~Franck Giraud
In this life, I am, at the core a solitary person – inwardly inclined. A meditant. Socially shy & awkward. And yet on the one side – my choleric nature makes me an active seeker – ever striving to unveil the New Mysteries, so folks often see me as a fiery extrovert. But my watery melancholic side is very much an introverted devotee – a contemplative hermit in service to the Christic Sophia. I AM, an ‘As above so Below’ – ‘Know Thyself’ introspector – a rhythmic cultivator of the Anthroposophia within.
So when I do a presentation, or attend a conference, or go out in public in anyway, I really have to psych myself up. (In the tropical Zodiac I am a double Cancer with a Pisces Moon)
Being a student of Spiritual Science I know I must come out of my shell to be ‘a person of initiative’ – that all the inner work must be tried on the stage of humanity – in karmic relationship – in community.
I thoroughly resonate to this Adam Bittleson quote:
“In the new mysteries the whole earth becomes an altar…Our friends & colleagues become for us, the terrible & wonderful actors in the ceremony of our initiation.”
So interesting that the Conference I have just returned from – a 101 year celebration of the founding of The Christian Community, was called ‘Fire in the Heart’. In my mind these words are a kind of continuation from the title of the ASA Conference I spearheaded called: ‘Building the Temple of the Heart’. And perhaps a precursor for the upcoming play “Fire in the Temple” a Centennial offering dramatizing Rudolf Steiner’s final months – & a showing of us to ourselves.
I am living into this juxtaposition of the words: Temple, Heart, Fire…It feels very Rosicrucian – Alchemical – Perfect for our time now.
Without going into the details of the conference with all its glory – from the Spirit of Place that is the Driftless Region of the Heartland – The powerful effect of participating daily in the Act Consecration & Close of Day services with 3 Priests & our Lenker – The experiential Art making, the breakout Workshops, Talks, evening Artistic Offerings, good Food & Conversation… I thought instead to digest outloud – sharing what at our Closing Plenum was called: a ‘Gem (I think of it as a Flower) & a Seed’ – our personal take away, & our hopes for the future of renewal.
It’s funny, when I was younger it was hard for me to hold back – I had a tendency to stay wide awake while others spoke, not very patiently waiting to have my say. I am still working on this of course. But since I have made it my intention for many years to consciously transform this tendency – to counteract that egotism so that I can really listen – recently what I have found is that I feel caught in-between – Yes, I can more easily yield to the other; but now I have a hard time waking back up to myself after falling asleep in the other – hmmm…
Our current Soul Calendar Verse describes this perfectly:
I find myself being more quiet, letting the space be open for others to speak my thoughts, which is good. I am relating, & the echo is resonate. But sometimes it feels like my unique experience, which is hard to access, let alone express in a sound bite, is left unrevealed.
(I guess that’s why I have this blog & podcast & do presentations eh 😉
This is the eve of the eve of my natal return, so it feels right to share my introspection. Today’s post is simply the setup for the next few essays in which I will attempt to process this most recent initiatory experience, which is tied into the workshop presentation I gave at the “Fire of the Heart’ Conference, coming from my burning question: ‘How can we tune into the Etheric Christ?’ Which was based on my work with what Steiner calls the ‘After-Image’, & with insights on Empathy & a New Social Ethic from Baruch Urieli’s book “Learning to Experience The Etheric World”.
Stay tuned
~hag
10 July 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Slowly making its way across Leo, Mars passes north of Regulus at 3 am CDT. You can view them this evening in the west after sunset, with the Red Planet now slightly northeast of the star. If you’re in a dark location, you can use Venus and Mars as guides to find the ecliptic, the plane of the solar system. It’s along this plane that dust from past cometary passes settles, scattering sunlight to create the zodiacal light. Once darkness falls, look for a faint, cone-shaped glow extending along the ecliptic, spreading upward from Cancer through Leo. The ecliptic continues along the sky and passes just north of Spica, Virgo’s bright alpha star, which lies east of Leo.
Sunrise: 5:40 A.M.
Sunset: 8:30 P.M.
Moonrise: 12:40 A.M.
Moonset: 2:02 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent (43%)
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day (RSarchives)
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (Rudolf Steiner’s original Calendar of the Soul; The Present Age, Wikipedia)
Nikola Tesla Day
138 – Deathday of Emperor Hadrian, Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian is known for building Hadrian’s Wall, which marked the northern limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon & constructed the Temple of Venus & Roma. An admirer of the Greeks, he is considered by some to have been a humanist, & he is regarded as one of the Five Good Emperors.
Described by T.H. Meyer as being a former incarnation of Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz – the first to be informed by Rudolf Steiner about his idea of a social threefold structure , alongside Otto Lerchenfeld & Walter Johannes Stein . He introduced them to the governments of Austria & the Czech Republic thru his brother Arthur, head of the cabinet of Emperor Charles I.
In 1935 Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz tried to prevent the split in the Anthroposophical Society ; after he failed to do so, he resigned in 1936 & worked as a freelance publicist & lecturer until his death.
165 – Deathday of Felicitas of Rome is a saint numbered among the Christian martyrs. A legend presents her as the mother of the seven martyrs: Alexander, Vitalis, Martialis, Januarius, Felix, Philip, Sylvanus. In Rudolf Steiner’s original Calendar of the Soul we see listed for today the Fairy Tale The Seven Ravens (Sieben Bruder) by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
1212 –London burns to the ground
1856 – Birthday of Nikola Tesla, a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, & futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system
1871 – Birthday of Marcel Proust, French novelist, critic, & essayist
1921 –‘Bloody Sunday’: 160 people are killed & 161 houses destroyed during rioting & gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland
1923 – Rudolf Steiner invites L. Polzer-Hoditz to Belin to discuss Threefolding. (See above about the Emperor Hadrian)
1925 – Scopes Trial: the so-called “Monkey Trial” – a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
1938 – Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world
1962 – Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.
1966 – The Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., holds a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. As many as 60,000 people come to hear Dr. King as well as Mahalia Jackson, Stevie Wonder, & Peter, Paul and Mary.
1975 – Deathday of Marie Savitch – One of eurythmy’s pioneers, Marie Savitch was director of the Goetheanum stage group for many years and oversaw much of the early development of eurythmy.
1991 – Boris Yeltsin takes office as the first elected President of Russia.
I will be heading out for our next training 1-7 August 2023
Here is a newsletter with an article I wrote about my expereince working with Steiner’s Inner Realities of Evoultion
Very Cancerian behavior you exhibit, extending those claws, but then drawing them back in. Do you have John Jocelyn’s book Meditations on the Zodiac? He has a very good section on Cancer – I have a PDF of just his thoughts on Cancer I can send you if you don’t; you have my email address. We recently had a powerful Full Moon, which probably activated a lot of cosmic thoughts for you. One thought that came to mind when you said that it saddens you that you’re not getting your message across – we are in the waning days of the Piscean age – some say we’ve entered the Aquarian already. It may be time to mourn the passing of the Piscean, all the while moving into the Aquarian?
Whatever views you have as a result of your natal chart, they’re not as important as the views from your “spiritual horoscope”. I treasure this quote from the beginning of Lecture 4 of GA 151: “I remark expressly, so that no misunderstanding may arise, that these constellations [mental constellations for the twelve world viewpoints] are of much greater importance in the life of the person than the constellations of the external horoscope, and do not necessarily coincide with the ‘nativity’ – the external horoscope.”
In our Star Friends study group at the end of this month (July 31st), we’re going to be looking more closely at Cancer; I’m sure the group would welcome you if you want to learn more about the sign. We could possibly even analyze your chart – it sounds interesting. Let me know; as I said, you have my email. Cheers.
Hi Maverick, Yes, I agree, I don’t feel stuck in my natal chart. It has served me well for many years in helping to see patterns & then receieving the insights from sidereal astrology in recent years brought a whole new perspective – But yes, my spiritual karmic imprint becomes more & more clear.
I will send you my birth info. & I would love to read the John Jocelyn meditaion for Cancer. I would also love to read the one for Gemini…
What a wonderful gift, Bless you.
According to Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul, the Sun’s movements through the 12 signs is based on the actual size of the constellation (sidereal), and thus there is variance over the more popular Tropical calculations. For example, the Sun is presently in the sign of Gemini from around June 16 to July 19, and then passes on to Cancer for a relatively short span, i.e., July 20 to August 3rd. Thus, for Hazel, her interest is decidedly for Gemini, which bears the Sanguine Temperament, which she hates to consider. Yet, the Choleric Temperament is owing to her opposite sign of Sagittarius, the Archer, which is a Fire sign. Cancer, on the other hand, bears the Phlegmatic Temperament, and yet, Hazel confesses to having a Melancholic side to her nature, which would indicate a Capricorn influence, right next to Sagittarius.
We know that these distinctions of movement are based on the Spiritual Sun, while the Physical Sun traces over a much longer period of retrograde motion the movements that bring about actual change in the human archetype known as “Universal Human”. Thus, as Maverick indicates, we are in the age of Pisces, and with Aquarius coming next. Spiritual Science would exist to push the advent of the Aquarius Age, based on the present Consciousness Soul, to the Spirit-Self level. This is, indeed, possible when we attend to a new worldview in which spiritual science is the herald. The Principles of Spiritual Economy have already arranged for this opportunity. All we have to do is take it and bring it forth with the knowledge that understands.
For example, our friend Kyle’s birthday is July 31st, and while he would like to consider himself a Leo, he is a Cancer on the cusp, and the same can be said for Hazel, who is a Gemini on the cusp. To be in such a situation is very meaningful because it signifies integration between two signs of the Spiritual Sun. This gives opportunity and challenge.
Thanks Steve – I have not worked with the signs & their associations with tempreament.
Where can I find more about this?
Here are a couple of good descriptions of the Temperaments:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA057/English/AP1987/ForTem_index.html
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA057/English/eLib2014/19090304p02.html
also:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA145/English/RSPC1945/19130322p02.html
Thanks Steve – these all look good. Will check them out. Cheers.
Hi Maverick,
An anthroposophical friend used to discuss John Jocelyn’s book, Meditations on the Signs of the Zodiac, from time to time. She was a good astrologist, and also subscribed to the Tropical Zodiac dates, as well as something called “Raphael’s Ephemeris”. Neither she, or Jocelyn, went for Steiner’s sidereal dates, which can certainly affect the diagnosis and perception of temperament. As a Leo, born on August 15th, I am pretty secure in saying that I feel myself balanced nicely between the choleric, and the sanguine influence of Aquarius, which is opposite to Leo. The goal, I think, is to bring these temperaments into integral balance and harmony.
Heard this description of the different systems – tropical, sidereal (geocentric, Earth as center) and heliocentric (Sun-centered) which I found instructive:
“How I learned it from Willie Bento was that the Tropical chart shows the etheric body, the Sidereal shows the astral body and helio shows the ego. Our personality is so embedded in the etheric— our habits, our character. Stuff that does not change easily. The astral changes moment to moment. It is a higher level of consciousness. And the ego level- for most people is off the charts—— pretty unknown. I don’t even look at the helio chart.”
This was from a seasoned astrologer who prefers the tropical system, just because it seems more relevant to our Earth lives. I suppose she’s correct, but I’ve always been astrally-minded, which is maybe why I prefer the sidereal. I recall hearing that Steiner recommended the heliocentric, but for most astrologers it’s too much work.
Very interesting, Thanks Maverick, makes sense. I do find it interesting to get each perspective. I haven’t even heard that there is a Helio chart…
reading the 2 descriptions you sent has been very enlightening. I definitely see them as a progression. I recognize myself the most in the Cancer traits, But I have been consciously striving to take up the Gemini thinking as I grow older…
We do go through phases, just as our inner organs, like planets that orbit through the zodiac, are changed in their consciousness. Steiner referred to such developments as developing the petals of the lotus flower. Likewise our soul mood orbits (slowly) through the mental constellations of the spiritual zodiac.
With Gemini, I like the image John Jocelyn gave of it being like Solomon’s Porch. Don’t know much of what Solomon’s Porch is like now – it may be an entire colonnade of pillars, but originally it was two pillars, like the Gemini glyph, which Steiner referred to as Joachim and Boaz (and gave plenty of good teaching about them) – which served as a protective covering/porch into the Temple. Today we are the Temple, and Gemini can thus represent that protective covering before one enters into the inner Temple. “You surely know that your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives. The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God.” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Your gradual shift into a Gemini mood might reflect your increasing interest in entering through the porch into the temple you are? Your consciousness is increasing, so you’re becoming more comfortable in the sidereal (astral) system. The tropical is still a favorite though for interpreting everyday activities, but that’s good that you’re developing your petals.
Milestones like birthdays & the festival Life in general are great times to review these many phases, within & in the whole of evolution.
I marvel at the many facsets
It seems clear that the sidereal system is related to the Astral Body because of the Cycle of the Year as Breathing Process of the Earth, which is expressed in rhythmicity and respiration, owing to the Moon’s special affiliation with the Astral Body.
I also can see the relationship of Tropical to the Etheric Body, Heliocentric to the Ego, and Geocentric to the Physical Body (when we were Lords of the Earth). This model has fallen by the wayside but stands to rise into prominence again due to the Resurrection Body, or Physical Phantom.
Steiner gave an interesting ratio of work on our various members according to the Clock. As such:
Work on the Etheric Body accords to the hour hand.
Work on the Astral Body accords to the minute hand.
Work on the Ego accords to the second hand.
Work on the Physical Body accords to the Clock Itself.
Thus, I try to emphasize work on the most mundane things and giving the detailed touch. This is the work on the Etheric Body, which is still seriously contracted in favor of the Physical World. The Astral Body is where we take our flights of fancy, and this feels good from time to time.
This all makes sense to me. Not sure what you mean about the Etheric Body being “seriously contracted’ – are you referring to Ahriman’s influence on our Etheric Bodies?
The original physical, etheric, and astral archetypes have all been radicalized. The Physical Body, once a Phantom presence only, has been densified due to the Earth taking on mineral mass; the Etheric Body, which once protruded in large extent outside the physical as the life force, has contracted through the Head and indentured itself around the physical, which now experiences Death. Thus, Levity has sacrificed itself to Gravity. And, the Astral Body, once 12fold and united, has now divided to an upper and lower division comprised of 7 supersensible organs and 5 sensible organs, which give the parameters of the several Chakras.
Resurrection is the process of re-establishing what once was, after having experienced the Fall, and the hard climb back. “I Am the Resurrection and the Life; he who believeth in Me shall live”.