Let’s step up to reclaim the rewards promised us at the beginning of time -Exhilarating beauty that incites – crazy wisdom that immunizes against the temptation to believe our fears are ultimate truths; outrageous goodness that inspires us to experiment with irrepressible empathy; generous freedom that keeps us alert for opportunities to share the wealth; insurrectionary love that endlessly transforms us from the inside out; & a lust for justice that’s leavened with a knack for humor, keeping us honest as we humbly work to liberate everyone in the world from ignorance & suffering.
Patti Smith sings “People Have The Power” with a choir made up of 250 volunteer singers at NYC’s Public Theater
“… what we wanted to do was remind the listener of their individual power but also of the collective power of the people, how we can do anything. That’s why at the end it goes, “I believe everything we dream can come to pass, through our union we can turn the world around, we can turn the earth’s revolution.” We wrote it consciously together to inspire people, to inspire people to come together.” P. Smith.
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2 December 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: This evening the waning gibbous Moon rises about a half hour after the end of twilight. It’s in the middle of Gemini between the stick figures of the Twins.
Mars crosses from south to north of the ecliptic today. The point where its orbit intersects the ecliptic, or the plane of the solar system, is called its ascending node. Look for Mars after dark in Pisces the Fish.
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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
HEALING WILL COME TO OUR AGE when the thoughts and ideas that are applied to social conditions and political life are in living contact with spiritual reality. ~Rudolf Steiner
Deathday of Saint Aurelia of Strasbourg, a 4th-century saint. According to legend, Aurelia accompanied Saint Ursula & the eleven thousand virgins from Roman Britain to Cologne, where they were favorably received by Aquilin, bishop of the place. From Cologne they traveled to Basel. From Basel the travelers descended the Rhine to Strasbourg where St Aurelia succumbed to a violent fever, dying after a few days. Three virgins were left to care for her. She is particularly invoked against fevers in the church that bears her name. Her three companions lived many years in the same place & were buried there. Some centuries later their tomb was opened & their bodies were found completely intact, marked with titles bearing their names.
1469 – Deathday of Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici, Italian banker & politician
1804 – At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French
1814 – Deathday of Marquis de Sade
1823 – Monroe Doctrine: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James Monroe proclaims American neutrality in future European conflicts, & warns European powers not to interfere in the Americas. The intent and impact of the Monroe Doctrine persisted with only minor variations for more than a century. Its stated objective was to ‘free’ the newly independent colonies of Latin America from European intervention & avoid situations which could make the New World a battleground for the Old World powers, so that the U.S. could exert its own influence undisturbed.
1930 – Great Depression: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Herbert Hoover proposes a $150 million public works program to help generate jobs & stimulate the economy
1942 – World War II: During the Manhattan Project, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
1956 – The Granma reaches the shores of Cuba’s Oriente Province. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara & 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution
1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist & that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
1962 – Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to comment adversely on the war’s progress
1970 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations
1976 – Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado
1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: Four American missionaries, Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Ursuline Dorothy Kazel, & lay missionary Jean Donovan, are raped & murdered by a death squad
1982 – At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart
1988 – Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state
2001 – Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
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POD (Poem Of the Day)
~I come
& go out the same door
A portal ever undulating
To greet the passage of Time
To trace the footfall
Of a hidden god
To stand in space
When the rest disappears
In the face of flowers out of season…
No day passes
When we are not
Part of each other
~hag
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TONIGHT: Wed. 2 December 2020 – 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm CT
The Karma Project with the Central Regional Council“…We can understand that someone who goes to a place where he may succumb to an infection will have been driven there under the influence of a certain level of karmic consciousness…”
~Rudolf Steiner, Manifestations of Karma, Chapter 6, “Karma in Relation to Accidents”,
link: https://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA120/English/RSP1984/19100521p01.html
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82715186258
Meeting ID: 827 1518 6258
For more info. contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
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Thursday’s Dec. 3/10/17 for Advent 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm CT
Johannine Painting Circle with Nancy Melvin
At Elderberries Urban 1st Aid – Art as Medicine 4251 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago
Urban First Aid – Art As Medicine is initiating a Johannine Painting Circle that will begin on Thursday, December 3rd at the Elderberries space on Lincoln Avenue, next to the Rudolf Steiner Branch of Chicago. Nancy Melvin will be our instructor during the season of Advent.
Calling all wistful painters who long to explore but are afraid for lack of skill.
We will work very simply. Not painting an image, rather an exercise in perception, a meditation using simple brush work to develop a keen eye for relationships, worked in silence with the finest of watercolor paints and papers.
Immersing ourselves in the flow of the year, we open ourselves to the Advent season. The richest botanical colors of the year have flared and now passed. Bold yellows and sharp puce, flaming reds, dark burgundies and deep blue greens dominated our vision just last week. Let us come together to find color on our paint brushes and immerse ourselves in the elementary color exercises given to First Graders at a Waldorf School.
Angela Lord’s book, Color Dynamics is a practical workbook that you can purchase from Hawthorn Press to augment our sessions if you’d like. After attending the first session to learn the set up, practice and clean up, you can miss our group and still do the work at home with your own materials and join us when you can. Socially distant tables with paints and paper provided.
There are no paywalls. You are invited to make a contribution that will help the cost of supplies and initiative. A sliding scale from $0 to $15. If you’d like to gift a higher amount this will support others who are unable to contribute financially.~Nancy Melvin
Nancy Melvin is a watercolor, lazure, natural dye and textile artist who is married to a trompe l’oeil muralist who also specializes in signage, oils, gold leaf and woodblocks. They run Melvin Studio together and raised two Waldorf students. Nancy taught at Chicago Waldorf and Great Oaks Waldorf School before founding MADE HERE, her clothing line currently at Union Handmade, 3860 N. Lincoln Ave and Buddy in the Chicago Cultural Center.
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Sunday 20 December 2020, 2 pm – 3pm CT
‘Awakening to the Light in the Darkness’: A Christmas Contemplation with Rev. Craig Wiggins. In-Person at The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online
Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/7052931041?pwd=ai94YmhnS1k3cWN3TFFlL3ozTDgxdz09 Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 – Passcode: Peace
For more info. contact Hazel Archer hag@rschicago.org
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Wednesday 23 December 2020 – 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm CT
Unwrapping our Cosmic Gift: Thoughts on the Christmas Conference 1923
with the Central Regional Council. Themes inspired by Prokofieff’s book: May Human Beings Hear it! include: Turning Points of Time; Christ, Sophia and Michael; Foundation Stone Meditation.
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83533262486
for more info. contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
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24 December 2020 – 5 January 2021, 11 am – 11:30 am CT
ASA Holy Nights 2020-21 “A Rose By Any Other Name…”
International online gathering on the Theme of the Divine Feminine.
Hosted by Laura Scappaticci & Tess Parker, featuring the Sophia Working Group.
27 December – Leading Thoughts by ~hag
29 December – with Ultra-Violet Archer calling in on the Full Moon from Sweden
For more info. contact Tess Parker tess@anthroposophy.org
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Thursday 31 December 2020-21 Our Annual Conscious NYE Gathering 8 pm-1 am CT
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost & The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago
This Year’s Theme is a Masked Ball – Live Music, Folk Dancing, Potluck, Mask-making with Lucien Dante Lazar, more TBA
$20 per person http://donate.rschicago.org/
Stay tuned for details. For more info. contact Hazel Archer hag@rschicago.org
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Wednesday 6 January 2021, 2 pm – 4 pm CT
Joan’s Epiphany ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost & The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online Today on the Birthday of Joan of Arc we welcome special Guest Nancy Poer
We will also explore ‘The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations’, Lecture 5, ‘The Nature of the Christ Impulse and the Michaelic Sprit Serving It’ by Rudolf Steiner with Leading Thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Social Sculpture: “The Passage” with Luicen Dante Lazar, + Singing & Eurythmy
For more info. contact Hazel Archer hag@rschicago.org
Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/7052931041 Meeting ID: 705 293 1041
