THE IRON OF THE GODS AGAINST ANXIETY AND FEAR

Sneha Singh

As we have discussed, every year the cosmic iron enters Earth’s atmosphere, following the rhythms of the cosmos. With them they bring the metal sacred to Mars, & the forces harnessed in it. But why is that? What’s the reason behind this charming show that urges us to make wishes? And what does all this have to do with iron?

According to Roman Catholic lore, the August meteor showers are the “lacrime di San Lorenzo”—St. Lawrence’s tears- the last of the seven deacons of Rome to die, martyred on 16 August 258, during the persecution of the emperor Valerian.

When he was summoned before the executioners, Lawrence was ordered to bring all the wealth of the Church with him. He showed up with a handful of crippled, poor, & sick people, & when questioned, replied that “These are the true wealth of the Church.” He was immediately sent to his death, being cooked alive on a gridiron.

Legend has it that one of his last words was a joke – he quipped to his killers: “Turn me over, I’m done on this side!”

After that, Catholics began calling the August meteors the “tears of St. Lawrence,” even though the celestial phenomenon pre-dates the saint, being associated with Perseus.

Some Italian lore also holds that the fiery bits of debris seen during a meteor shower are representative of the coals that killed St. Lawrence. This correspondence with the myth is very interesting, it finds a valid explanation in the results of a spiritual-scientific investigation.

According to Anthroposophy in Summer a specific process takes place in the human organism, as light & heat grow stronger & more potent. This is a sulphurising process. From a spiritual perspective human beings start shining ‘like glow-worms’ surrounded by a yellow-bluish “sulphur” flame. This flame is associated with the spiritual beings of ‘fallen light’ which want to take advantage of human freedom for their purposes.

From the standpoint of the cosmos this is actually a majestically beautiful sight, for it is in this glorious astral light that human beings shine out into the cosmos during the ‘Dog Days of Summer’, but at the same time it gives occasion for the Ahrimanic power to draw near to humanity. For this adversarial power is very closely related to the sulphurising process in the human organism.

We can see how, on the one hand, the human being shines out into the cosmos in the St. John’s light, & on the other, how the dragon-like serpent-form of Ahriman winds its way among the human beings shining in the astral light & tries to ensnare & curtail us, to draw us down into the realm of half-conscious sleep & illusion. ~Rudolf Steiner, The Four Seasons & the Archangels

This process of subtle combustion in the human organism causes what comes so natural in summer – a dream-like state where human instincts arise, gaining power over the forces of consciousness & awareness. Who hasn’t experienced this during summer? And it’s not for nothing, it is important to have that outbreath to come in contact with the cosmic reaches.

But we need to understand that from this perspective the ahrimanic forces are not interested in awakening clairvoyance in humanity. That would be an old form of clairvoyance, anyway. All they want, is to control human beings – fooling us thru our own lower instincts.

When this process of expansion comes to its peak at the Summer Solstice—we must start to come back down to earth or there is a danger we fall victim to the Luciferic influences that would draw us away from life. But the wisdom of the cosmos gives human beings the antidote. The balancing impulse to counter the forces of sulphur rising from the ground, is the cosmic iron.

Patti Vennery

And when in high summer, from a particular constellation, meteors fall in great showers of cosmic iron, then this cosmic iron, which carries an enormously powerful healing force, is the weapon which the gods bring to bear against Ahriman, as dragon-like he tries to coil round the shining forms of men.

The force which falls on the earth in the meteoric iron is indeed a cosmic force whereby the higher gods endeavour to gain a victory over the Ahrimanic powers, when autumn comes on. And this majestic display in cosmic space, when the August meteor showers stream down into the human shining in the astral light, has its counterpart — so gentle and apparently so small — in a change that occurs in the human blood.

This human blood, which is in truth not such a material thing as present-day science imagines, but is permeated throughout by impulses from soul and spirit, is rayed through by the force which is carried as iron into the blood and wages war there on anxiety, fear and hate.

The processes which are set going in every blood-corpuscle when the force of iron shoots into it are the same, on a minute human scale, as those which take place when meteors fall in a shining stream through the air. This permeation of human blood by the anxiety-dispelling force of iron is a meteoric activity. The effect of the raying in of the iron is to drive fear and anxiety out of the blood”. ~Rudolf Steiner, The Four Seasons & the Archangels

From this perspective we can contemplate the amazing show of the meteor showers which go on into September as we make our way toward Michaelmas. We can look at them knowing that the forces of the cosmos are at work to help us.

Fear & anxiety are two adversarial forces, that especially this year, have been ensnaring us all. So this makes having an awareness of the meteor showers even more important – worthy of contemplation & active participation.

May the cosmic iron of the gods be with you, to defeat all the inner & outer obstacles that stand in your way.

~hag

Brice Menkelsohn

Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner, Translation by Roy Sadler

Now | Sofia Studio

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
Each new season is generally recognised as beginning with the
solstice or equinox… but do we consider the first 3 weeks of June
still to be spingtime, and those of September still to be summer?
This week’s Soul Calendar quartet is unique. It is the only square
quartet, and the only one with the words of ‘threatening’ (v46 & v7)
and ‘death’ (v20 & v33). They are verses testing the soul, and to me
they appear as initiation verses preparing for a new season – which then
fits better with temperatures & daylight hours than waiting another month.
And after the climax of the Perseid meteor showers, heralding the season
of Michael, it is appropriate to regard this week as a transition verse
(one of four, reducing each season to just 12 weeks).

Cape Byron Rudolf Steiner School

LAMMASTIDE IV
Transition from Summer to Autumn
The Nemesis Of Self
v20
So I begin to feel my being, I,
who far from universal being
would perish, I
who building only on the ground of me
must die.

Transition from Autumn to Winter
The Nemesis Of The World
ALL HALLOWSTIDE IV
v33
And so I come to feel the world,
which left without my soul’s communion
would be just frosty, empty life
that powerless to recreate itself in souls
could in itself alone find only death.

16 August 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Right after first quarter the Moon shines near Antares, then high over the Cat’s Eyes.

Jan Peter Kasper

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Light and Colour (Goethe's Theory) – The Morning after the Deluge ...
JMW Turner

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Binding of Isaac | Religion-wiki | Fandom

Abraham receives Isaac back from Yahweh, according to the spiritual research of Rudolf Steiner, GA 117

1705 – Deathday of Jacob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician & theorist, founder of the calculus of variations. His most important contribution was in the field of probability

1744 – Birthday of Pierre Méchain, French astronomer who studied of deep sky objects & comets

1841 – U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history

1842 – In New York City, the U.S. government took over operations of the City Despatch Post. This was the first congressionally authorized local postage delivery

1888 – Birthday of T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) British colonel & archaeologist

1899 – Deathday of Robert Bunsen, a German chemist, discovered caesium & rubidium, pioneer in photochemistry, & did early work in the field of organoarsenic chemistry. He developed the Bunsen burner, an improvement on the laboratory burners then in use

1948 – Deathday of Babe Ruth

1906 – An estimated 8.2 MW earthquake hits Valparaíso, Chile, killing 3,886 people

1923 – Carnegie Steel Corporation put into place the eight-hour workday for its employees

1960 – Cyprus gains independence from Britain

1977 – Deathday of Elvis Presley

1989 – A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto’s stock market

1999 – In Russia, Vladimir V. Putin was confirmed as prime minister by the lower house of parliament

2005 – Deathday (murder) of Brother Roger Schütz, founded the Taizé Community, an ecumenical monastic community in Burgundy, France

2012 – South African police fatally shoot 34 miners & wound 78 more during an industrial dispute near Rustenburg

***

Richard Hubal

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~i will the god within
to show Herself…
my soul walks out,
my mind burns…
are my eyes shining?

~hag

4 thoughts on “THE IRON OF THE GODS AGAINST ANXIETY AND FEAR

  1. Interesting that you mention “death” and “threatening” from the Soul Calendar. The subject of death showed up a few days ago, in my reading of Lecture 5 in The Book of Revelation. Steiner was talking about the pale horse signifying death as the symbol for the opening of the 4th seal, in the 4th post-Atlantean age. While now being in the 5th age, he says that because people’s consciousness is slow to appropriate their new consciousness, many are still living in the era of the pale horse. Here’s how he explains this:

    “There is of course some development going on in the new consciousness, only in most people it is not having much of an effect yet; it is only showing in some individuals who are particularly gifted in that direction… The consciousness to be developed by human beings in the fifth post-Atlantean age is such that the time between birth and death is not quite sufficient for it, so that death constantly plays into one’s life on earth. People will become aware that they die a little bit every day, so that dying is constantly present in the human being, so that death is constantly present….An awareness of being accompanied by death is something that will become more and more prevalent in the fifth post-Atlantean age.”

    Since reading this, I’ve been noticing how the presence of death has been so prevalent in our current times. He gives this presence a positive spin, however, when he says that this awareness of death is necessary as we increase our spirituality. He says: “For the consciousness soul is something highly spiritual, and the spirit always consumes what is material.”

    What took place at the Mystery of Golgotha clearly shows humanity what Steiner is saying, that death in some form must take place if we are to enter into life. Paul puts it profoundly when he said that as we take the sacraments, we “proclaim His death, until He comes”. If death truly were the end, as many people sadly believe, we wouldn’t be anticipating His return. Death, when seen correctly, is the birth into our next cycle of events.

      1. Hi Maverick,

        You said:

        “If death truly were the end, as many people sadly believe, we wouldn’t be anticipating His return. Death, when seen correctly, is the birth into our next cycle of events.”

        I agree that death is just the beginning, but I must disagree that many people today actually believe that death is the end. By now, since 2000 years since the Christ Event, people see the future in the resurrection. I was somewhat surprised, Maverick, that you chose lecture five of the Priest Course on the Book of Revelation for your insertion. This is very good, from a consumers standpoint. We are waiting for you. Generally, nobody quotes from GA 346, and so this is very impressive. Thanks. As said before, you are one of the notable persons working right now in this engagement involving anthroposophy.

        1. Thanks Steve, I have been enjoying this book as one of my summer reads. Even tried my hand at reading it backwards, going from the last paragraph to the beginning, which forces one to concentrate even harder. It works for Steiner lectures because of their “organic” nature; one isn’t bound to follow the rules of logic. He covers some broad subjects, and gives some amazing insights, as one digests the contents. Some of those insights have changed how I view our world.

          I tend to follow the thought Steiner brings here, that people are very slow to adopt their newly-gained consciousness. I know what you’re thinking – there are many who SAY they believe in resurrection – the question is, are they living that in their lives? Has the thought of resurrection transformed them such that their lives are much different now than before? I’m sure many love the THOUGHT of the resurrection – the thought of new life, the shouting of “Alleluia, Christ has risen”, but how willing are they to accept that something must die IN THEMSELVES before they can experience even the initial stages of resurrection glory? This is a difficult subject to raise in conversation, because the consciousness of many is still back in the 4th age, symbolized by the pale horse. The fear of death, and the misunderstanding of its essential quality, still holds a powerful grip on many individuals.

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