A Tall Tale on the ‘I Think Speech’ podcast – Greetings friends on this eve of St. Patrick’s Day, Today for ‘Tune-in Tuesday’ – my weekly musing for our Practice Group working with the 6Basic, Essential, Protective exercises, given to us by Rudolf Steiner, in honor of the 5th exercise of Open-mindedness, I thought to share a ‘Tall Tale’ revised by me for us today, but originally told 6 years ago when my daughter was still at the Chicago Waldorf School, by master teacher Carol Triggiano, known far & wide as a fabulous storyteller – Open-mindedness asks us to consider that anything is possible. So here is a wonderful Paul Bunyan Tall Tale.
16 March 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna passes south of Uranus at 9 pm CST. Our satellite, less than four days old & only 12 percent lit an hour after sunset, currently straddles the border between Cetus & Aries. Just visible along the lit lunar edge is Mare Crisium, the Sea of Crises. On its western side are two small craters: Pierce to the south & Swift to the north. And north of the mare’s rim is the large crater Cleomedes, which stands out in stark relief now but will begin to disappear as the Moon grows closer to Full, losing contrast along the way.
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burned to death after the Fall of Montségur.
1966 – Death Day of Countess Johanna von Keyserlingk
Humanity is ripe for ‘the Christ experience’ such as Paul had in Damascus. Johanna von Keyserlingk, the hostess of the conference in Koberwitz in 1924 where biodynamic agriculture was born, was one such person. Inwardly she was also the hostess of powerful spiritual observations. She shared these insights in books such ‘Gralburg’ (Grail Castle, about the Hermitage near the Goetheanum in Bern Switzerland) ‘Twelve days around Rudolf Steiner’ (about her time with Rudolf Steiner during the Agriculture course on her estate) her insights into The mystery of Kaspar Hauser & Lord Stanhope, & power of the Palladium. The trip to Byzantium – The Palladium of Victory. But mostly her life was very secret, & she endured a lot of suffering.
As an 8-year-old girl of noble birth, while walking with her governess in the Vienna Woods in 1887, meets a thin, 26-year-old man, with dark hair & powerful eyes, who looks at her with a penetrating gaze. This meeting lives & works in her until, as the 39-year-old countess, she meets a 56-year-old man towards the end of the 1st World War. She had already attended 2 of his lectures & read some of his books. After this meeting she is able to speak with him in private. He asks her where she was at the age of 8. After some thought, she comes to nothing but the place – Breslau, where she lived then. But he shakes his head, apparently he means something else with his question. Johanna has more conversations with him & six months later he repeats the question. Then she suddenly remembers the young man in the Vienna Woods who had looked at her with wonderful eyes. This man was, of course, Rudolf Steiner.
On March 26, 1879, on the threshold of the beginning of the new Michael era, Johanna was born in Brno. Her father, which she described as a true despot, was the son of Scottish nobility -Karl von Skene. He eneded up in Silesia via Austria & married her future mother, Klara Schoeller, who came from a family of industrialists. Together with 3 brothers (Karl, Philipp & Robert) she lived near her father’s estates.
Her clairvoyant powers were revealed early on, which was not unusual in her father’s Celtic line. These experiences made her both lonely & independent at an early age. Not understood by people in her environment, she often sought comfort in nature, in the park near ancient trees, & there she had contact with elemental spirits.
About this period she wrote: “I remember very well that as a small child I could look at the window between the bars of my bed and see the sun rise in the morning and that I experienced the sun as what other children see as their mother and father. I know also, that the other children I played with often chased me when I correctly predicted the death of an adult as if it were self-evident. However, when I noticed that not even my mother saw what I perceived spiritually in my environment, I kept silent.”
At the end of her teens, she became involved with Kant’s philosophy, with Angelus Silesius & with the poet Hölderlin. In 1899 she was 21 years old, she married Count Carl Wilhelm von Keyserlingk, & had 3 boys: Wolfgang (1900), & a boy (1902) who soon died & Adalbert (1905). They went to live in Klettendorff, not far from Breslau. Later this became the castle Koberwitz (1920), partly on the advice of Steiner.
Because of her devoted son Adalbert, most of the memoirs & notes were made public, but only after Johanna died at the age of 87 (March 16, 1966 in Bad Teinach). With intimate friends such as Rudolf Meyer (who lived in Koberwitz for 3 years), Emil Bock, Friedrich Rittelmeyer, Eliza von Moltke, Margarita Woloschina & Monica von Miltitz, she already shared her experiences & her confidential conversations with Steiner during her life.
When she was 28, Johanna went thru a painful phase in her life. She was sick in bed due to an entopic pregnancy, which almost killed her. What she experienced was that some sort of strange individuality wanted to incarnate in her.
“When I had been given up by the doctors and felt that my life force was leaving me, I suddenly saw a shining figure next to the bed, from which a penetrating force emanated.”
And the first words she was able to speak after this experience were:
“Me and my house want to serve the Lord; for I have experienced what the captain of Capernaum experienced.” (And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” 7Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9“For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 10Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 11“I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment. ~ Matthew 8:5-10)
“When I heard from the doctors that there was no more salvation for me, which I had already experienced myself, I knew: now I will reach the goal of my life, the Christ. Either in death or in the spirit world. White starlight was around me, and I was thinking of the fevered son of Capernaum’s chieftain. Science dawned on me: when you now see the Christ, he can also restore earth life to you. There were energies buzzing next to me and a fire figure appeared next to my bed. Such strength emanated from him that I believed I could not bear it. It was like over-tensioning the atmosphere because of the pressing of the ether. I felt as if that would tear me apart and heard the words: Go, your faith has helped you …
It was a very white silence around me, and glittering life entered me from there. The pains were gone. The doctor came and assumed that this condition was agony. But life continued to shine, and when my husband asked what had happened, I could only say that in the New Testament he had to seek out the healing of Capernaum. As of this hour, there was only a common solution for us. Me and my house want to serve the Lord. My illness was gone and life took a different direction. But as bright was the light that I had seen, so dark was the time I had to live in the following years. It was like I was going to die. For years now I had experienced the terrible of death in all phases.”
Her brow bone, which was just above the root of the nose, literally shattered. Years later, bone splinters that had grown out had to be removed using tweezers. With the forehead chakra released in this radical way, her clairvoyant experiences increased in number & intensity.
What is expressed in this event? Perhaps people who are associated with Christ on earth had a role to play in preparing for His return in the etheric starting in the 20th century; a karmic bond that is revealed in this time of the Second Coming. Rudolf Steiner talked about the youth of Nain, who was raised from the dead by Christ & so was initiated into a task for the future of humanity. Steiner also pointed out the connection between the resurrected Lazarus John & the teacher of humanity, Christian Rosenkreutz. This is also the time when Steiner describes Christ becoming the Lord of karma.
At the ‘Turning Point of Time’ the apostles gathered by Christ were the 1st to be inaugurated in this new impulse, there must be anthroposophers starting in the 30’s & into our time now that are able to receive the inspiration of Christ, now as Lord of Karma. Anthroposophy wants to be a movement of people who work to restore their karma. Steiner tells us: Spiritual science “imposes enormous responsibility upon us, for it prepares for the concrete event of the reappearance of Christ.”
It is known that Steiner took actual people as examples for some of the characters in his mystery dramas. Perhaps Johanna was the model for Theodora?
According to Steiner, Johanna had an awakened consciousness that would become normal perhaps a 1000 years in the future! Perhaps this ‘premature birth’ was what caused her much pain in her life…? And yet, Steiner called the figure next to the sick bed of Johanna the Christ power.
In one of the conversations with Steiner, he also warned that Johanna was facing great Luciferic dangers, but that she had special qualities – the iron of Mars, that could protect her from this. He called her ‘the Iron Countess’.
In 1915, Johanna started to write down a series of imaginations that she received. This lead to a book that describes the fortunes of a grail knight going through a mental training: the book Gralburg. In the preface she writes the following about it:
In these imaginations my own experience in full reality passes by. It is lived more real than earthly events are experienced. As the images are there, that’s how I experienced them. Often the images and words sounded strange and inexplicable, I did not understand them and I do not understand much of them nowadays, but I could not change anything, because I wanted to stay with the truth. Often the end of an image was added as an explanation only after years. Real spirit beings met the spirit student, and they addressed him in real words. These spiritual words have actually been spoken to him.
As far as I can judge, these things have lived in the astral. The astral, however, takes place in the interior of the earth in the direction of midnight. This astral is invisible in itself and fine visible form force expresses itself in the periphery of the earth, in the ether world. That which happens invisibly in the depths, is imprinted in the ether and comes to visibility, and what I saw there I wrote down.
This book cannot be judged by a literary standard. I wrote it down for myself and I don’t feel the need for others to read it. If it were just me, I would put it in a desk drawer; and then it can be read after my death or not. And when I am asked now, yes, why do you spend it anyway, then I can only answer – not for my sake, but so that the others hear of the figure so lovingly striding through the hall.
Imagine a fine brilliance of tender sunlight
flowing from his soul
Imagine a pair of warm eyes, so full of love
that you start to glow, and you kneel
Imagine a mouth from which truth springs
as if from a deep source the deity itself arises,
it sounds so beautiful, that forever
you would like to listen to this voice in reverence.
Imagine his hands caressing your hair
with a gesture that heals all suffering.
Yes, under their light springs the new life we seek!
Imagine a ruler striding like this
and highest heavenly threads are for him
and where his foot goes is light
that shows us the right way.
Do you see his garment shining from afar
then the fire starts to burn in your heart,
it is so beautiful that you cannot comprehend it.
And he sees your suffering
and he approaches you
which makes your heart completely still.
And gently, like the song of angelic children,
the air that blows towards you is so lovely.
You can put your head on his knee in quiet humility
and deep peace comes into you.
The sun radiates from his holy body
and sun flows over your mind,
and you see jubilantly in the golden distance,
your homeland, where he draws you.
Later she adds to this hymn : “At the sight of the Nazarene standing before me, written down in a short moment”.
Through the book: Koberwitz 1924, Geburtsstunde einer neuen Landwirtschaft, “moment of birth of a new agriculture”, many people learn the name of the Keyserlingk family. At the time, Koberwitz was an estate owned by the family, near Breslau.
At Pentecost in 1924, a gathering took place here in the penultimate year before Rudolf Steiner’s untimely death, to which many attendees have fond memories. From the descriptions of the different souls you can get the feeling that there was a true cosmopolitan Pentecostal Spirit. As the title of the book indicates, this was also the time and place where the birth of biodynamic agriculture can be situated.
But more happened there in the days of June 7-17, 1924. For example, it was the first time the Johani Epistle was pronounced at the altar, during the Christian Consecration Service (established 2 years earlier). The impression arises that in Koberwitz a successful meeting between the royal & the priestly streams took place. In total there were 120 people, many with an agricultural background, but also many who attended, for example, the evening lectures on karma or the Eurythmy performances, such as Eliza von Moltke, Rittelmeyer, Bock, Wachsmuth, Koschützki, Marie Steiner, Vreede & many others. So these days were busy with all kinds of activities. It was later discovered that at night Steiner wrote whole parts of his autobiography, which appeared shortly afterwards in the weekly Das Goetheanum & were later compiled into My Way of Life, he also received & answered countless mail correspondences.
In addition to a number of eurhythmy performances & esoteric hours, karma lectures were also held in Breslau in the evening. In addition, a large number of people had personal conversations with Steiner. It is therefore surprising to hear that Steiner, who made an extremely tired impression on arrival, gradually became more vital. From those 12 special days around Rudolf Steiner arose many personal memories of a number of participants.
Here’s a good example of ‘how karma works’. In principle, the course was only intended for people with an agricultural background. Young Wilhelm Rath, as one of the initiators of the youth movement, passed by Koberwitz alone to deliver a package to Steiner, some notes by Walter Johannes Stein, in which he describes his own spiritual experiences for Rudolf Steiner. The state post is not the appropriate means for distributing such documents so WJ Stein asked Rath to hand them over personally. Because of this, Rath was then allowed to attend the entire Steiner course, although Wachsmuth wanted to deny him that at first. This later turns out to be an important turning point in his professional work,
The book Koberwitz 1924 not only gives a nice impression of the conference but also of Johanna herself. We read that she played a harmonium for the guests, that she & her husband were the perfect hosts & that she personally took care of the flowers & plants in the castle park. The Staff loved her. A chambermaid, who also wrote a contribution in the book singing her praises.
A life motto for the count’s couple was: Founding places of love and peace, where the Christ can be resurrected – this was engraved on a memorial for Steiner after he died.
The image of a fairytale-like white mosque with a minaret appeared before Johanna’s eye, & she heard the word Bosphorus. According to her, this was the answer to a question she had been dealing with for a long time. It was 1925 & Rudolf Steiner had already died. Later on Christmas 1925, she was with severe pneumonia in Sonnenhof in Arlesheim, where Ita Wegman nursed her. There, Mieta Waller asked her if she could use her clairvoyance to help find the Palladium in Constantinople. After all, legend tells that Emperor Constantine buried the Palladium under a large column. This question was the start of a long search that would be continued by her son Adalbert.
The Palladium has been called the greatest solar gem on Earth by Steiner, & world development depends on whether this underground sun-sanctuary is illuminated by “the sun of the west” – the new light of human thought. A truly cryptic description! Especially since Steiner also indicated that it would be an object buried somewhere. The comparison can then be made between the physically present cup of the last supper & the transcendental grail.
She made a trip to Constantinople, to Hagia Sophia & experienced all kinds of things that are described in a diary, including that she had seen this mosque in the image of the ghost. Physical indications & images not yet understood alternated. However, the Palladium was not found. It is questionable whether the Palladium might have been found spiritually. However, she said, this cannot be discussed it is “a question for the future”.
In the Achmedie Imperial Palace, she received gruesome images inscribed in the ether of the Council of Constantinople in 869 AD. She recognized ahrimanic inspirations. Steiner often spoke of this council where the “spirit” of the human being was abolished. She experienced what Steiner called a second Golgotha & the moment when the karma of the people began to become disordered.
In Hagia Sophia, however, she experienced the luminous presence of Christ & of of Michael, as the sunrise of a new dawn.
It is a risk when people make statements about what they consider to be their previous incarnations. Because the chance of mistakes & projection of wishes is high & the reader may be led astray by such incorrect information. It was therefore not Johanna’s aim that the relevant notes of her own research in her diaries would be made public during her lifetime. She did, however, discuss it with Steiner & her son Adalbert. He decided to publish the notes after her death, fully aware of the problems that this could entail.
In 1922 she visited a forest in Rawitz where she had been as a child. “When I arrived, the spirits of the trees and shrubs on this familiar road back started to speak to me, to my surprise. But what they told me this time was not pleasant to me. They told me: “You are free now, you have to deliver us, we are bound to these trees.” And they added, I had tied them to this place myself in a past life. I said to them, “Your trees are not old at all, how can I have met you before?” But they answer: Our fathers were already here, and in them our spirits have inherited themselves. – You shouldn’t leave until you deliver us”.
It is then explained to her how she could accomplish this salvation by making 3 crosses on the trunk while invoking the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. So she does this & from each one a strip of light is released, which then, according to her observation, dissolves in the light of Christ.
Shortly before, she had had “images” in the same environment of a man who lived several hundred years ago, who loved to be in nature & had conversations with nature spirits. She had the impression that the man was also involved in magic. He spoke to her : “I am glad that you are here, I have also come to see you. You must carry on with the work that I have begun. I will show you what happened here, and you must then free what I have banned. “
It is characteristic of Johanna that she told Steiner this kind of experience. She was not yet sure about the meaning. Steiner confirmed that this man with faustic traits was a previous incarnation of hers. He had banished the elemental beings in the trees. That is why she now had to free them herself.
In an earlier conversation where Eliza von Moltke was also present, Steiner had said, “The countess once experienced that earth life is spiritual death.” Without Steiner’s help, she probably wouldn’t have come to these insights.
A central theme with Johanna that she always discussed with Steiner (she has had about twenty-eight apprenticeships with him) is Shamballah or the golden land, as she calls it. She related that to the moment when the blood of Christ flowed into the earth initiating a new solar globe. She saw out of the earth’s core, a golden fire in the earth’s depth. Like Ptolemy she called this the primal sun. This connected her with Empedocles who plunged into the fire of Mount Etna.
She described it in the following way in a question to Steiner: “…originally there was the fire and the light. These lived together in a deep harmony. Then the light rejected the power of the fire, and the smoke, which could no longer rise in the light, returned and covered the fire, and so the primeval fire was covered with a layer of ash. This axis is the mineral of the Earth. At first people saw through it to their primal home, the primal sun, but the earth became more and more dense and the smoke darkened more and more. Man seemed to be separated from the primeval sun (which is paradise) by the mineral layer. With this primeval sun which has been revived by the Christ, man must try to unite again.”
Steiner confirmed to her that this primordial sun is also the land of Shamballah, where the initiates of all time took their inspiration and what will become visible to all people in the future. It is closely related to the etheric second coming of the Christ & His work on a new heaven & a new earth in which people can play an active role.
Steiner spoke repeatedly of the Iron Count & Countess, not only because the Koberwitz land which was iron rich. He wanted Johanna to conquer & free her clairvoyance with her iron will, which was linked to her innate clairvoyance, & also from her dependence on Steiner’s influence. Before she met Steiner, Johanna had a life where everything came to her. Spiritual guidance had provided for her fortunes. This would change soon.
They were able to remain in Koberwitz for 4years after 1924. A movement started immediately on several fronts, reinforced after Steiner’s death in 1925, that came to destroy the new biodynamic impulse. The fertilizer industry, including IG Farben, felt threatened by this new impulse. They wanted to buy a booklet describing the agricultural course for a large sum of money. But Carl declined, partly because it was decided to test it in practice before the course content is published. In the company where Carl worked with several co-owners, tensions grew & he had to leave the field in 1928. They also left Koberwitz. Shortly after, he died en route to Dornach. According to Johanna because of a broken heart.
Not much is known about her life after that, except that it was difficult. In 1941 she was captured by the Gestapo, who interrogated her for days. She saw a figure next to the German officer who was closely following what was being said. But she was not tempted to give in to this demonic being. Unfortunately it is not known how Johanna experienced the years 1933-1945.
After 1945 she could no longer stay in Poland & fled to the west where she ended up in Stuttgart, completely destitute & incognito. In 1949 the book Koberwitz was published as a private edition. In the years before her death she went blind.
Just before this book went to press, I learned that a group of people is publishing At this time she wrote about Kaspar Hauser. She also wrote about her relationship with Steiner after his death: “While during the life of Rudolf Steiner one could still live in the sphere of his personal closeness without great effort, it was no longer possible after his death. After the death hour of 1925, there were still encounters in the astral for me. But I think that this is happening more and more at a distance. Was the atmosphere of the earth obscured by what was preparing for threats there in Germany? We were alone, as if deserted. It was as if there was an impenetrable dark night in the otherwise bright atmosphere”.
This shows how difficult it was to hold the Pentecostal substance of Koberwitz in the dark period now dawning.
“It was on the morning of Rudolf Steiner’s cremation, which I did not go to. The teacher’s body was still laid out in his studio, where the aura of the beloved teacher appeared next to me. I was told to write. I took paper and pen and the following words came from his presence. Often I could not write quickly enough, then paused and waited until I was back, as Rudolf Steiner used to do when he dictated to me.
“My job has ended….What I could give the people who were ready for it, I gave them…I am going, because I found no ears that could hear the spiritual word behind the word…I am going, because I found no eyes that could see the ghosts behind the earth images….I go because I found no people who could realize my will… The mysteries remain hidden until I come back. I will come back and reveal the mysteries when I have succeeded in creating an altar, a cultic place for human souls, in spirit worlds. Then I’ll come back. Then I will continue to reveal the mysteries.”
“Those are to blame for my death, which have held back the culture of the heart. Had people pushed through their hearts into the depths, they would have found the strength for the challenges of this time.”
There are those who do not consider these statements to come from Steiner but rather as projections from Johanna herself, or from the adversarial forces speaking. It is left to the reader to judge.
We do know that Rudolf Steiner is able to teach his students in the spirit body, as indicated in the mystery dramas.
A short conversation with Steiner in 1924, before his death, will conclude this biography for now.
Johanna: “Mankind is spoiled anyway [miscarriages]“. Steiner: “Yes, you can say that.” Johanna: “But what will happen at the end of the century?” Steiner in despair: “I don’t know either – but Ahriman is also part of Christ.”
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R. Steiner, in:The Gospel of Matthew(Zeist 2003, GA 123), lecture, Sept. 10. 1910
M. von Miltitz, in Foreword by J. von Keyserlingk,Die Reise nach Byzanz-Das Palladium des Sieges(Basel 1991)
Erlöste Elemente(Stuttgart 1991)
Palladiump. 16
Adalbert (died 23-10-1993), besides an enthusiastic promoter of biodynamic agriculture, also a doctor and researcher of ancient mystery places, wroteVergessene Kulturen im Monte Gargano(Nürnberg 1968) andUnd sie erstarrten in Stein(Basel 1983).
Die Reise nach Byzanz-Das Palladium des Sieges,p. 16. InIn the Gospels there are several references to Capernaum and a healing of a sick person through Christ. Johanna talks about a chief and his sick son. Matthew 8 speaks of a chief of Capernaum and his sick servant; in Luke 7 about a chief and his sick slave ; in John 4 about a courtier and his sick son.
Koberwitz 1924, Geburtsstunde einer neuen Landwirtschaft(Privatdruck 1985) p. 25f
InIJsselaarde. Magazine to deepen the relationship with the living environment(Sept. 1999)
Wiedergerufen vom Herrn des Schicksals and Falter und Bluete (with poems) (Dornach 1998)
KC Markides, The magician of Strovolos (Deventer 1995), see also the article by G. Zwahlen about Daskalos inDas Goetheanum,number 34, Dec. 3. 1995
GA 118, Jan 25. 1910
The Gospel according to Matthew(Zeist 2003, GA 123), lecture 10 Sept. 1910
Gralburg(Stuttgart 1968, antiquarian still available sporadically). It was thrown into the lap many years ago through a book flea market. That eventually led to this article. Steiner already thought that the book should be made public because it demonstrates how an individual path of development can proceed.
H. Giersch (ed.)Das Ätherische Christus-Wirken. Rudolf Steiner über die Wiederkunft Christivan Harold Giersch (Dornach 1991)
G. Hillerdal and B. Gustafsson,Christ experiences today(Bergen op Zoom 2002); HW. Schroeder, On the second coming of Christ (Zeist 2000); HP van Moons,Coming and Second Coming – About the second coming of Christ and the coming of anti-christ(Zeist 1999); G. Bossis,My shadow, that is your neighbor(Zeist 2001); G. Goelzer and M. Friederich,Falter und Bluete – Christuswort und Christerkenntnis(Dornach 1994); Wiedergerufen vom Herrn des Schicksals, A1 Die Samariterin am Brunnen(Dornach 1998)
Fertile agriculture(Zeist 1992,GA 327)
The Aya (or: Hagia) Sophia, completed in 537 on the site where a church was built in 360, became a mosque in 1453 and has been a museum since 1932.
H. Oehms,Know your karma – Karma insight and self-development(Zeist 2000); F. Berger,fellow sufferers, coherence between different lives on the track(Zeist 2000); J. Saether,Wandeln unter unsichtbaren Menschen(Stuttgart 1999). About learning to look at people in order to place them in a spiritual context, without speaking directly about previous incarnations, see: A. Koopmans,Kijk op karma(Zeist 2002) andPractical human science(Zutphen 2004)
J.Ben Aharon,The spiritual event of the 20th century. An imagination. The occult dimension of the years 1933-1945(Zeist 1996)
R. Steiner (GA 118) nomination Munich March 15, 1910
The years 1933-1945 could have been illuminated by her from her clairvoyant fireplaces. You can suspect that J. Ben Aharon experienced this lack as well and that is why he connects with Johanna in his book about those years.
In various terms this theme is mentioned “altar in the spiritual world”, as is also the case in the speech for the youth in Koberwitz:“spiritual light will only come in this century, if Michael succeeds in the way in the astral light to the altar where the flame burns that Ahriman fears. ” Also inHelmuth von Moltke 1848-1916. Dokumente zu seinem Wirken(Basel 1993) March 27, 1919
In:Koberwitz 1924, p. 177
These statements (as well as the following) make it clear that Steiner saw a bright future for mankind looming. In lectures (GA 346) for the priests of the Christian Community he mentioned the year 1933 in which the apocalyptic beast would stir again. –
This Friday, March 19th at 6 pm PT, 7 pm MT, 8 pm CT, 9 pm ET
we will be speaking with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
“Holding the Chalice of Balance with Archangel Raphael –
An exploration of the Vernal Equinox” with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
At the time of the Spring Equinox, Raphael, Archangel of the East & the Element of Air, is active as the great Cosmic Physician. The Easter-Tide works on us thru the spiritual healing of inspiration, provided by Raphael who is now in the etheric heights, waving a helix of shining vitality. Raphael uses the caduceus as a wand, to mingle air & fire, water & earth, transmuting them into healing forces; working & weaving in the cosmos, & entering into our conscious inspiration of light. Yes this is a goal of our human evolution, to be able to breathe light. Spiritual Science calls it ‘moral breathing’ – to ‘inhale evil & exhale the good’. Could the Corona crisis be calling us to this task? We have a powerful ally to assist us every year at this special time of balance.
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg– Founder of Reverse Ritual Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year. Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Trans-denominational Minister, Anthroposopher – working as the Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, The Traveling Speakers Program, & the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society. Past Video Recordings
For more info. contact Front Range Anthroposophical Cafe – Tom Altgelt altgelt@indra.com
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The 8-Fold Path to the Easter Elementals
Holy Week 2021 (March 28 – April 4): Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am (Central Time) to create together a Thought-Seed Egregore based on the Herbert Hahn Verse
“When I think light, my soul shines,
When my soul shines, the earth is a star,
When the earth is a star, then I am, a true human being”
& then we will take turns sharing the indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner / The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (let me know if you would like to lead one of the days? (5 min) HOLY WEEK CHART
Palm SUNDAY
Resolves or ‘RIGHT JUDGMENT.’ having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.
Holy MONDAY
Talking – ‘RIGHT WORD.’
Holy TUESDAY
External actions- ‘RIGHT DEED.’
Holy WEDNESDAY
The ordering of life. – ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT.’
Maundy THURSDAY
Human Endeavour. – ‘TO LET ALL THE EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT.’
Good FRIDAY
The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life. – ‘RIGHT MEMORY.’ (Remembering what has been learned from experiences).
Holy SATURDAY
To pay attention to one’s ideas. – ‘RIGHT OPINION.’
The octave of the New Sun
EASTER SUNDAY
To turn one’s gaze inwards –
‘RIGHT EXAMINATION.’
Whoever is holding the leading thoughts for that day will tie it into some 5-10 min. artistic exercise based on the indications
Group sharing (5 min)
We close with the ‘reversed’ Hahn verse.
I am a True Human Being
For the Earth is a Star
The Earth is a Star
When I Think Light
When I think Light
My Soul Shines
*Dear friends, please join the call at 10:05 am to get settled in so we can begin the Thought-Seed promptly at 10:10 am
Topic: The 8-Fold Path thru Holy Week 2021
Time: Starting on Palm Sunday Mar 28 – thru Easter Morning, 2021 10:10 AM Central Time (US and Canada)
Every day, 8 occurrence(s)
Mar 28, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 29, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 31, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 1, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 2, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 3, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 4, 2021 10:10 AM
Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/95633444828?pwd=Wk56K08vK2dNQUhhK0Q2S09zQWJrQT09 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: bee
Dial by your location Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aX8X3nrr3 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: 425730
Easter Sunday – 4 April 2021, in person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online 2 pm – 4 pm Central Time.
Group Eurythmy with Mary Ruud
Dottie Zold – On the Buddha’s 8-Fold Path
Keynote with Ines Katharina (Bee Keeper, Founder of the Biodynamic Emerald Honeybee Sanctuary
We close with singing ‘Now the green Blade Riseth’
Potluck Social Time in the Schreinerei – Please bring food & drink to share
$10 Suggested Donation (can’t make it? or joining us online? please consider supporting this event, Thank you)
Hazel Archer is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Easter Festival for the Elementals
Time: Apr 4, 2021 02:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/7052931041?pwd=Z0ZmT05FdDZIclE4RFBLZWNwWXJ5QT09 Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 – Passcode: Easter
Dial by your location – Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 – Passcode: 776400 – Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a961qZZhF
Events & Festivals Committee of the Rudolf Steiner Branch
of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618 (map) https://donate.rschicago.org/
March 16 is Urania Day. This is from
https://www.uraniaday.com/urania-day-march-16-caroline-herschel
History books credit the discovery of Uranus to astronomer Sir William Herschel. But did you know that Herschel’s younger sister Caroline was an important astronomer in her own right and the largely unacknowledged force behind their handcrafted telescopes?
It was the genius of astronomer Caroline Herschel, who also ground and polished the mirrors of their reflecting telescopes by hand and assisted her brother as they mapped the constellations, which made possible all their important and numerous astronomical discoveries.
To properly acknowledge and honor Caroline Hershel, Urania Day 2021 was launched on her birthday, March 16.
Caroline Lucretia Herschel was born in the town of Hanover, Germany, on March 16, 1750. At the age of ten, Caroline was struck with typhus, which stunted her growth, so that she never grew past four-foot-three.
Caroline’s family assumed that she would never marry due to her physical challenges. However, her father wished her to receive an education to foster her undeniable brilliance. So he took the occasion to tutor Caroline alongside her brother William Herschel, laying the educational foundation for their stellar careers as the preeminent astronomers of their era.
Among her many historic accomplishments, Caroline was the first woman to discover a comet, discovering eight comets in total and three nebulae over the course of her scientific career. Caroline also created star catalogs of astronomical discoveries that are still in use today.
She was the first woman to:
• receive a salary as a scientist
• hold a government position in England
• publish scientific findings in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
• be awarded a Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1828)
• be named an Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society
(1835, with Mary Somerville)
Urania Day celebrates the power of girls and women in Science, Art and Spirit during Women’s History Month.
Urania was the Muse of astronomy and celestial objects, one of the 9 Greek Muses. The 9 Muses were violet-haired goddesses gifted in the arts and sciences and a source of divine inspiration for mathematicians, poets and great thinkers throughout history.
Urania Day is a moment to honor women’s genius and express the gifted muse within us all.
[there is a list of the 9 muses in https://www.uraniaday.com/9-muses%5D
Thank you Hazel – this post is a keeper for sure. And that hymn – it’s like a modern Song of Solomon. With love.
xox