Who is this John the Baptist? (continued)
Before JB baptizes Jesus, opening the way for the cosmic Christ, he brings about an opening for many people, preparing them for their roles as disciples of Christ. By baptizing with water, JB brought about an initiatory near death experience, loosening the etheric body, so they could remember their life as a spiritual being. Into this experience of the past, John spoke his mighty admonition: “Change your hearts and minds!”
Piero della Francesca
After the dove descended on Jesus & He became the Christ, & John the Baptist said, “He must increase and I must decrease’” JB was in prison until his beheading. Then his role changed from that of the “voice of one calling in solitude“, to an even more more inward voice, heard in the stillness of the soul.
Herod who had made him prisoner is haunted by this inner voice. Herod’s wicked wife is also affected & wants to silence this uncomfortable voice, so she has John the Baptist beheaded.
The spirit, or angel, of John the Baptist, becomes the guardian of the apostles, appearing especially after the “rich young man”, Lazarus underwent the first initiation in the ‘New Mysteries’, accomplished thru Christ Jesus, achieving the name John.
Instead of being performed in the secret inner sanctum of the temple, as it was in the past, this new initiation was done as an example, out in plain sight. It is not coincidence that they both take on the name John, because Johannes E-O-Ah is a powerful title sounding a high stage of initiation.
Lazarus John, ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’, is the only one who is able to remain mindful thru the events of Passion Week. He is there in full consciousness on Golgotha at the “Turning Point of Time” with Mary the Mother. And, along with Mary Magdalene, he is able to behold the Risen Christ on Easter Sunday.
He becomes the writer of the Gospel of St. John, the most spiritual book in the New Testament. He lives a long life, taking Mother Mary with him to the island of Patmos in Greece, where he is able to receive the prophetic vision of the Book of Revelation, with help from John the Baptist & other heavenly sources, bringing us a vision of the future destiny of humankind.
And the voice of John the Baptist can still be heard today, reminding us to, ‘Make Straight the path’.
Tomorrow I will try to bring a synthesis to this theme
Blessings & Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg
***
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
26 June 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Bella Luna, almost at first quarter, shines in the dim hind feet of Leo this evening. Above the Moon you’ll find brighter, Denebola, Leo’s tail tip.
Denebola forms an almost perfectly equilateral triangle with brighter Spica off to the left, & Arcturus, brighter still, above them.
Venus (occult Mercury) as Morning Star, is getting a little higher & easier to spot in the east-northeast as dawn brightens.
363 – Julian the Apostate murdered. Rudolf Steiner speaks a lot about him as Tycho Brahe, astronomer, astrologer & alchemist & Herzeloyde, Percival’s mother, in Karmic Relationships Vol. 4 Lec. 5
405 – St. Vigilius murdered in Rendena Valley, Italy, where he had been preaching against the worship of the god Saturn. Vigilius said Mass & overturned a statue of the god into the River. As punishment, he was stoned to death. Ironically, a statue of the god Neptune stands in front of Vigilius’ shrine in Trent today.
699 – En no Ozuno, a Japanese mystic said to have supernatural powers, regarded as the founder of the folk religion Shugendō, is banished to Izu Ōshima.
1295 – Przemysł II crowned king of Poland. The white eagle is added to the Polish coat of arms.
1407 – Ulrich von Jungingen becomes Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.
1409 – Western Schism: Three men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance.
1483 – Richard III becomes King of England
1510 – Michelangelo completes his painting of Jeremiah on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo once remarked that “In painting, the idea is an image that the intellect of the painter has to see with interior eyes in the greatest silence and secrecy”. That’s why the prophet Jeremiah has his mouth covered & finger extended in the ‘signum harpocraticum’, an ancient gesture of silence signifying profound esoteric knowledge. Origen, Christianity’s first theologian, states that you will not understand the prophet’s wisdom “if you do not listen in a hidden manner”. Jeremiah’s books in the Old Testament, like all scripture & art, require an esoteric interpretation.
(For Fuji) 1927 – The Cyclone roller coaster opens on Coney Island
1945 – The United Nations Charter is signed by 50 nations
1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall
2000 – Pope John Paul II reveals the third secret of Fátima
2015 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution
***
POD (poem Of the Day)
~On that afternoon
As the grapes were flowering
I stood in my garden & heard death fingering his lyre among the wild violets…
8 was the # of his song
12 gods, 1 note dividing, harmony returning…
I laid aside my troubles, gathering what I knew
I dressed in the skin of a priest
& hurried toward the light
Bearing the light
I am
Heading toward the unknown…
~hag
***
Friday 26 June OR Sunday 28 June, 2020 Goethe’s Primordial Plant Workshop with Victoria Martin
Urpflanze Magic Art Workshop with Victoria Martin – Create your own Totem Plant Portrait on 8 x 32 Archival Canvas.
$15 – $25 (or pay what you will) includes Tuition & All Materials. Space is limited to 10, so please reserve your spot. Each session is a stand alone event.
2 opportunities to Create:
Friday 26 – Doors open 4:30pm, Lecture, Demo & Art Making: 5 pm – 6:30 pm, Critique & Soiree 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
OR
Sunday 28 – Doors open: 2:30pm, Lecture, Demo & Art Making: 3 pm – 4:30 pm, Critique & Soiree: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Please bring Paleo Snacks to share. RSVP by Thursday June 25 Contact viccimartin@gmail.com or call 312-961-3380.
~Rudolf Steiner Branch of Chicago Festivals & Programs Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
***
Sat. 27 June 2020 Werbeck Singing workshop 9 am – 5 pm
9 am – 3:30 pm Sat. 27 June 2020 with Alicia Burns at Elderberries 3-Fold Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultural Hub 4251 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618
$25-$65 or pay it forward
…the human voice needs no training, it is already there, finished and perfect as an entity. What the voice is waiting for is liberation. We should speak of freeing the voice, or better yet uncovering the voice, and not voice-training. ~ Valborg Werbeck-Svärdström, creator of the Werbeck Singing Method
Details TBA. for more info. contact Frank Agrama
***
August 8-18 ‘Classroom Alive’ Youth Open-Source Learning in Chicago
We’re starting up with Culture in our community – join young people here in Chicago for a 10 day walking journey – Classroom Alive Chicago!
Exploration & experiencial learning all over Chicagoland, starting at at Elderberries 3-Fold Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultrual Hub 4251 N. Lincolon Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618
for more info. contact Ultra-Violet Archer, or Frank Agrama
Details TBA #ClassroomAliveChicago2020
Thank you for forwarding this flier for any interested young people –
Co-sponsored in part by The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Festival & Program Coordinator
August 20-23, 2020 Questions of Courage Youth Conference at Elderberries
Questions of Courage 2020 in Chicago – August 20-23 Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost and 3Fold Cultural Hub 4251 N. Lincolon Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618
August 20: Check-in, share conversation, build the ground for the journey together.
August 21-22: Travel to Wisconsin Move together towards the land, link up with Farmer John and Haidy Angelic Organics Biodynamic Farm, and also with Dana and Phil Burns at Healing Traditions and Alizur farm. Connect with the land, plants, animals, and one another, through creative explorations and “roughin’ it” type amendments. Sleep under the stars or indoors.
August 23: Return to Chicago Enter back into the metropolitan context, into the social questions of urban life, and close the gathering together at Elderberries, setting the ground for future work out of questions of courage that are present.
Other locations and collaborators are currently in dialogue, and will be updated here.
The gathering is essentially about stepping into the living natural element, step by step, making an integral connection, with one another, ourselves, and the elements that support us here on the Earth…”
registration: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdY7KXHkjUPV2h9UD…/viewform
Thank you Elderberries for giving us an anchor to build our heartland gathering around!
***
August 27-30, HOW WE WILL 2020
At Elderberries 3-fold Bio-Dynamic Outpost
for more info. contact Frank Agrama or Dottie Zold
Details TBA Co-sponsored in part by The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago -Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Festival & Program Coordinator
***
Hi Hazel,
There will be a great deal to contend with in this Saint John’s Imagination, and its Season, if we seek to ascertain the true facts of the situation. For example, you said:
“The spirit, or angel, of John the Baptist, becomes the guardian of the apostles, appearing especially after the “rich young man”, Lazarus underwent the first initiation in the ‘New Mysteries’, accomplished thru Christ Jesus, achieving the name John.”
Lazarus is no so-called “rich young man”, as clearly indicated previously in Luke 16, wherein he is depicted as eating the crumbs from the table while the dogs lick at his sores, and then he dies as a poor man who goes and “rests in Abraham’s bosom”. I think that what gets confused here is concerning the father of Lazarus, who is Simon the Pharisee, who has the two daughters, Martha and Mary, and a son, Lazarus. Thus, it is he who is the rich man, and depicted in Luke 16 with regard to both the unrighteous steward, as well as his own son, Lazarus. The key can be found here in Luke 7:
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.”