Welcome Friends on this Winter Solstice 2022 –
Entering into the Longest Night
Entering into the Birth of Light
Consecrating the prophetic Nativity
Of a new Solar year
In Yule-Tide Exultation
In the light of Transformation…
The battle between old & new – Dark & Light…
The Winter Solstice is the dark before the dawn, a time of renewal, giving us the most primordial myths of humankind: In Old Norse mythology, the Sun goddess was swallowed up by the wolf of darkness, but was reborn as her daughter, the maiden goddess of the underworld, who rose again to illumine the world.
In Greece & Rome, midwinter marked the birth of Sun gods, such as Mithras & Dionysus, who died & journeyed into the underworld, winning gifts for humankind before their miraculous rebirth.
In the Hellenistic world, initiates into the Mysteries of Isis had to undergo a ceremony of death & rebirth in which they entered the underworld to gaze upon the “Sun at Midnight.” This ceremony, which had its origins in ancient Egypt, speaks of the journey of the soul into the fecund depths of the subconscious mind, where we meet the Guardian at the Threshold, which opens to the dark sea of spirit from which all creation comes forth, purified & born anew.
To this day people gather at sacred sites as far apart as Newgrange in Ireland & the temple of Karnak in Egypt, to celebrate the miracle of the Sun’s return at the darkest time of the year – In the pitch-black sanctuaries of caves & earth chambers, to wait for the birth of new light & life.
All ways we must honor the dark before calling in the light.
The esoteric meaning of this time of year can be gleaned from the ancient mystery schools & its essence applied consciously now.
Let each of us journey down into the cave of the soul to drink from the secret well of wisdom & find the hidden flame within the dark – then return bearing our own unique gift of Light for the world.
The hag has gone to seed – & become bone…a fresh soul-frame for the new year. Let us stand in uprightness at the door & dare to open the portal to face the abyss – To release ourselves from the outer world for a sacred moment, that we may invoke our own immaculate conception – That we may surrender to the ‘waking dreaming’ – To celebrate the dark, where the inner life is honored & nurtured by the many Marys within…
The power of Peace – The Birth of Love – The Light of Wisdom
… ‘The wine dark sea’…
… The active dark womb…
… The dark space between the stars…
Let the Power of Faith lead us from the darkness into the birth of our own unique inner light…
The Darkness is coming…
But never fear…
The darkness is coming…
But the light is near…
The darkness is coming…
The darkness is here…
The gift of the light (Gesture: Both hands scoop up light & bring it to your heart)
We thankfully take, But nothing may be, Just alone for our sake.
The more we give light (Hands move outward) The one to the other
It shines & spreads life (Arms move out horizontally, spreading light)
Growing still further,
Till every spark is set aflame. (Right hand in front of chest shows the proof of a flame.)
Till every heart, Joy shall proclaim. (Eurythmy Ah — arms up, palms upward)
~hag
21 December 2022 “Speaking with the Stars”: The winter solstice occurs at 3:48 pm CST today.
Mercury reaches greatest elongation east of the Sun (20°) at 9 am CST this morning. The solar system’s smallest planet is visible in the evening twilight.
Nearby, blazingly bright Venus is to Mercury’s west (lower right). Although Venus is closer to the horizon, it’s so bright that it will remain easy to spot until it sets about an hour after the Sun. In just a few days, a delicate crescent Moon will join this pair in the Christmas Eve sky.
Finally, Mars passes north of the bright red giant Aldebaran in Taurus at 10 pm CST tonight.
Sunrise: 7:19 A.M.
Sunset: 4:38 P.M.
Moonrise: 5:22 A.M.
Moonset: 2:55 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent (4%)
TONIGHT: The ‘Envy of the Gods’ – The ‘Envy of Human Beings’ Presented by Adriana Koulias*
A Winter Solstice offering preparing us for the Centennial commemoration of the burning of the first Goetheanum.
21 December 2022, at 5 pm PT, 6 pm MT, 7 pm CT, 8 pm ET
Here is a link to the World Clock for your time zone
Online & in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago
Dear Friends – This special presentation is supported by your generous donations. $10-$50 or pay what you will www.rschicago.org/donate (credit card or PayPal)
Please type ‘Adriana’ to designate your payment
For those attending in-person doors open at 5:30 pm for our Potluck meal.
Please bring food & drink to share.
For more Info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618(map) https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar www.rschicago.org/donate
You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Adriana Koulias
Time: Dec 21, 2022, 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 895 8663 7726
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Work on building the First Goetheanum, which was designed and supervised by Rudolf Steiner, began after the laying of the double dodecahedron foundation stone on the 20th of September 1913. Construction proceeded for a decade under enormous difficulties in the political, economic and cultural realms, brought on by the advent of the First World War. After the war when the building was near completion, the First Goetheanum was destroyed by an arsonist on New Year’s Eve 1922/1923.
This NYE 2022-23 will be the 100th anniversary of this event and the world is again facing many difficulties, political, economic and social. Adriana’s lecture will explore what Rudolf Steiner meant by the ‘Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human beings’ and how a consciousness of this during the coming 12 Holy Nights can provide the necessary strengthening for the coming twelve months.
During this presentation Adriana will speak about the three gifts given by Rudolf Steiner in 1913: The naming of Anthroposophy, The Fifth Gospel, and The Laying of the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum. She will explore with us how we can link our hearts to the old Goetheanum during the coming 12 Holy Nights to prepare ourselves for the coming 12 months in 2023, so we can work towards a Cosmic New Year.
In this way we will celebrate the Jubilee of the Christmas Conference and the resurrection of the living impulse of the First Goetheanum in the most auspicious way.
For Rudolf Steiner tells us: ‘My dear friends, may this link our hearts to the old Goetheanum which we had to consign to the elements. May it link our hearts also to the Spirit, to the Soul of this Goetheanum. With this vow before whatever is best within our being we want to live on not only into the new year. In strength of deed, bearing the spirit, leading the soul we want to live on into the new cosmic year.’ ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human Beings.’
Adriana Koulias was born in 1960 in Brazil. Adriana moved to Australia when she was 9 years old where she lives today. She has studied art, operatic singing and nursing. She has been studying Anthroposophy (awareness of our humanity) as given by Rudolf Steiner for 33 years and has since 2002-3 integrated this knowledge into several novels and a number of books, international lectures and articles online and in magazines.
Hi Hazel,
This is an awesome diagram:
https://i0.wp.com/reverseritual.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/winter-solstice-science.jpg?ssl=1
As seen, we here in the United States reside above the Tropic of Cancer, and that is why we experience about 15 hours and 32 minutes of darkness at this time of year. I like the reminder of 23.5 degrees of north-south axial angulation, with 66.5 degrees at the two respective poles. Very informative.
“Mercury reaches greatest elongation east of the Sun (20°) at 9 am CST this morning. The solar system’s smallest planet is visible in the evening twilight. Nearby, blazingly bright Venus is to Mercury’s west (lower right). Although Venus is closer to the horizon, it’s so bright that it will remain easy to spot until it sets about an hour after the Sun. In just a few days, a delicate crescent Moon will join this pair in the Christmas Eve sky”.
The famous unveiling of the open secret of the Copernican reversal of Mercury & Venus occurred in the 3rd lecture of ‘The Apocalypse of St. John’, by Rudolf Steiner, on 20 June 1908:“Here I come to a point where a little secret, so to say, must be unveiled, one which may only be divulged at this point. In truth if we wish to speak esoterically, as the writer of the apocalypse has done, we must speak of Mercury as the morning star. By the morning star John meant Mercury: I have given the direction towards thine `I’, to the morning star, to Mercury. – You may still find in certain books of the Middle ages, which describe the true state of affairs, that the stars of our planetary system are enumerated thus: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and then Earth is followed not as it is now by Venus, Mercury, but by the reverse, Mercury, Venus.” This reversal mentioned again on 5 September, 1908, in Egyptian Myths and Mysteries, Experiences of Initiation, Mysteries of the Planets, LECTURE 4 – The Experiences of Initiation. The Mysteries of the Planets. The Descent of the Primeval Word: “Here I would like to add one thing, because misunderstandings have crept into the naming of the planets. In all occult nomenclature, what astronomers call Venus is called Mercury, and vice versa. Astronomers know nothing of the mysteries behind this, because in the past it was not desired that the esoteric names should be revealed. This happened in order to conceal certain things.”
Reference: https://reverseritual.com/ptolemaic-clarity/
Yes, this reversal is very important. I like to think of Mercury & Venus together acting now as the messenger of Love. Last night Adriana reminded us about the connection of Mercury with the constellation of the Virgin & its significance with the laying of the foundation stone of the first Goetheanum & also with the burning 10 years later.
Kyle has my copy of “The Christmas Foundation: Beginning of a New Cosmic Age”, by Rudolf Grosse. In it is described the laying of the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum, and that on September 20, 1913, the planet Mercury was in the sign of Libra. This was also true one hundred years later when on September 20, 2013, Mercury (identified as Venus today) was in Libra. The synchronicity had a powerful effect in terms of giving a sense of well-being.
O that Grosse book it my fav.
Yes the echo is always there for us, especially when the alignment comes in anew