The New Sacrament

18 April 2019 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Venus rises above the eastern horizon about an hour before sunrise. The brilliant planet of Love dominates the predawn sky as the rosy glow heralding the Sun’s arrival grows brighter.

April full moon in Virgo

The Full Wind Moon arrives at 6:12 am CDT on Good Friday morning. She rises in the east shortly before the Sun sets this evening & reaches her peak in the south around midnight. Bella Luna is in her Easter place in the constellation of Virgo, with bright Spica heralding the harvest of the Resurrection.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Image result for 1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid.

 1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter’s Basilica is laid.

Image result for 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther

1521 – Trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. He refuses to recant his teachings despite the risk of excommunication.

Image result for 1775 –The British advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements.

1775 –The British advancement by sea begins; (The midnight ride of) Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements.

The Spirits' Book

1857 – “The Spirits Book” by Allan Kardec is published, marking the birth of Spiritualism in France

1902 – The 7.5 Mw  Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 1800–4,000.

Image result for 1906 – An earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California.

1906 – An earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California.

Image result for 1909 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.

1909 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.

Related image

1955 – Deathday of Albert Einstein

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~The mist has one last dance
In the slanting rays of the sun rise
The birds proclaim the resurrection
The tender tendrils tease
The daffodils, the hyacinth
Scent the dew
The porch is swept
The old wood waits to burn
Make way for the new

~hag

***

Margarita Woloschina

On this Ecclesiastical Maundy Thursday we continue with the synopsis of the lectures Rudolf Steiner gave during the Easter Paradox of 1924:

The day after the ecclesiastical Easter 21 April, 1924, The Moon Secret. Spring  & Autumn Mysteries. Steiner again indicates the cosmic aspect of the Easter Festival. And as a way of deepening understanding he touches upon some of the facts relating to the so-called secrets of the Moon.

In effect, all the light that rays forth from the Full Moon into the Cosmos contains the forces that the human being when descending into incarnation needs to form the outer aspect of the etheric body.

On the other hand all that rays forth spiritually from the New Moon, out into the Cosmos, contains the forces which the human being needs to form the inner aspect of the etheric body.

This rhythm, of the external shining of the Moon & of its darkening, enables the human being to connect with what Steiner called, the Primal Teachers, which work from the moon.

Steiner tells us that the spiritual Beings of the Moon turn their gaze to begin with on what is most important for them – the wandering stars that belong to our planetary system, in order that humanity may properly receive the forces needed.

Knowledge of this was contained in certain ancient Mysteries. This knowledge is seen in the days of the week. This brought home the planetary system to the consciousness of humanity in relation to space & time – on the one hand, thru the rhythmic course of the Moon around our Earth thru light & darkness, & on the other hand, we see an imprint in the consciousness of humanity the whole succession of the planets. The initiate in the Mysteries could free themselves from the physical body & live in the formative forces of the etheric body, to experience:

Monday
Tuesday: Speech
Wednesday: Movement
Thursday: Wisdom
Friday: Love, Beauty
Saturday: Inner warmth of soul
Sunday: Protecting forces (reflected from the Moon)

The initiates knew that the Sun cannot influence the forming of the etheric body directly, but only thru the reflection from the Moon.

The initiates knew that for the full inner force of the astral body, & the Ego, of the “I am”, they must go to the Sun., to become the Christophoros, the Sun-bearer –

this inner human Easter experience of former times transformed into a cosmic Festival. In later times humanity forgot that such a thing could happen. They no longer knew they could go forth from the earthly realm, unite themselves with the Moon nature, & from the Moon behold the Sun. But a certain remembrance of this has been preserved in the Easter Festival.

Our present spiritual Festival of Easter represents an event in the Mysteries which was enacted 1st in the Autumn, & then later in the Springtime

In later days man was no longer able to penetrate the living reality of this his relationship to the Spiritual in the Cosmos. And at length things went so far that the Autumn Mysteries of resurrection were simply superimposed on the Springtime Mystery of the descent. The confusion that arose in the course of human evolution shows how deeply materialism worked in the course of time. For it not only created false opinions but brought humankind into real confusion with regard to those things which were once in sacred, holy order in the course of human earthly life.

Once upon a time there was a sacred order in these things. As Autumn came near, humankind celebrated a Cosmic Festival, a Festival which pointed to a real process of the Mysteries. Nature, they said, is fading & dying away, Nature is laid waste. It is like the gradual death of a human beings physical life. But when we look at Nature we see only the transitory at work in her, in the human being  we see the Eternal, which we must now behold apart from what takes place in outer Nature, for we must behold it in the spirit as that which is resurrected after death in the spiritual world.

And through the Mysteries of springtime it was made clear to humanity that the spiritual works in again from the Cosmos, the physical springs & sprouts forth from the Earth, because it is impelled by the Spiritual. This however was to lead humanity to remember, not how they passed through death into the Spiritual, but how they have come from & descended out of the Spiritual.

When Nature is springing & ascending, the human being was to remember their descent into the Physical; & again when Nature is declining the human being was to remember his ascent, his resurrection into the Spiritual. Infinitely deepening the life of the soul to experience how the human being is related to the Cosmos.

“These things varied according to the different regions of the Earth. We can say that there are Autumn people , & Springtime people”.

For the Autumn people there were the Mysteries of Adonis, the Southern Mysteries, of death & the after-life; the shining of the spiritual Sun in the beginning of the night of Winter; & for the Springtime people there were other Northern Mysteries related to the life before birth as seen from the secret of the Moon initiation.

In ancient times folks stayed within their stream, which was appropriate for their time, & only great initiates like Pythagoras, who traveled from place to place taking in the various mysteries underwent the true initiation of human experience, paving the way for our time now, when we are called to embrace both streams.

So you see our Easter Festival holds many components,  1st we meet the planetary Beings revealed in the days of Holy Week, then we experience the mystery of death, the entombment, The harrowing or redeeming  of hell & then the resurrection. And of course Easter-Tide continues thru the secret teachings given to the apostles during the 40 days between the Resurrection & the Ascension & then after 10 days, the mystery of Pentecost. 

May we take to heart the truth behind the original Maundy Thursday, ever enacting the Last Supper as if it was the 1st – Striving to ‘wash the feet of the other’, – recognizing that we owe our life to those around us & to the plant & animal worlds which give us a foundation for life. Let us administer to all the new sacrament in remembrance of King Jupiter’s benevolence  made new by Christ’s deed.

Tomorrow we turn again to our Easter Paradox research…

Until soon

~hag

Ecclesiastical Holy Week Kaspar Hauser Study 14 – 18 April 2019,

Special Event for GOOD FRIDAY 19 April 2019, 7 pm – 9 pm ‘O Man (or Woman) Know YourSelf: A Glimpse at the Human Double’

We have found this Study of Kaspar Hauser so intriguing that we wish to continue it for our Ecclesiastical Holy Week.

The work is such that you can jump in anytime. I recommend this powerful book: ‘Kaspar Hauser: The Struggle for the Spirit’ byAnthroposophical researcher Peter Tradowsky

Join us: 14 April Palm Sunday 2 – 4 pm, then Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. of Holy Week 15-18 April 7 – 9 pm

Special Event for GOOD FRIDAY 19 April 2019, 7 pm – 9 pm- ‘O Man (or Woman) Know YourSelf: A Glimpse at the Human Double’ a workshop with biography worker Paulette Arnold

(1st Class is on Holy Saturday 20 April 2019)

$10 – 20 or pay what you can + Snacks to Share Encouraged 

for more info. contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

 A Cosmic Wake Up Call: the Easter Paradox of 2019

https://i2.wp.com/www.rudolfsteiner.org/fileadmin/user_upload/branches/chicago/pix-older/heptagram_Rosy.jpg?w=604&ssl=1

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.