Dear Friends – If are to enliven our Festival Life, which can often feel like an unactualized commemoration, we must apply the New Mysteries of Spiritual Science to the Seasonal Round. The future is calling up in us the power to co-create a Michaelmas Festival that has significance for humanity in our present age. As the Autumn Harvest-Tide advances, & the trees begin to bare their skeletons; Natura transforms into the wise Winter Hag. Persephone, a maiden no more, becomes Queen of the Underworld.
The Easter Resurrection ever sprouting, seen in the innocent Youth & the fertile Mother, must be now be cultivated within.
As we take in & redeem the decay, we must also conceive of how the Soul of Earth contracts inwardly. The far-flung field, becomes the Masonic Workbench, the inner forge, en-couraging us to hone & shape the Cosmic Iron of the Stars on the altar of our hearts into our sword of Michaelic thinking. Consecrating the Foundation Stone at the center of the labyrinthine womb of The Mothers! It is within this Honeycomb Womb/Tomb that we must cultivate the New Sun, reborn at Winter Solstice.
As we do this Great Work thru our own personal inner development, we also cultivate outwardly our Communal Social Life – Investing in a community that can only become living thru tolerance, interest, mutual respect & unselfish Love.
Our heart-thinking living as a social reflection will unite us with the ‘ever present help of the Spiritual World’ waiting to meet us in the Reverse Ritual which we can apply in the co-creation of a Michaelmas-Tide, as the complement & continuation of the Easter-Tide.
Fostering unity in the 3-fold community.
Dear friends – During this Michaelmas Season, let us courageously unite, so that we can heal & redeem social organizations – consciously reweaving the web – freeing ourselves from the corporate spiders that seek to sting & enslave us.
Freedom thru discernment. Mutuality thru shared goals. Equity thru human rights. A marriage of Spirit & Matter. A New Civilization where Science, Art & Spirituality Unite – exemplified in our Festival Life.
An alchemical evolution in the retort of our Soul Forces of Thinking, Feeling & Willing. Windows into the cosmic course that reveal & resolve the Riddles of the Universe. Out of the union of Wisdom & Love we can act creatively, uniting our human willing with Divine Willing.
The harvest time does not let us recline – we must be active. ‘Relaxed with pep’ – reviewing the seasons behind us, giving thanks for the blessings received. Listening to what comes next…
As I mentioned in the last essay Michaelmas as Movable Feast, the 8 Sabbats on the Wheel of the Year correspond to the phases of the Moon – with the Autumnal Equinox relating to the Last Quarter phase of the lunar cycle. This is a time when we completly change direction. We experience a Reversal. We flip from equal light into the waning darkness. Exposing the 8th Sphere.
As a society we are in this disseminating phase – a real crisis phase. We know it’s time to move on to something new. It is time to re-evaluate everything!
We have now, at this time, an initiatory opportunity to Meet the Mysteries of the Unmanifest – which can lead us into true renewal.
And the New Moon Solar eclipse of 14 October 2023 is a cosmic sign from the spiritual world – a ‘Key Call’ for those who have ears that see, eyes that hear, & hearts that think…
~hag
The 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox – Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse
| GLOBAL EVENT: | Annular Solar Eclipse |
|---|---|
| LOCAL TYPE: | Partial Solar Eclipse in Cahokia Mounds State Historic SIte, Illinois |
| BEGINS: | Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 10:32 am |
| MAXIMUM: | Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 11:57 am 0.634 Magnitude |
| ENDS: | Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 1:27 pm |
| DURATION: | 2 hours, 55 minutes |
All are welcome to meet on the inner planes during any part of the duration of the Solar eclipse – which Spiritual Science tells us is like the releasing of a safety valve – allowing the unbridled astral urges of the adversarial forces living in humanity, which are normally held in check by the spiritual beings working in the rays of the Sun, to instead surge out to infect the cosmic spaces, including our beloved dead & the unborn. (More on this soon)
For those who would like to gather in person I will be facilitating a Michaelmas Speaking with the Stars retreat 13-15 October 2023 at Cahokia Mounds – a sacred Mississippian Indian site in Collinsville, Illinois, called by the ancients: Sun City. We will gather to co-create ‘a New Group-Soul United in Christ’ thru Art-Acts, & other experiencial activities to collectively build a cogititive imagination for healing, working with Sophia-Michael-Christ, embracing all worlds with Love & Light. We will be employing the ‘Woodhenge’ zodiac site, as well as Monks Mound, & the Mississippi River trail…etc…Space is limited contact Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
~Roland Ruocco
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
MICHAELMAS II
Spirit Sunlight’s Dawn
v27
To penetrate my depths of being
arouses longing, ardently divining,
that I, self-contemplating, find
I am the gift the summer sun’s bequeathed
that lives in autumn mood as warming seed,
a spring of strength empowering my soul.
It is the first verse of the Soul Calendar’s second half of the year, its turning point. The soul’s attention now turns inward, longing to know herself. The summer’s gift can be compared to each night’s sleep when higher beings implant a moral purpose. The verse is like a morning prayer as the soul awakens with the inspired will for the spirit’s Christmas birth: the spirit-germ of the self is a reflection of the Michael being whose fiery will expressed itself last week.
MICHAELMAS
Michaelic Firepower
v26
Natura, in the being of my will
I bear your soul of motherhood
and in my will enkindled firepower
my spirit impulses are tempered, steeled,
that feeling of the selfhood formed from them
bear I in me.
(I sent Hazel last week a synopsis of the Michaelmas conference i enjoyed in my English home town, and a little reflection of part of my biography. She put it into the comments of her ‘Forged in Star-Fire’ post.)
8 October 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The Draconid meteor shower is ramping up this evening to a peak tomorrow morning. The Draconids owe their name to the constellation Draco the Dragon, and are created when the Earth passes through the dust debris left by comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. The comet takes about 6.6 years to make a single revolution around the Sun.
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1793 – Deathday of John Hancock, the first man to sign the historic document, was a Freemason.
1852 – Deathday of Franz Graffer – His memoirs Kleine Wiener Memoiren, are the source for the Comte de St. Germain‘s appearance in Vienna…
1871 – Slash-and-burn land management, months of drought, and the passage of a strong cold front cause the Peshtigo Fire, the Great Chicago Fire & the Great Michigan Fires to break out
1939 – World War II: Germany annexes western Poland.
1969 – The opening rally of the Days of Rage occurs, organized by the Weather Underground in Chicago. The Days of Rage demonstrations were a series of actions taken over a course of three days by a counterculture-era group ‘Students for a Democratic Society’. The group planned the October 8–11 event as a “National Action” built around John Jacobs’ slogan “bring the war home”. The resolution read, “The Elections Don’t Mean Shit—Vote Where the Power Is—Our Power Is In The Street”. It was adopted by the council, prompted by the effects of the 1968 Democratic National Convention protest activity in August.
1982 – Poland bans Solidarity & all other trade unions.
1990 – Second Intifada: Israeli police kill 170 Palestinians & wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock.
2001 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.
2005 – The 7.6 Mw Kashmir earthquake leaves 86,000–87,351 people dead, 69,000–75,266 injured,& 2.8 million homeless.
2014 – Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola, dies.
Save the Dates for Community Workings
| October 14 | Annular Solar Eclipse |
| October 21-22 | Orionids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak |
| October 23 | Venus at Greatest Western Elongation |
| October 28 | Full Hunter’s Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse |
All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Bon-fire
Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas
7 – 9 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile
Please Bring a jar for the prep
RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
Lunar Eclipse Mar 25, 2024
The reprise of the 2017 Great American Eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse
Stay tuned for details about a Retreat for this Solar Eclipse Event in Fort Worth, Texas
Begins: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 12:22 pm
Maximum: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 1:41 pm 1.005 Magnitude
Ends: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 3:01 pm
Duration: 2 hours, 39 minutes
Totality: 2 minutes, 34 seconds
Lunar Eclipse Sep 18, 2024
I like the idea of creating a workbench these next few days in order to assess the situation of a new calculation of Michaelmas. So, here are a few parameters that stand out for me. Last year, the first new moon after the autumnal equinox was September 25th, which was a Sunday, and four days before September 29th, the traditional date. Next year, the first new moon after the autumnal equinox will be on Wednesday, October 2nd, and also an annular solar eclipse! Thus, Michaelmas will be Sunday, October 6, 2024. Thus, if this year’s seemingly late Michaelmas starts on Sunday, October 15th, this should not cause us any alarm in acquainting it with All Saints/All Souls festivities.
Next year’s total solar eclipse on April 8th is important because it is 8 days after Easter, which is March 31, 2024. Also, I have my sleeves rolled up around the workbench in considering these 8 sabbats.
You said:
“As I mentioned in the last essay Michaelmas as Movable Feast, the 8 Sabbats on the Wheel of the Year correspond to the phases of the Moon – with the Autumnal Equinox relating to the Last Quarter phase of the lunar cycle. This is a time when we completely change direction. We experience a Reversal. We flip from equal light into the waning darkness. Exposing the 8th Sphere.”
Yet, the 8th Sphere is exposed all year around. If you can find a way to display the movie, it shows 30/31 specific increments of rotation of the 8th Sphere around the Physical Moon. The remarkable thing is that this display is an homage to Osiris and Isis, who were the one’s who sacrificed it all in the Third Cultural Epoch. What they wrought in their time for the future of humanity, now needs to be revealed as a part of our expanded Michaelmas revelation.
This hermetic maxim applies to the 8th sphere too – there is the connection with the Moon, yes, as well as with our own etheric bodies. This is important. If we think of this occult prison as only being outside of us, then we are truly incarcerated. Our etheric bodies are being objectified, made too heavy & stuck – keeping us from experiencing the Etheric Christ –
“Today, in the period of the development of the Spiritual Soul or Consciousness Soul, thoughts have their true seat in the human etheric body. There, however, they are real, living forces. They imprint themselves in the physical body. As such “imprinted thoughts” they possess the shadowy character known to ordinary consciousness.”
[…..]
“It is Michael’s mission to bring into human etheric bodies the forces through which the thought-shadows may regain life; then the souls and spirits in the supersensible worlds will incline towards the enlivened thoughts, and the liberated human being will be able to live with them, just as formerly the human being who was only the physical image of their activity lived with them.”
https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA026/English/RSP1973/GA026_c03.html
Ah, what a wonderful call for freedom and love! Yes, community can only become living through tolerance, interest, mutual respect and unselfishness. And indeed, freedom comes through discernment. “The might of the adversaries” is very strong now, even as these forces struggle to continue to put forth “the narrative.” Illusion and disillusion run rampant, clouding hearing and vision. We must be awake, so awake to tame this dragon. We must take the Christ Impulse with us and be imbued with the every present strength of the spirit world to do this work. We need to work on the Eight-fold Path. And we must understand the Foundations of Morality to be victorious. We need all the help we can avail ourselves of, inside and outside, so the might of the adversaries can be taken from us! Christ living in our praying. Keep up this astoundingly good work. Thank you, Hazel.
It is important to combine the 8-fold path with the 6 Essential Exercises.
Rudolf Steiner’s 8-Fold Path
SATURDAY – Right view
To pay attention to one’s THOUGHTS & ideas.
To think only significant thoughts. To learn little by little to separate in
one’s thoughts the essential from the nonessential, the eternal from the
transitory, truth from mere opinion. In listening to the talk of one’s fellow-men, to try and become quite still inwardly, foregoing all assent, and still more all unfavorable judgments (criticism, rejection), even in one’s thoughts and feelings. This may be called: `RIGHT OPINION’
SUNDAY – RESOLVES – right intention
To determine on even the most insignificant matter only after fully
reasoned deliberation. All unthinking behaviour, all meaningless actions,
should be kept far away from the soul. One should always have well-
weighed reasons for everything. And one should definitely abstain from
doing anything for which there is no significant reason.
Once one is convinced of the rightness of a decision, one must hold fast
to it, with inner steadfastness.This may be called: `WHOLESOME JUDGMENT’, having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.
MONDAY – TALKING – right speech
Only what has sense and meaning should come from the lips of one striving for higher development. All talking for the sake of talking is harmful.
The usual kind of conversation, a disjointed medley of remarks, should
be avoided. This does not mean shutting oneself off from intercourse
with one’s fellows; it is precisely then that talk should gradually be led to
significance. One adopts a thoughtful attitude to every speech and answer
taking all aspects into account. Never talk without cause – be gladly
silent. One tries not to talk too much or too little.
First listen quietly; then reflect on what has been said.
This exercise may be called: `RIGHT WORD’.
TUESDAY – External actions. Right action
These should not be disturbing for our fellow-men. Where an occasion calls for action out of one’s inner being, deliberate carefully how one can best meet the occasion – for the good of the whole, the lasting happiness of man, the eternal. Where one does things of one’s own accord, out of one’s own initiative: consider most thoroughly beforehand the effect of one’s actions.
This is called: ’RIGHT DEED’.
WEDNESDAY – Behavior – right livelihood
The ordering of life.
To live in accordance with Nature and Spirit. Not to be swamped by the external trivialities of life. To avoid all that brings unrest and haste into life. To hurry over nothing, but also not to be indolent. To look on life as a means for working towards higher development and to behave accordingly.
One speaks in this connection of ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT’.
THURSDAY – Human Endeavour. Right effort
One should take care to do nothing that lies beyond one’s powers – but also to leave nothing undone which lies within them.
To look beyond the everyday, the momentary, and to set oneself aims and
ideals connected with the highest duties of a human being. For instance,
in the sense of the prescribed exercises, to try to develop oneself so that
afterwards one may be able all the more to help and advise one’s fellow-
men – though perhaps not in the immediate future.
This can be summed up as:‘TO LET ALL THE FOREGOING EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT’.
FRIDAY – right mindfulness
The endeavour to learn as much as possible from life.
Nothing goes by us without giving us a chance to gain experiences that are useful for life. If one has done something wrongly or imperfectly, that
becomes a motive for doing it rightly or more perfectly, later on.
If one sees others doing something, one observes them in the same way (yet not coldly or heartlessly). And one does nothing without looking back to past experiences which can be of assistance in one’s decisions and achievements.
One can learn from everyone – even from children if one is attentive.
This exercise is called: `RIGHT MEMORY’.
(Remembering what has been learnt from experiences).
SUMMARY (everyday + night review)
Right Concentration
To turn one’s gaze inwards from time to time, even if only for five
minutes daily at the same time. In so doing one should sink down into
oneself, carefully take counsel with oneself, test and form one’s
principles of life, run through in thought one’s knowledge – or lack of it –
weigh up one’s duties, think over the contents and true purpose of life,
feel genuinely pained by one’s own errors and imperfections. In a word:
labour to discover the essential, the enduring, and earnestly aim at goals
in accord with it: for instance, virtues to be acquired. (Not to fall into the mistake of thinking that one has done something well, but to strive ever
further towards the highest standards.)
This exercise is called: `RIGHT EXAMINATION’.
A meditant should do six subsidiary exercises:
1. Control of Thought: Think about a simple object for at least five minutes. Hold it fast in thoughts without going over to other things. One can prepare for this by familiarizing oneself with the object first. After a few days one can choose another object. This exercise arouses a feeling of firmness in the pupil as it activates the chakram between his eyebrows. One should send this feeling through the brain and down the backbone.
2. Control of Will: Do an unimportant thing every day at a certain time. This exercise also gives firmness.
3. Control of Feeling: Develop equanimity, that is, one shouldn’t fluctuate between rejoicing to heaven and despairing to death. A joke can be enjoyed just as much if one doesn’t laugh boisterously at; one can bear a pain better if one doesn’t wallow in it too much. This gives one a feeling of quiet calm that one lets stream from the heart to the arms, and out through the hands.
4. Positivity: See the beautiful and true elements in all things. Christ Jesus admired the beautiful teeth in a rotting dog, where his disciples only saw ugliness. One can discover at least a small kernel of truth and something beautiful in everything. If one does this exercise for some time it gives one a feeling of great joy.
5. Open mindedness: Always be open to new things. One should never say: I never heard of that, that can’t be, or I don’t believe that. One should always leave the possibility open that one can learn something from everything that people say. Thereby one can learn from children, animals and everything else. This gives one the feeling that one could also perceive things while one is partly outside one’s body.
6. This exercise is a combination of the preceding ones, so that one can combine two and two or any way one wants. By doing this, one gets the feeling that one has grown beyond the limits of one’s skin.
-Rudolf Steiner, From the Contents of Esoteric Classes, Stuttgart, 13th August 1908