Toward Freedoms Mind

Olee Swardorlf

~The Star gate is freshly oiled
Cutting a way
Thru Mystery
Reverberating & repeating my swelling heart
With high notes of intention
& the will toward freedoms mind…
~hag

18 February 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: What’s that dazzling scene in the west after sunset? It’s the Venus and Jupiter conjunction! They’ll be closest around March 1, 2023

Image result for change your habits painting
Rekha Rodwittiya

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

TODAY in 1883 – Birthday of eurythmist, actress. painter Mieta Waller-Pyle – dear friend & personal helper to Marie & Rudolf Steiner, living in their household for many years.

Mieta Waller grew up in Amsterdam with five siblings – the daughter of a shipping company owner. In 1907 she met Rudolf Steiner at the congress of the European sections of the Theosophical Society in Munich & soon became one of Marie & Rudolf Steiner ‘s closest associates, working actively with them from autumn 1908 to August 1924, first in Motzstrasse in Berlin, at the Villa Hansi in Dornach .

In Christoph Lindenberg biography: ‘Rudolf Steiner-A chronicle’, we hear that in 1908, Mieta suggested to Marie Steiner “building a temple to the words of Rudolf Steiner” which gave the impetus for the construction of the Goetheanum, which she supported with generous donations. Mieta helped paint the Faust motif on the samll dome.

From 1908 she was also involved with singing & recitation performances in the Kunststuben , which offered free cultural activities for poor sections of the population in Berlin , Munich & Vienna .

In 1909 Mieta Waller took part in the performance of Édouard Schuré’s drama ” The Children of Lucifer ” & from 1910 to 1913 she played Johannes Thomasius in the Munich performances of Rudolf Steiner’s mystery dramas .

Mieta Waller was an important speech artist, she also created her own models for house construction in Dornach .

On August 5 , 1924, Mieta Waller married the American painter William Scott Pyle , who had been involved in the construction of the Goetheanum since 1921 . Together with him she founded a company for the production of vegetable dyes .

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (4 interesting Deathdays)

1535 – Deathday of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German magician, astrologer, &  theologian. “  In Agrippa’s time one found, it is true, little comprehension of the “natural magic” which he advocated, and which seeks in nature the natural, and the spiritual only in the spirit; men clung to the “supernatural magic” which seeks the spiritual in the realm of the sensory, and against which Agrippa fought. This is why the Abbot Trithemius of Sponheim advised him to communicate his views as a secret doctrine only to a few chosen ones, who were able to rise to a similar conception of nature and spirit, for “one gives only hay to oxen and not sugar, as to songbirds.” It is perhaps to this abbot that Agrippa himself owes the right point of view.” Mysticism at the Dawn of the Modern Age, by Rudolf Steiner

Lucas Cranach the Elder

1546 – Deathday of Martin Luther, German priest & theologian, leader of the Protestant Reformation. A piece of paper was later found on which Luther had written his last statement. The statement was in Latin, apart from “We are beggars,” which was in German. The statement reads:

No one can understand Virgil’s Bucolics unless he has been a shepherd for five years. No one can understand Virgil’s Georgics, unless he has been a farmer for five years.

No one can understand Cicero’s Letters (or so I teach), unless he has busied himself in the affairs of some prominent state for twenty years.

Know that no one can have indulged in the Holy Writers sufficiently, unless he has governed churches for a hundred years with the prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ and the apostles.

Do not assail this divine Aeneid; nay, rather prostrate revere the ground that it treads.

We are beggars: this is true.

1564 – Deathday of Michelangelo, Italian sculptor & painter.

“In Michelangelo we have a spirit who helped human evolution on its way because he had a maturity of soul which enabled him to imprint on the world of space and matter significant facts from the spiritual world. He stood wholly in the great current of his times yet his own inmost quality was not fully understood. A friend once wrote to him that even the Pope feared him; and yet in his soul there lived all the greatness of Christian impulses which flowed into his work. While he felt himself at one with the great Christian impulses he yet lived at the dawn of a later epoch — closely though it was still connected with earlier ages. The content of older Christian impulses still affected his soul and out of that he created something which in its form and artistic method was already part of the ties in which we ourselves live. Hence comes the mood of the poem which he wrote — probably during his last days as he looked back over his life — and which makes it clear what our relation is to him, and how we should allow his influence over us to work:

Now hath my life across a stormy sea
like a frail barque reached that wide port where all
are hidden, ere the final reckoning fall
of good and evil for eternity.

Now know I well how that fond phantasy,
which made my soul the worshipper and thrall
of earthly art, is vain; how criminal
is that which all men seek unwillingly.

Those amorous thoughts which were so lightly dressed
what are they when the double death is nigh?
The one I know for sure, the other dread.

Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest
my soul that turns to His great Love on high
Whose arms to clasp us on the cross were spread.”

~ from ‘Michelangelo’, A Lecture given by Rudolf Steiner, Berlin, 8th January, 1914, GA 63

1967 – Deathday of J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist & academic. “Father of the atomic bomb” for his role in the Manhattan Project, the World War II undertaking that developed the first nuclear weapons. The first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945, in the Trinity test in New Mexico. Oppenheimer later remarked that it brought to mind words from the Bhagavad Gita: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” In August 1945, the weapons were used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

After the war ended, Oppenheimer became chairman of the influential General Advisory Committee of the newly created United States Atomic Energy Commission. He used that position to lobby for international control of nuclear power to avert nuclear proliferation and a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb during a 1949–50 governmental debate on the question & subsequently took stances on defense-related issues that provoked the ire of some factions in the U.S. government & military. During the Second Red Scare, those stances, led to him suffering the revocation of his security clearance in a much-written-about hearing in 1954. Effectively stripped of his direct political influence, he continued to lecture, write & work in physics.

Michelangelo

The Categories of Aristotle – a process of contraction…
Is there a path to expansion…..?

PUBLIC LECTURE AND EURYTHMY WORKSHOP WITH CLAUDIA FONTANA

Friday 24 March 2023 – Lecture 7 pm CT – 8:30 pm – Purchase tickets at the door or pay online
$12

Saturday 25 March 2023 – Workshop – 9 am CT– (10:30 am 1/2 hour break – 11 am) 12:30 pm CT – Purchase tickets at the door or pay online $50

The Categories of AristotleA process of contraction…exploring a path to expansion

Does one have to be a philosopher of great erudition to approach Aristotle’s gift to humanity……his Categories?

Perhaps , YES! But an initial acquaintance with them can lead out of the confinement of the intellectual concept to an experience of expansion supported by Eurythmy.

In the evening lecture Claudia will introduce the life of the Categories before they became concepts – Bringing the symbols in a sequence of sounds  (called the Evolutionary Sequence ) out of their conceptual form, to life, supported by Eurythmy and examples of poetry.

During the workshop we will enter into the movement of the poetry presented  during the lecture. This will be accessible to Eurythmists as well as to anyone interested in the life of language, poetry and our alphabet.

at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society
4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map)
https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar 
www.rschicago.org/donate

For more info contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Claudia Fontana saw a Eurythmy performance when still a teenager. Unbeknownst to her at the time, that performance was the gate to her destiny path. Soon thereafter she studied Eurythmy in Vienna and subsequently spent fourteen years as a performer with the Dornach, London and Stuttgart Eurythmeum ensembles. Teaching became the next challenge which she happily met in the United States, Europe. Before Covid, she spent seven years teaching all levels in Thailand, Malaysia and China. She resides in Ann Arbor, MI still performing and teaching.

The Women at the Tomb – A Festival of Resurrection

with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Song-Circle with Velsum, 

Eurythmy – & an artistic break out session

Holy Saturday 8 April 2023

1 pm – 3pm CT hybrid event in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & on zoom

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7050174041

Meeting ID: 705 017 4041

For more Info. contact Hag@RSChicago.org Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map)
www.rschicago.org/donate

PRESENTS:

The Mystery of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

This course is available on Zoom. You will be emailed a Zoom link closer to the time of the class. The course will be recorded and you will receive a link to watch it. Go to the Infinity Foundation web site to enroll

Course Number 231154 / Zoom
Date: Thursday, May 11
Time 7:00 – 8:30 PM CST
Cost $33/23 payment 10 days in advance

Gerald Shepherd

When we tune into the Cycle of the Seasons, we experience that as the Earth breathes out in the Springtime, the beings of nature reach upwards towards the heights. The longing of the human soul also strives to meet this mood of ascension, which attunes all life to the cosmic expanses.

Together we will gain insights in how to rise up to our Higher Self by participating in this harmonizing spring-dialogue between the worlds.

This reconnection between heaven & earth was prefigured in the story of Jacob’s ladder from the Old Testament. Through his dream of the ‘stairway to heaven’, Jacob gave us a prophecy in the picture of a golden ladder on which choirs of Angels traverse between the ‘Above & Below’. The Mystery of the Ascension of Christ, 40 days after the Resurrection at Easter, fulfilled Jacob’s Prophecy. Christ as the Being of Love became the living bridge connecting us to the eternal.

Through this workshop we will learn how humanity will also be transfigured in the fullness of time. The company of the Angelic Hierarchies wait for us, their younger siblings, to ascend, first of all in our thinking, to meet them in fellowship, as they work all the while by our sides.

Nancy Poer

~Vitae Sophia~A Whitsun Festival of United Soul Endeavor 

with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Velsum Voices & Eurythmy

Saturday 27 May 2023 a Hybrid event in person* & on zoom

We are called to redeem the ether spheres to create an Ecclesia, a chalice for The Sophia. Then the spirit flame can spread out to become what Steiner called a “World Whitsun”, which began in earnest at the Christmas Conference. The Whitsun Festival highlights one of the greatest challenges of being human: placing our individual gifts, in right relationship within the social realm. This challenge is especially strong now during this ‘pandemic’. Our groups striving to know Spiritual Science must work together as a community, to have the possibility to create a new culture where a sacrament is possible in every encounter. Our individual strength is enhanced by weaving our gifts together, kindling our social world in conscious community.

Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83663366670?pwd=L292UzlOR1pkZjBXSWpxK1B2b0o1dz09 Meeting ID: 836 6336 6670 / Passcode: 397593

For more Info. contact Hag@RSChicago.org Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator
*Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (mapwww.rschicago.org/donate


Find a collection of the many RECORDINGS of Presentations, Programs & Festivals HERE

38 thoughts on “Toward Freedoms Mind

  1. Thanks for those last words of Martin Luther — they reminded me of why it is that Edgar Cayce had such an innate understanding of the Gospel writers, and why that understanding manifested throughout his life. One of Edgar’s incarnations had been as Lucius, bishop of the church at Laodicea. As Lucius, he certainly knew the apostles, and may have even met the Master of Masters at some point. He was also the main author of the Gospel of Luke, normally attributed to his cousin, Dr. Luke, Paul’s personal physician; in truth, it was actually written by Lucius. This is an insight that many who discard Cayce as an unreliable source aren’t aware of — they don’t consider how much time he spent with the holy writers of the New Testament.

    Oppenheimer and that other fellow, Wernher von Braun, had some harmful influence on American society. One of them a key figure in the development of the atomic bomb, and von Braun, in his book Project Mars, laying out the groundwork for Elon Musk to follow in his quest to civilize Mars. A couple of dudes that we’d have been better off if they hadn’t come to America, where they were incentivized in their scientific endeavors.

    1. Thanks Maverick –
      I was thinking of Edgar Cayce the other day, wondering if perhaps you might direct me to anything about the being we know as Mary Magdalena?
      I am deep into researching her for my Easter festival.
      Thanks

      1. Yes, I have some information that will be of interest. She reincarnated during Cayce’s lifetime; she was known as Mildred Davis, born May 31, 1903 in Selma, Alabama, and died Nov. 2, 1987 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I’ll send 3 files that will help fill in some information, will send to your email address. A couple of insights that’ll help get you started — she was the same Mary that was sister to Martha and Lazarus, so was originally from Bethany. She also was the woman taken in adultery before the council, the one they wanted to stone, and she was the same woman that Jesus delivered seven devils from. The files will fill in much more for you. Cheers.

        1. That she was sister to Lazurus & Martha is confirmed in the Gospels, the rest I will have to investagate, thanks for sharing Cayce’s insights…
          xox

          1. The Individuality that incarnated as Mary Magdalene had a very significant prior life in relation to the Maccabees, and it concerns the mother of the seven sons who were martyred, and died. Her name then was Hannah.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman_with_seven_sons

            She would reincarnate as Mary, the mother of the Solomon Jesus. Closely associated to the mother of the seven martyred Maccabees is the widow of the seven sons, who each took her as their bride in the order of their respective deaths. This was customary at the time. Thus, she married each of the seven sons of the mother, and saw them die. She is the one that reincarnates as Mary Magdalene. That is how she was afflicted with the seven demons. Each demon represents the effect of the seven deadly sins. It is very complex story, and very much worth telling this year.

            So, for example, when Mary hears that Christ has incarnated, and she was living in Magdala at the time, she returns to the home where she had been cast out, and this brings her testimony into first focus in the Gospel of Luke here:

            36 Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38 and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

            40 And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. 47 For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” 49 Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” 50 And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7.

            This is Mary of Bethany, having returned home from her former life as the so-called “Magdala”, which refers to a town on the west side of the Sea of Galilee. Fishermen lived there, and she provided service to them as a very deeply conflicted woman.

            1. I see the Soloman Mary as the reincarnated Eve – the 1st woman –
              Just as John the Baptist was Adam.
              & I see the Luke Mary as the holding that part of Eve that stayed in the Mother Lodge with the Nathan Soul

              I will ponder the other ideas
              thank you

              I am also living into the notion that Mary Magdalene may have been The Queen of Sheba…
              That would make sense being that Cain went on to become Hiram & Lazuras John.
              But perhaps She connects more with Abel & king Solomon, as it makes sense that this individuality would also be part of the story of Christ on earth…

              1. Well, can we agree that Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene are one and the same? Chapter 8 of Luke begins:

                “Soon afterwards, He began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God. The twelve were with Him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.”

                Thus, it is important to determine the source of the seven demons. And why was the pharisee so certain that she was a sinner?

                As for the mother of the seven Maccabees, who did marry the same woman, and this is described in the Gospel of Mark, she would reincarnate in order to give birth to seven children, and the first was born of the Holy Spirit; the Solomon Jesus. They would all become stepbrothers and sisters of the Nathan Jesus when this Mary married the carpenter, which was also the custom to do.

                Have you ever wondered why these two Mary’s were so close?
                It is like the daughter of Jairus and the woman with the hemorrhage. They had a deep karmic bond.

              2. Yes, Being a wealthy family, Mary had her own castle in Magdala.
                Perhaps the source of the sickness was psychological having a connection to the $.
                Just as her brother had to go away sad until he could donate his wealth as Mary did to Christ’s ministry.

                I am trying to discern your line of reasoning around the Maccabee connection – what does this sentence mean?
                “As for the mother of the seven Maccabees, who did marry the same woman, and this is described in the Gospel of Mark…”

                The Luke Mary & The Matthew/Solomon Mary were close because they were the reunited parts of Eve – joined as one right before the Baptism of Jesus of Nazareth as told in Steiner’s 5th Gospel.

                We also learn that Mary the Mother in her wholeness (‘becoming virgin again’) brought also the Divine Sophia in to inspire Lazarus John as the Evangelist to write the Book of Revelation when they went to Ephesus?

                What did Mary Magdalene do after Pentecost…?

              3. There were many Mary’s, just as there were many John’s, and it can get confusing trying to follow them all 2,000 years later.

                Tradition says she went with Mary the Mother to Ephesus, and later on to France. Google says Mary the Magdelena evangelized some of France, taking refuge in a cave near Aix-en-Provence, in southern France. Chartres is a cathedral (near Paris, northern France) dedicated to a Mary, could be the Mother, but also possibly the Magdelena, and it became an esoteric school of sorts. France seems a possibility, since Cayce mentions she had a later incarnation in France (1700’s), and even one in England during the time of Alfred the Great (late 800’s).

              4. So True…More like a title of initiation.

                I have heard about the cave & about France & Chartres & all, just hoping to discern the symbolic mythology from the sensationalism…

              5. 18 Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children. 21 The second one married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise; 22 and so all seven left no children. Last of all the woman died also. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had married her.” 24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

                https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?
                search=Mark%2012&version=NASB1995

                According to Rudolf Steiner, the Maccabees, i.e., the five sons of the Maccabean father, and the seven sons of the Maccabean mother, reincarnated as the 12 disciples of Christ. This adds further substance to the later identities of the mother, and the widow.

                https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA139/English/AP1986/19120916p01.html

                The Solomon Mary bore the Spirit of the Mother of the Nathan Jesus, and she and Mary Magdalene became close companions.

              6. I know you have been trying to get me to tune into Steiner’s Gospel of Mark for a while now, thank you for being persistent…Yes, he says it:
                “The Twelve were deeply rooted in a nationality which had constituted itself in the grandest form. They stood there as if they were naked souls, simple souls, when Christ found them again. There had been a quite abnormal interval between their incarnations. The gaze of Christ Jesus could rest upon the Twelve, the reincarnated souls of those who had been the seven sons of the Maccabean and the five sons of Mattathias, Judas and his brothers; it was of these that the apostolate was formed. They were thrown into the element of fishermen and simple folk.
                Among the five sons of Mattathias is one who is already called Judas in the Old Testament. He was the one who at that time fought more bravely than all the others for his own people. In his whole soul he was dedicated to his people, and it was he who was successful in forming an alliance with the Romans against King Antiochus of Syria (I Maccabees, Chap. 8). This Judas is the same who later had to undergo the test of the betrayal, because he who was most intimately bound up with the old specifically Hebrew element, could not at once find the transition into the Christian element, needing the severe testing of the betrayal.”

                I am still trying to live into the connections with the mother of the Maccabees.
                I will read the 2 books of the Maccabees found in the Apocrypha –
                I am not familiar with the sons of Mattathias, the brothers of Judas who fought against the king of Antioch.
                I am particularly interested in the story of the ‘widow’ in Book 2.

                I am on fire with these insights, thank you!
                xox

              7. 2 Maccabee 7: 20 The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Though she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. 21 She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with a noble spirit, she fired her woman’s reasoning with a man’s courage, and said to them, 22 “I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. 23 Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.”

                27 But, leaning close to him, she spoke in their native tongue as follows, deriding the cruel tyrant: “My son, have pity on me. I carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you for three years, and have reared you and brought you up to this point in your life, and have taken care of you.[f] 28 I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed.[g] Thus also mankind comes into being. 29 Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God’s mercy I may get you back again with your brothers.”

              8. Persistence is meant for a reason. Now, when you ask about the five sons of Mattathias, and Judas is one of these five, we know they conducted the Maccabean Revolt. Yet, what actually took place here? Maccabees 1 & 2 tells the story for your reading and interpretation. It involves murder, and the objection to murder. The Abomination of Desolation has its source here.

                When these twelve are reincarnated, they are identified in reverse order to the 5 and the 7. This makes it possible to see who was closest to Judas:

                The Twelve Are Chosen

                13 And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. 14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, 15 and to have authority to cast out the demons. 16 And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), 17 and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); 18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him. Mark 3

                So, closest to Judas was Thomas, as they had been brothers before. And, it was Thomas, called Didymus, who was absent when Christ first appeared to the disciples at the Easter resurrection. Do you remember the occasion in which Christ first appears to them? Thomas was not there. You see, he and Judas were so close that they were like “twins”. They had the strongest affiliation to their previous life as brothers of the Maccabean father.

                So, the disciples are selected and named in reverse order to the five and the seven, with the seven being duly acknowledged as martyrs for their opposition to the Abomination of Desolation. And the five being those that conducted what proved to be a major betrayal. That is why when Christ incarnated, He received so much opposition from the Pharisees, Priests and Elders. It was because the Jewish power center had been established with the Maccabean Revolt. Yet, the restoring of the Temple had the blood of murder all over it. Judas Maccabeus was the hero in this, and it would set up two more betrayals. Judas Iscariot we know about, and then later in the Roman era.

        2. I don’t think it is possible that Mary Magdalene could be the sinning woman having been revealed in adultery. This comes from the time of Christ in the time of John, chapter 8. Mary was being deeply protected by this time. So, we should look at this.

          The Adulterous Woman

          8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” 6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.” John 8.

          So, I don’t think we can equate this occurrence with Mary. The main reason is that this event took place right after the Feast of Tabernacles, and Mary was already a well-established disciple by then. Thus, the woman taken in the act of adultery was a pawn of the Jews. As such, she was forgiven, just like Mary.

          Discrimination is the hallmark of spiritual science. Thus, what can we find from the assertions of Edgar Cayce that uphold? I am certainly one that will listen, and yet she might have incarnated from Alabama to Oklahoma in the 20th century. This only means that lives go on and incarnate again. I know that mine has. Cheers.

            1. Hi Hazel,

              You have asked very important questions about Mary Magdalene, such as, “what about Mary after Pentecost”? This is very relevant because we have her being a kind of icon in the Johannine community there in Jerusalem in the years following the crucifixion.

              Yet, you also acknowledge the importance of the Gospel of Mark. There is a certain relevance to this in the fact that after the raising of Lazarus, and before the return to Bethany six days before the Passover, Christ took the disciples to a place in the wilderness area for a period of time. This was to take them out of public view. From the Gospel of John, chapter 11:

              53 So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.

              54 Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.

              55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 So they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.

              This period of time in Ephraim becomes the pretext for Steiner’s lectures on The Gospel of Mark. Having possibly even 40 days to live and commune with His disciples, Christ tells them all manner of things, and especially how they had been hand-selected from the former Maccabees. Just imagine how these twelve reincarnated together again in only about 165 years. That is why Steiner says that “there had been a quite abnormal interval between their incarnations”. They were meant to reincarnate rather quickly, and side-by-side, as before. But, here is the dynamic. Now, when Christ had them, they were together as brothers in arms. Before, they were divided, 5 & 7. This is the important equation to resolve.

              I am so glad that you are asking about Mary Magdalene for Easter and Pentecost. I did not expect it, but it gives another chance. Cheers.

            2. Before you judge too hastily, consider that there may have been more than one woman caught in adultery; it’s a tactic the religious leaders tried more than once in their attempts to entrap Jesus in some sort of wrongdoing.

              1. no harshness intended. No doubt the corrupt people in power accused many woman, & yes it was a tactic to try & entrap Jesus.
                I love how he stoops down & writes her karma into the earth!
                But I’m just not sure it was Mary Magdalene, as she was a rich influencal woman, & her brother was a leader in the community.

              2. A good modern-day comparison might be Hunter Biden. Although he was born into an influential, rich family, that didn’t keep him from dealing with his own demons of addictions. Although this Mary was born into a prominent family, Jesus did deliver her from seven demons. I’d love to hear Hunter’s thoughts if he were to view that Chosen episode I mentioned (Season 1, Episode 1), where Mary is delivered of her demons; I have a feeling he, like many others have, would strongly relate. I’ve heard several testimonies from people who’ve been delivered of their own “demons”, who found that episode emotional. And the struggle didn’t end there for Mary; she continued to be dogged by her past, and by the feeling that she wasn’t worthy of her new Rabbi. I highly recommend to people to watch The Chosen, if only to get an understanding of what it was like living in Palestine in the days when the Master walked the earth, but also to get a better understanding of what those early followers dealt with.

                Something I’m not sure of was Mary’s, and her family’s, associations with the Essenes. I know you’re aware that this is why Jesus’ family, and the family of John the Baptizer, were from the region of Galilee – because as Essenes they were ostracized from closer association with the Temple in Jerusalem. My hunch is that this is why the family was in Bethany, and not Jerusalem. I think Lazarus especially, though he was the “rich young ruler” and in line for the role of high priest, was ostracized also, because they had chosen to be associated with the Essenes, the “expectant” ones, the branch of Judaism that was actively expecting and preparing for the Messiah, moreso than any other sect at that time.

              3. Yes, i have been pondering that idea that perhpas Mary was estranged from her family & that was why she was in Magdala…

                Bethany is really not that far from Jerusalem, but interesting to think about a connection to the Essenes.

              4. It is important to hold onto the idea that Mary was expelled to Magdala because she was an outcast. Thus, being rich, or even potentially rich, meant nothing. It can be shown that her brother also eschewed money as the so-called, “rich young ruler”. He was also all about finding the true Spirit. Only Martha can we be certain about:

                38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10

              5. Yes, Lazarus was seeking Spirit, but it may have been a longer process for him to “eschew” his riches than we might think. We were imagining Lazarus’ predicament recently — you’ve heard the saying “Oh, so and so, you’re killing me…”, or another one is “yeah, right, like that’s going to happen … over my dead body”. Well, Lazarus may have had such a reaction when Jesus asked him to sell all his riches in order to give to the poor. Was it his seeking for such a transformation that caused his “illness” and eventual death, and subsequent resurrection? Just something to consider as we try and humanize some of the things Jesus asked of his followers.

              6. In the epic, Jesus of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene, who is portrayed by Anne Bancroft, is first shown as living in Magdala, and wherein she hears that someone professing to be the Messiah is walking and preaching near to her home in Bethany. She wonders what it could mean, and leaves immediately.

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z6IfzcUap8

                I saw this back in 1977, and remember the Bancroft performance. I think she really retains the essence of what it means to be Mary in being healed. Also, the other performances are outstanding, and especially, James Farentino as Peter. He hates that the Romans have become the overlords in Galilee, and only wants the freedom to fish without being oppressed. It is 6 hours and 21 minutes, but very worth it.

              7. There is no evidence that Lazarus was ever the so-called “rich young ruler”. I know that there is the story of this rich man who wants to be a follower, but can’t give away his possessions. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell of how Christ says, “it is easier to pull a camel through the eye of a needle than to get a rich man to give up his wealth”.

                What if it can be shown, rather, that Lazarus was a disciple from the beginning, and he was one of the first two to follow Christ the day after the Baptism?

                35 Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

                The Gospel of John, chapter 1

                Nowhere is the other disciple who first follows Christ, named. And he remains unnamed until chapter 11. But, the beginning of the account of the Gospel of John starts here, and we know after Lazarus is raised that he is named as the writer of this gospel.
                It is an eyewitness record.

              8. You’re right, we can’t say for sure when they’re unnamed. There is Mark 10:21 where we’re told that Jesus looked at the rich young ruler, and LOVED him — there’s not many who we’re told that Jesus loved, but Lazarus was one of them.

                There’s also speculation that Andrew’s friend was Nathaniel (aka Bartholomew), later brought to Jesus by Andrew, and called to be one of the Twelve. This could also explain the eyewitness account of what transpired at the Jordan.

              9. It was Philip who brought Nathanael to Jesus.

                Now, with the accounts of the “rich young ruler”, for example, Mark 10:21, this is no giveaway that he is Lazarus. Remember, he goes away because he can’t give up his wealth. What testimony is that to Lazarus? The rich young ruler leaves just as Christ is about to go to Jerusalem for the Passover and the Crucifixion. In other words, three years have gone by already before this rich young ruler even shows up to prove he is not willing to sell his possessions!

                In the places where Rudolf Steiner describes Lazarus, he never refers at all to anything about a rich man. He does indicate that after Lazarus is raised, he is identified as the writer of the Gospel of John. So, if the rich young ruler missed the three years altogether, how could he write the account after the crucifixion of Christ?

                What is unique about the Gospel of John is that it is entirely linear and chronological; an eyewitness account. The writer has to be there from the beginning.

              10. In the Gospel of Mark, Christ speaks first of how we can only receive the kingdom of God as a little child.
                Then just as Maverick said the Gospel tells us that Christ beholds the one who comes running over & then kneels by him, with love.

                Passing thru the eye of a needle is a euphemism for initiation. The one Christ loves goes away sad that day – But then takes up this call to initiation – he passes thru the eye of the needle, which than makes him worthy to receive the 1st true Christian Initiation.

              11. That’s right, it was Philip who brought Nathaniel to Jesus; I knew something didn’t sound right when I said it was Andrew. Regarding Lazarus and the rich young ruler, a scholarly account of it was written by Edward Reaugh Smith (known for his book, The Burning Bush), called “The Temple Sleep of the Rich Young Ruler”. He goes into detail of why it is that he, and Steiner, associate this young ruler with Lazarus. I read the book a few years back, and it convinced me, so that I’m now comfortable with the idea that the rich, young ruler was indeed Lazarus.

              12. Yes, I neglected to mention, it’s a “tome”. Took me a long time to get through it, but it was worth the time and trouble. One of my early reads when I was becoming acquainted with Steiner. But you like tomes; after all, you must be used to them, since you enjoy reading Prokofieff.

              13. “It was necessary to create a sort of transition in the resurrection of Lazarus. The deathlike state lasting three and a half days was still retained in the case of Lazarus, but you should clearly understand that this state differed from the one passed through by the old initiates. Lazarus’ condition was not brought about artificially by the initiator, as was the case in former times, by withdrawing the etheric from the physical body through processes I am not at liberty to describe here. We may say that it came about in a more natural way. From the Gospel itself you can gather that Christ had associated with Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary before, for we read, “The Lord loved him”. This means that for a long time Christ Jesus had been exercising a great and powerful influence on Lazarus, who had thereby been adequately prepared and developed. And the consequence was that in his case the initiation did not call for the artificial inducing of a three-and a-half-day trance, but that this came about of itself under the mighty impression of the Christ-Impulse. So for the outer world Lazarus was as though dead, so to speak, for three and a half days, even though during this time he experienced what was of the utmost importance; and thus only the last act, the resurrection, was undertaken by Christ.

                And anyone who is familiar with what there occurred recognizes an echo of the old initiation process in the words employed by Christ Jesus: “Lazarus, come forth.”

                The resurrected Lazarus, as we have seen, was John — or better, the writer of the John Gospel. It was he who could introduce the Gospel of the Christ Being into the world because he was, so to say, the first initiate in the Christian sense. For this reason we may safely assume that this Gospel of St. John, so badly abused by present-day research of a purely historical, critical, theological nature, and represented as a mere lyrical hymn, as a subjective expression of this author, will prove the means of insight into the profoundest mysteries of the Christ-Impulse.”

                https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA112/English/AP1948/19090701p02.html

              14. Yes, this quote holds a clue to my reading that Lazarus John was the Rich young Ruler:

                “This means that for a long time Christ Jesus had been exercising a great and powerful influence on Lazarus, who had thereby been adequately prepared and developed.”

                It may also be that Lazarus was working in a ‘spiritual economy’ with the individuality that we know of as John the son of Zebedee

              15. You select precisely the words that prove that Lazarus was in close proximity to Christ for a long time. Thus, the initiation was taking place gradually, and in a more natural way than the former method of artificially withdrawing the etheric body out of the physical body. This was no longer possible. Lazarus was in constant view of the Christ because Lazarus was documenting the Gospel of John on a day-to-day basis as the writer who is not named until chapter 11.

                Now, the Gospel of Luke, chapter 16, is even more precise in describing the condition of Lazarus before being placed in the so-called, “temple sleep”. His etheric body is nearly dissipated, and he is feeling very poorly.

                https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+16&version=NASB1995

                This begins at verse 19, and describes a poor man, and a rich man who dies with his wealth. He goes to Hades, and begs Abraham to send Lazarus to him. Abraham indicates that this is impossible. The chasm is too great between the Upper World and the lower world.

              16. Here is another possible clue to Lazarus having already become a disciple long before the “rich young ruler” shows up. In the chapter of Luke just following the one in which Christ talks to Martha, i.e., chapter 10, in which she brings Christ into her home, there is a most interesting interaction with a disciple who knew John the Baptist:

                “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And He said to them, “When you pray, say:

                Our Father, Who art in Heaven
                Hallowed be Thy Name.
                Thy Kingdom Come
                Thy Will be done,
                On earth as it is in Heaven.
                Give us this day our daily bread
                And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
                And lead us not into temptation,
                But deliver us from evil.
                For Thine is the Kingdom,
                And the Power,
                And the Glory,
                Forever. Amen

                This is from chapter 11 of Luke, and it is very possible that Christ is in the same village where he had spoke to Martha. Could the disciple asking Christ how to pray be Lazarus? Remember, the first two followers of Christ were disciples of John the Baptist.

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