30 January 2018 – Astro-Weather: Anyone with clear skies in parts of North America (not so much here in Chicago) & across the Pacific Ocean to Australia & eastern Asia can witness the total eclipse of the Blue (2nd Full Moon in a month) Super (moon at Perigee) Moon.
From North America, the eclipse occurs before dawn & delivers better views to those who live farther west. The eclipse’s partial phases start at 6:48 a.m. EST (3:48 a.m. PST). Those in the continent’s western two-thirds can view at least some of totality, which gets underway at 6:52 a.m. CST (4:52 a.m. PST). Totality last 76 minutes & can be seen in its entirety west of a line that runs from central North Dakota to New Mexico. The eclipsed Moon hangs among the background stars of Cancer with the Beehive star cluster to its northwest.
The Moon reaches perigee, the closest point in its orbit around Earth, just 27 hours before it is Full. At 4:57 a.m. EST on the 30th, it lies 223,068 miles away from us.
To read more about the Spiritual Scientific explanation of this cosmic event, go to this post by Johnathan Hilton
***
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
516 BCE – The Second Temple of Jerusalem finishes construction
1128 – Birthday of Alanus ab Insulis, Teacher at Chartres. Rudolf Steiner speaks about him in many of his Karmic relationships lectures.
1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.
1882 – Birthday of Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States
1889 – Deathday of Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling. From the research of Rudolf Steiner we hear about this suicide as being a karmic consequence of his life as Nero.
1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
1945 – World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 10,500 people
1948 – Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist. A year earlier on this same date, W.J. Stein sent him Steiner’s Threefold Social Order
1956 – Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1969 – The Beatles’ last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
***
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Beneath the crust of ice I hear
A ready roar
Rumble up from the tap root
Of the dogwood tree
It knows my secret name
Witch will rise with the sap
When Brigid-Bride calls me…
~hag
***
Today is Tu B’Shvat – the “New Year for the Trees ” which occurs every year on the eve of the Full Quickening Moon, around the time of the Cross Quarter between Winter Solstice & Spring Equinox. This is when the sap begins to rise.
Kabbalists have used the tree as a metaphor to understand the relationship between the spiritual & physical worlds. Spiritual Science tells us that the human being is a reversed plant. Our head is the root. The higher spiritual realms are where these roots come from, which then ultimately manifests their influence through branches & leaves – our heart & lungs & limbs, our thinking, feeling & willing in the world.
In the 16th century, the Kabbalists compiled a Tu B’Shvat “Seder,” similar to the Seder for Passover. It involves enjoying the fruits of the tree, & discusses philosophical & Kabbalistic concepts, like the idea that by eating with the highest intention we can repair the ‘fall’. The ‘sin’ against the Tree of Knowledge was that Adam & Eve ate its fruit before it was ripe.
Henry E. Huntington
So, what is it about waiting (perhaps, wading) that transforms knowledge from hurtful to healthy? Do we have faith that the spring will come & everything will grow & ripen in its season?
Through eating, we have a daily opportunity to correct a part of our soul, so deep & intrinsic that it reaches back into the Garden of Eden.
The custom on Tu B’Shvat is to eat fruits from the seven species for which the Land of Israel is praised: “…a land of wheat and barley and (grape) vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and (date) honey” (Deut. 8:8).
On Tu B’Shvat, it is also customary to eat a “new fruit” something we have not yet tasted this year.
Henry John Stock
This festival lets us ask: Am I getting the spiritual food I need, to truly live with grace, or is my tree being blown down by the forces of information overload & rampant materialism?
Am I part of a strong community, providing a warm & nurturing environment? Or am I cast into the pale bleak anonymity of urban life & cyberspace?
Am I looking to future generations knowing that I am providing them with the proper foundations for their lives?
The word “Shvat” is also related to the Hebrew word for a staff or rod. A staff can be used as a symbol of power; or as a cane to lean on. This is an underlying theme of the month.
So as we open our thinking, feeling & willing to align with the rising sap, in gratitude for the fruits of life; we can use this time to focus on the idea of consciously using our daily behavior as a medium for spirituality.
***
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
***
Adrian Asatru
Spinning Destiny with the Fates
An Experiential Workshop with Hazel Archer Ginsberg
Saturday, 10 February 2018 – 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM
At the Theosophical Society 1926 N Main St, Wheaton, IL 60187
Come face the Fates & meet the Sibyls in the Light of Anthroposophy & ask: Does Fortune smile? Is Justice blind? How can I Co-Create with Destiny, to spin the thread of my life with integrity, to heal and clear the collective karma, & achieve my True Becoming?
Through the insights of Rudolf Steiner, the power of Myth-Telling, & Ritual-Tasks, such as interactive drumming, & Socratic questioning; we will journey into our soul-depths to stand before the “Daughters of Necessity” that we will transform to meet our true calling; asking: ‘What is my Highest Purpose?’
Please bring your own vegetarian lunch
$60 nonmembers $50 members $70 at the door
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg –Spiritual Midwife, Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Blogger – Anthroposopher, working as the Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch of Chicago.
Founder of www.reverseritual.com
***
Pop Up Valentine’s Market – Sunday February 11th – 1pm till 9pm
at the Elderberries Three-Fold Chicago space 4251 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago
Locally Hand-Crafted: Clothing, Art, Jewelry, Soy Candles;
+ Fair-Trade, Essential Oils, Supplements…
20 per cent of sales goes to a new heating & cooling system for the Branch
Would you like to be a vendor? contact Hazel
Thanks to those who responded to the call for items for Peer Space! I forgot to mention we also need folding tables, & a few garbage cans. Come see the newly lazured space & pick up a gift for your beloved ones
***
Denise Yocco
Friday February 23rd 2018 -Open Community Conversation 7 pm – 9 pm
This is a call to All: Especially those working out of the various Steiner initiatives – Folks from The Chicago Waldorf School, City Garden & The Urban Prairie Waldorf School, The Christian Community, Arcturus, the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Elderberries, Angelic Organics, Zinniker’s Bio-Dynamic Farm…
Come be part of our ongoing conversation about the future of anthroposophy & its cultivation here in Chicago.
As a special treat, the Monday Eurythmy group will present a performance of Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul Verse #47
We will also continue to explore the biography of famous Chicagoans. At this meeting, Mary Ruud will share her research on Harold Washington.
And as always, the floor will be open for conversation.
All are welcome
“We come here
To embrace what is common in each one of us –
Our love for a higher knowledge
Which unites us in understanding.
Let this Light of Knowledge unite
Each and All of us
Making rise in each
The raising of the Other”.
~Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)
The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…
