(top art by Søren Dalsgaard)
“He Must Increase but I Must Decrease.” (John 3:30)
John the Baptist – born in the light of the Summer Sun, just after the Solstice, six months before Jesus, whose birth is celebrated just after the Winter Solstice.
Along with references to the light of the Sun, there are many lamp & fire symbols in the Old Testament that prepare the way for the Christ, in which this being appeared in ‘flames of fire’ & ‘clouds of glory’, such as the burning bush (Exodus 3), & the refiner’s fire (Malachi 3:2)
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”(Psalm 119:105)
Solomon compares prayer with a lamp, & teaching with light, (Proverbs 6:23) “like the shining of the sun, burns evermore, and leads to eternal rest.”
Rabbis were often called “Lamps of the Law,” & David was “The Lamp of Israel” (2 Samuel 21:17). Compare the remarkable parallel spoken of in the prototype of the Baptist: “Then stood up Elias the prophet, as fire, and his word was kindled like a lamp” (Ecclesiasticus 48:1). This speaks to the promised light which was to appear, & Elias as the torchbearer who kindles the lamb to light the bridegroom’s way.
“He was not the Light, but came to bear witness to the Light” (John 1:8). Here we see the distinction between the lamp (John the Baptist) & the Light (The Christ)
2 Peter 1:19 tells us: “We also have the message of the prophets, which has been confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to this message, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”
John the Baptist, as the Forerunner of the Christ, is the flame signal of the Messiah, the last Old Testament form of the pillar of fire, or the candlestick in the temple. “He was the burning and shining lamp (λύχνος, not φῶς) and there was nothing you wanted more than to bask for a while in that light”. (John 5:35) Here we experience the Baptist as Christōsphoros, the harbinger of the Christ-Light (Φωσφόρος) – the “Light-Bearer”.
“John replies in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.” (John 1:23)
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” (Matthew 6:22). We also find that, under the symbol of lamps of fire, the messengers of God, are repeatedly set forth (Matthew 5:14-16; Matthew 25:1-8; Revelation 1:20; Philippians 2:15).
Like the call of conscience from John the Baptist, the need arises to let the light of the higher ego shine into our being.
Let us seek to know the will forces that through our deeds become part of the earth’s being, & make straight the path to the New Jerusalem.
(See also these references: John 1:5, John 1:7, John 1:8, John 1:9; & compare John 3:19-21, John 8:12; John 9:5; John 12:46)
Until soon
Blessings and Peace ~hag
22 June 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars:” – The June solstice arrived on June 21 at 10:32 CDT. At that moment, the Sun was in front of the constellation Taurus the Bull. About 1/2 day later – the Sun crossed the constellation bounary, moving out of Taurus into the constellation Gemini the Twins. So the solstice sun shines very close to the Taurus-Gemini border.
Because of a motion of Earth called precession, the Sun is always moving West along the zodiac. There are 12 constellations of the zodiac. And the cycle lasts 26,000 years. So you might see that the sun will continue to shine in front of Taurus at the June solstice for many, many years. It won’t cross a constellation boundary again until the year 4609. That’s when the June solstice sun will finally move into the constellation Aries the Ram, the constellation to the immediate west of Taurus (which was where the Sun was at the Spring Equniox when Christ was on Earth) ~EarthSky.org
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day(RSarchives)
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (Rudolf Steiner’s original Calendar of the Soul, Anthrowiki, Wikipedia Commons, Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia)
Feast of St. Thomas More, “a man for all seasons,” From Rudolf Steiner: Things in Past and Present in the Spirit of Man, Lecture VIII – THOMAS MORE’S “UTOPIA” …”Thomas More was really fortune’s favourite. He advanced from various state offices, became a member of Parliment, and finally High Chancellor for Henry VIII who had him executed because he would not agree to the Succession Act. This was a sin against the new institution of the English Church. Then the enlightened Lord Justices had to decide what sort of judgement should be meted out to Thomas More. The following is the decision which these enlightened justices reached as the price Thomas More had to pay for his so-called treason of not going along with Henry VIII. He was to be condemned and brought to the Tower by Sheriff William Pinkston and then put in a braided basket and dragged through the City of London to Tiburn. In Tiburn he was to be hanged only until he was half dead, then he was to be taken down form the scaffold and certain of his limbs would be cut off; his body torn open and the entrails burned. Then his body with the exception of the head would be divided into four portions and each would be placed on a pike and set at the four ends of the City of London. His head, however would be put on a high spear and placed on London Bridge in order to serve as a warning for people to go along with the King. This was the sort of judgement that these enlightened lords issued. This was not carried out, however, he was beheaded and the head was placed upon a spear on London Bridge.”
1527 Deathday of Niccolo Macchiavelli – “The Prince”
1633 – The Holy Office in Rome forces Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe.
1805 – Birthday of Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian politician, journalist & activist for the unification of Italy spearheading the Italian revolutionary movement. Freemason – Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy. Rudolf Steiner speaks of him as a Hibernian initiate with Garibaldi & Cavour in Karmic Relationships: Esoteric Studies – Volume V
1839 – Cherokee leaders Major Ridge, John Ridge, & Elias Boudinot are assassinated for signing the Treaty of New Echota, which had resulted in the Trail of Tears
1892 – Birthday of Maria Darmstädter – a German religious scholar and Holocaust victim. Born to a prominent Jewish family from Mannheim, she was baptised in the Lutheran church as an adult and shortly after joined the newly established Christian Community in the early 1920s. She was one of the community’s first and most influential members, and contributed greatly to its liturgy. She was deported to Gurs internment camp by the Nazis in October 1940 and murdered in Auschwitz. Her letters from Nazi concentration camps were published in 1970. ~ Peter Selg, ‘From Gurs to Auschwitz: The Inner Journey of Maria Krehbiel-Darmstädter’, Great Barrington, 2013
1941 –Hitler invades the Russia in Operation Barbarossa
1942 – Pledge of Allegiance formally adopted by Congress
1969 – The Cuyahoga River catches fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to water pollution, & spurring the passing of the Clean Water Act & the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency
1978 – Charon, a satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto, is discovered by American astronomer James W. Christy
1990 – Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled in Berlin.
2002 – An earthquake measuring 6.5 Mw strikes northwestern Iran killing 261 people & injuring 1,300 others
2010 – Deathday of Ekkehard Meffert anthroposophist who studied geology, geography, philosophy (with a thesis on Cusa), Education, politics & history. Best known for his biography of Mathilde Scholl, one of the first esoteric students of Rudolf Steiner
Find a collection of the many RECORDINGS of Presentations, Programs & Festivals HERE
‘Preparing the Way’ an experiential St. John’s-Tide Festival
23 June 2021, Doors open at 5:30 pm with a Potluck –
Program from 7 – 8:30 pm
In-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4248 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, 60618
Singing – Elizabeth Kelly
Group discussion – Hazel Archer
Spatial Dynamics – Deborah Rogers
Art – Mary Spalding
For more info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer
St. John the Baptist and Uriel the Archangel of Summer –
An Experiential online Festival with Geoff Norris, Elizabeth Carlson, Lisa Dalton, Lucien Dante Lazar, Hazel Archer
Sunday 27 June 2021 on Zoom:
Noon – 1:30 pm PT / 1 – 2:30 pm MT / 2 pm – 3:30 pm CT / 3 – 4:30 pm ET /
8 – 9:30 pm London Time / 9 – 10:30 pm CET
Metanoia – Can you hear the voice of conscience? – Make straight the path, for at the fullness of Summer, the light is so bright that it leaves no room for the shadow, a time to remember what St. John said “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Musicial Performance by Lucien Dante Lazar
Speech – Geoffrey Norris
Eurythmy- Elizabeth Carlson
Living into St. John’s-Tide – Lisa Dalton
Leading Thoughts – Hazel Archer
Hazel Archer is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: St. John’s
Time: Jun 27, 2021 02:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/7052931041?pwd=TkMwcGVVdk5GTVJmVzVJS2s5YVFtQT09
Meeting ID: 705 293 1041
Passcode: Uriel
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a961qZZhF
For more info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer Hazel@reverseritual.com
Thank U for using my artwork of the Occult Seal from the Revelation. However, I would appreciate it if the source was given.
Søren Voltmar. Editor of FB: “SOFIANUS”
YES! It’s wonderful, thank you for letting me know it is your amazing creation.
I have added your credit to the site.
Thank you for your kind & generous reply.
https://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/tours-events/sky-this-week/the-sky-this-week-2021-june-22-july-6
“Venus [Occult Mercury/Morning Star] should now be easy to find in the west during fading evening twilight. She/He begins the last week of June near the stars Castor and Pollux, and draws a bead on the slower-moving planet Mars.”
Hi Hazel, I appreciate the reference from 2nd Peter, 1:19. This year, the Morning Star is in Gemini, where the Sun resides now, while the Full Moon will occur on June 24th, Saint John’s Day, in the sign of Sagittarius, the Archer. This seems so appropriate, as John was the forerunner of Christ, and spoke with such “bulls-eye” accuracy.
Beautiful presentation of the Lamp (John the Baptist) and the Light (Christ). I find it fascinating that all spiritual mysteries pointed to the advent of the Christ becoming flesh, with the exception of the ones that came after the Christ (Mohammedanism, Latter Day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.).
And my, how those who call themselves Christians can hate and kill. What they planned to do to Thomas More is despicable. Even today we see many who call themselves Christians at the forefront of groups representing hate and lies and murder and yes, even sexual abuse.
Yes Christ is the meaning of the Earth!
It seems whenever Men start trying to put a hierarchy in place it brings corruption…sigh…
In this time of the consciosness soul we are not meant to follow an authority outside our our higher I…
Hazel this is such an important thing to keep in mind, regarding Christ and an actual sense of placement ‘we’ have in terms of how we consider the ‘hierarchies’.
I can imagine a very simple diagram, if there is one I don’t know. It shows two different hierarchies. One hierarchy is solely in the physical plane, dividing Humans into different hierarchies, like you say with Men putting their ‘own’ hierarchy in place. Its limited in scope, and thus, goes against every aspect of the Christ impulse. The true hierarchy puts our role as equal to one another (Christ), but places us in the Cosmic, natural, hierarchy among Higher Beings which is already there. That’s the 10th hierarchy, if I remember you saying?
I just thought it’s an interesting thing to compare the two. The former being artificial, and stunts our spiritual evolution, the latter being the naturally intended place in the Cosmos in relation with Higher beings in which it furthers our spiritual evolution.
You filled out these thoughts perfectly.
Thank you
Thanks Kyle, your post reminded me of something I read recently, in one of the lectures from The Book of Revelation (1924). Steiner refers to a new type of hierarchy for humanity, one that is built from heaven downward, as in John’s vision of the new Jerusalem. In our current structure, we build from Earth upwards, with a few “powerful” people at the top.
This is why Jesus said that His kingdom was not of “this world”, or not in conformity to our current structures. The greatest in His kingdom would be those who are serving all, and as He always did, set the perfect example for us by taking on the guise of a servant, and washing His disciples feet.
Hi Maverick,
Steiner gave an interesting lecture on Thomas More and his Utopia. He was the Man For All Seasons.
https://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA167/English/TS19xx/19160502p01.html
I think and believe that as long as Christ has been directly involved in earth evolution since the Mystery of Golgotha, this downward current of Christ influence is enabling reincarnations to occur sooner than later. The key element seems to be the striving for freedom and independence, whether for personal sake, or socially/politically. Steiner’s descriptions of the key figures in the 19th century putting it on the line for a Modern Italy, ref. KR, vol. I, would be the kind of struggle that could propel one into an early return to earth. This reminded me of a personality that you spoke about not too long ago, and a possible identification with regard to similar attributes. I remember rushing to do a lookup in wikipedia, but cannot remember the name now. Didn’t he write a book on the Life of Christ?
Interesting thought Steve – perhaps the shortened incarnation cycle is to prepare some souls for the end times and the return of Christ? Only the Father would know about that, but it’s an interesting observation. Many things seem to be happening at a faster pace lately, coupled with intense energy patterns in the cosmos.
The person you’re thinking of is Giovanni Papini, Italian author/philosopher, and yes, the incarnation cycle has been advanced for this soul.
Thank you for this reminder, Maverick. You know, out of all places to find this passage, it was in the movie The Gospel of John, where the washing of His disciples feet really hit me. None of these power struggles, or corruption could exist if [this] is realised:
“Do you know what I have done for you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you. Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”