will, & donations are always welcome.

Regenerative farming is Stewardship that provides true results for the healing of the Earth. It is time to make a lasting investment

Please contact Mark & Petra Zinniker to find out how to make a direct contribution to their regenerative work or sign up at Patreon.com/Zinnikerfarm

For more information also visit Familyfarminititive.com

~Kindling Radiance~

A Community Festival Gathering Celebrating St. John’s-Tide

Saturday, June 24, 2023 at Zinniker Farm

5:30 pm Potluck – Please bring food & drink to share

Artistic Offerings – Poem, Song… Express yourself!

7 – 9 pm – Bonfire Drum & Song Circle w/ Hazel & Ultra-Violet Archer –

Bring lawn chairs & drums if you have them!

Show support for Zinniker Farm – $15 more or less Love Donation

Co-hosted by The Christian Community of Southeast WI. & Chicago
http://thechicagochristiancommunity.org/ & https://zinnikerfarm.com/ & ReverseRitual.com

>>> RSVP margaretincommunity@gmail.com Subject: St. John’s