“What the sun and moon have been you must turn inside out and then a tiny opening appears; through this you must go with your I, your ego, and this becomes a copy or image of your human body upon earth. And, actually, this is the pupil of the human eye. For what was one, again becomes two, as though two mirror images were to arise. These are the two human eyes; at first they were united, as the united sun and moon, and then they turned inside out.

This is the task that then confronts you, and you fulfill it unconsciously. You must turn the whole thing around and push what is on the inside outward and go through the tiny opening. Then it separates into two. In the embryonic state two physical images are formed. The physical embryonic eyes are two pictures representing what has become of sun and moon.

In this way we work out the formation of the several parts of the human body. We gather together what we experience as the entire universe and give to every part its destined form. Only then does what has been formed in the spirit get clothed in, and permeated by, a plastic material — matter. The matter is only taken on; but the forces that form and shape us we ourselves had to develop from the entire universe.” ~Rudolf Steiner, https://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA/GA0214/19220822p02.html

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
EASTERTIDE II
Thought’s Power Loses Itself
v2
Arising into senses’ all-enwoven outer realms
thought’s power sheds its separate strand;
the worlds of spirit find again
their human offspring,
whose soul must find in them
her seed, but in herself the fruit.

The Soul Calendar verses can also be imagined in a 24 hour rhythm.
This week can be felt as a dawn towards Whitsun’s dreamtime of the senses,
when the sun’s radiant being will take my human feeling far and wide,
the human self losing itself to unite with the cosmic self at midsummer
for which thought’s power now loses its separate being…
and is not active again until mid October in the opposite verse (v28)
at the dawn of the soul’s daylight rhythm, the gift of the summer sun.

MICHAELMAS 111
Sunpower’s Radiance Of Thought
v28
I can, revived within,
now feel my own wide breadth of being,
my strength of sun-empowered soul,
whose radiance of thinking solves life’s riddles
and lifts the wish-fulfilling wings
left lame by hope.

This verse can be a meditation every morning on awakening,
and with changes to its first and third lines the current verse
can be a meditation every night, releasing thoughts… into sleep…

To sleep in all-enwoven outer realms
thought’s power sheds its separate strand;
the spirit worlds will find again
their human offspring,
whose soul must find in them
her seed, but in herself the fruit.

14 April 2021 – “Speaking with the stars”: Watch for the waxing moon to appear higher each evening in the west after sunset. Bella Luna will be sweeping in between the constellation Taurus the Bull’s two most prominent features: red Aldebaran, the Bull’s brightest star, and the dipper-shaped Pleiades star cluster. These two signposts in Taurus make a triangle on the sky’s dome now with the red planet Mars, which appears only modestly bright, not much more than half as bright as Aldebaran. If you’re at the right spot on Earth (Southeast Asia), you can watch the moon occult (cover over) Mars on the evening of April 17, 2021.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

215 – Birthday of Mani the prophet & founder of Manichaeism – see Rudolf Steiner’s lectures GA 104 & 113 – Rudolf Steiner: “…Mani was the founder of a spiritual movement which although at first only a small sect, became a mighty spiritual current. The Albigenses, Waldenses and Cathars of the Middle Ages are the continuation of this current, to which also belong the Knights Templar, of whom we shall speak separately, and also — by a remarkable chain of circumstances — the Freemasons. Freemasonry really belongs to this stream, though it is connected with others, for instance with Rosicrucianism. What outer history has to say about Mani is very simple.

It is said that there once lived a merchant in the Near East who was very learned. He compiled four important works: first, Mysteria, secondly, Capitola, thirdly, Evangelium, and lastly Thesaurus. It is further related that at his death he left these writings to his widow who was a Persian. This widow, on her part, left them to a slave whose freedom she had bought and whom she had liberated. That was the said Mani, who then drew his wisdom out of these writings, though he was also initiated into the Mithraic mysteries. (Note 9) Mani is called the ‘Son of the Widow’, and his followers are called the ‘Sons of the Widow.’ However, Mani described himself as the ‘Paraclete’. (Note 10) the Holy Spirit promised to mankind by Christ. We should understand by this that he saw himself as one incarnation of the Holy Spirit; he did not mean that he was the only one. He explained that the Holy Spirit reincarnated, and that he was one such reincarnation. ~The Temple Legend 

1126 – Averroes, a medieval Spanish polymath. He wrote on logic, Aristotelian & Islamic philosophy, theology, the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, psychology, political & Andalusian classical music theory, geography, mathematics, & the mediæval sciences of medicine, astronomy, physics, & celestial mechanics. Averroes was a defender of Aristotelian philosophy against Ash’ari theologians led by Al-Ghazali.

Rudolf Steiner:  “Through Avicenna and Averroes, something was introduced that was to enter human civilization with the beginning of the fifteenth century, namely, the struggle for the consciousness soul.”~Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy

“…In Spain it was taught by the Moorish scholars and above all by such an individuality as Averroes, that the Intelligence holds sway everywhere. The whole world, the whole cosmos is filled with the all-pervading Intelligence. Human beings down here on earth have many different properties, but they do not possess a personal intelligence of their own. On the contrary, every time a human being is active on the earth, a drop of Intelligence, a ray of Intelligence proceeds from the universal Intelligence, and descends as it were into the head, into the body of the single human being. So that the human being as he walks about on earth, shares in the universal Cosmic Intelligence which is common to all. And when he dies, when he passes through the gate of death, the Intelligence that was his returns to the universal Intelligence, flows back again. Thus all the thoughts, conceptions and ideas which man possesses in the life between birth and death flow back into the common reservoir of the universal Intelligence. One cannot therefore say that the thing of outstanding value in man’s soul, namely his Intelligence, is subject to personal immortality. Indeed it was actually taught by the Spanish, Moorish scholars that man does not possess personal immortality. True, he lives on, but, said these scholars, the most important thing about him during his life is the fact that he can unfold intelligent knowledge, and this does not remain with his own being” ~Karmic Relationships, Volume III: Lecture XI: Evolution of the Michael Principle Throughout the Ages. The Split in the Cosmic Intelligence

On this day in 1561 it was Good Friday, Around dawn there was a mass sighting of celestial phenomena over Nuremberg, residents of Nuremberg saw what they described as an aerial battle, followed by the appearance of a large black triangular object & then a large crash outside of the city. According to witnesses, there were hundreds of spheres, cylinders & other odd-shaped objects that moved erratically overhead.

A broadsheet news article was printed later that month, describes objects of various shapes including crosses, globes, two lunar crescents, a black spear & tubular objects from which several smaller, round objects emerged & darted around the sky at dawn.

“In the morning of April 14, 1561, at daybreak, between 4 and 5 a.m., a dreadful apparition occurred on the sun, and then this was seen in Nuremberg in the city, before the gates and in the country – by many men and women. At first there appeared in the middle of the sun two blood-red semi-circular arcs, just like the moon in its last quarter. And in the sun, above and below and on both sides, the color was blood, there stood a round ball of partly dull, partly black ferrous color. Likewise there stood on both sides and as a torus about the sun such blood-red ones and other balls in large number, about three in a line and four in a square, also some alone. In between these globes there were visible a few blood-red crosses, between which there were blood-red strips, becoming thicker to the rear and in the front malleable like the rods of reed-grass, which were intermingled, among them two big rods, one on the right, the other to the left, and within the small and big rods there were three, also four and more globes. These all started to fight among themselves, so that the globes, which were first in the sun, flew out to the ones standing on both sides, thereafter, the globes standing outside the sun, in the small and large rods, flew into the sun. Besides the globes flew back and forth among themselves and fought vehemently with each other for over an hour. And when the conflict in and again out of the sun was most intense, they became fatigued to such an extent that they all, as said above, fell from the sun down upon the earth ‘as if they all burned’ and they then wasted away on the earth with immense smoke. After all this there was something like a black spear, very long and thick, sighted; the shaft pointed to the east, the point pointed west. Whatever such signs mean, God alone knows. Although we have seen, shortly one after another, many kinds of signs on the heaven, which are sent to us by the almighty God, to bring us to repentance, we still are, unfortunately, so ungrateful that we despise such high signs and miracles of God. Or we speak of them with ridicule and discard them to the wind, in order that God may send us a frightening punishment on account of our ungratefulness. After all, the God-fearing will by no means discard these signs, but will take it to heart as a warning of their merciful Father in heaven, will mend their lives and faithfully beg God, that He may avert His wrath, including the well-deserved punishment, on us, so that we may temporarily here and perpetually there, live as his children. For it, may God grant us his help, Amen”. Art by Hanns Glaser, letter-painter of Nurnberg

1759 – Deathday of G.F. Handel – composer

1865 Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln died the next day

1900 – The Exposition Universelle – a world’s fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century & to accelerate development into the next. The fair, visited by nearly 50 million, displayed many machines, inventions, & architecture that are now nearly universally known, including the Grande Roue de Paris Ferris wheel, Russian nesting dolls, diesel engines, talking films, escalators, & the telegraphone (the first magnetic audio recorder)

1912 – The sinking of the Titanic

1935 – Exclusion from the General Anthroposophical Society of Ita Wegman, Elisabeth Vreed & other members also 2 national societies

1939 – The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck is first published

2010 – Over 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

2014 – 276 schoolgirls are abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria 

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~At dawn the thread of Time unfurls –
Sunlight streams across Space –
Time reaches in both directions
Knotted in the golden orb of the moment.
The Eye opens, the Heart unlocks, the Navel yawns
& takes the World in its belly
~hag

Living into the spheres of cosmic Life and cosmic Light: Easter, Ascension, Whitsun in the Calendar of the Soul with Luigi Morelli, Hazel Archer & Geoff Norris

13 May 2021 Ascension Thursday 5- 6:30pm PT / 6-7:30 pm MT / 7 pm – 8:30 pm CT / 8-9:30 pm ET / 1 am – 2:30 am GMT / 2 am – 3:30 am CET

Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/7052931041?pwd=TStPVnpFRzlwZ0NpRURBZDNyYnpBQT09 Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 – Passcode: Ascension

Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a961qZZhF

Verses & Group Speech – Geoff Norris

Ascension: The secret teachings, the Elementals, & The Etheric Christ – Hazel Archer

Calendar of the Soul – Luigi Morelli : For those who are familiar with the Calendar of the Soul we could say that during spring and summer we follow the ascent of cosmic life, cosmic light, cosmic warmth and cosmic Word as gifts bestowed upon the human being by the cosmos. By being receptive to them we strengthen our connection to cosmos and Self.

We will briefly explore the dynamics of the year, then look at what qualities of soul we need to develop as we move into spring and summer, most particularly from Easter to Ascension and Whitsun. We will look at the verses of the calendar in conjunction with the artistic renditions of Anne Stockton and Karl König, drawn for each of the verses.

We will ask ourselves: How can we live into and grow from this time of the year? How can we deepen our inner relationship to the event of Ascension? What can we receive and what can we give?

Luigi Morelli – Cultures have been a great part of my upbringing, since I’m American born, part Italian, part Peruvian, mostly grew up in Belgium, and have lived the longest in the US. I have long had a passion for social change from a cultural perspective. Professionally this has brought me to working with the developmentally disabled in the intentional, holistic, communities of Camphill International and L’Arche International, and also in the mainstream. Being a founding member of the Wavecrest L’Arche Community in Los Angeles was a memorable experience. I have lived in intentional cohousing for the last ten years; first in Ecovillage Ithaca, now at Headwaters Cohousing in Cabot, in both places actively involved in community building and process facilitation.

Since 1999 I have found a vocation in researching/writing both about American history and/or about cultural/spiritual change, which you can find at www.millenniumculmination.net. Only of late have I started writing on meditative material I have used for years, publishing an essay on the Foundation Stone Meditation (also onsite) and one upcoming on the Calendar of the Soul. I love outdoors in many forms, gardening, hiking, skiing, love singing and playing flute, and enjoy most kinds of social events.

Geoffrey Norris was born in Durban, South Africa on 07/09/1951. After extensive performing with the Rock Musical “Hair “in Southern Africa, Portugal and Spain in the early 70’s he continued his theatrical training at the London School of Speech Formation and Dramatic Art, graduating in 1978. He is an actor, storyteller and teacher of voice, movement and drama and has given courses and workshops worldwide integrating the approaches of Rudolf Steiner, Michael Chekhov, Viola Spolin (and others, his own included).and has performed extensively throughout Britain, Eire, Continental Europe, Scandinavia, Israel, Southern Africa, The United States, Canada, China, Taiwan, Japan, and New Zealand. He is a master teacher of Steiner Speech Drama and Movement, with over 46 years of experience in the field. www.speechanddramastudio.com

Norris’s “Noble Art of the Word” puts to shame our modern actors, who fear to bring colour to poetic, rhythmic language, making it monochromatic dull prose. May they learn from one of the best examples.
Theatre Critic – Olsztyn

Sangreal: A Pentecost Pilgrimage & Whitsun Festival with the Central Regional Council

After working with Karma & Reincarnation for 3 years the CRC has chossen a new Theme: ‘The Mysteries of the Holy Grail, from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation’

Join us on Whitsunday 23 May 2021, at 11 am PT / 12 noon MT / 1 pm – 2:30 pm CT / 2 pm ET / 8 pm CET

Details coming soon

You are invited to get the Book & Join us for study sessions through out the year as well.