A Deep Immersion into the Archetypes of the Planets
Are you experiencing, as I am, the gravity of our present age? Those of us who strive to be awake to the spiritual needs of our time can vividly perceive how much has changed since the turn of the century. We have made great strides in technological development, in medical research, in astronomical exploration, and more. Yet through our increasing enchantment by the magic of the material world, our ability to perceive the deeper and truer levels of reality is becoming ever more threatened. And without clear knowledge of the entire spiritually-grounded meaning of life, our capacity to live and work worthily towards a moral and ethical future for the earth and humanity---and for the gods—is in jeopardy. Awareness of the needs of our time evokes in us a mood of soberness. In the Christian calendar, we deliberately pause before celebrating the resurrecting joy of Easter. In the season known as Lent, or Passiontide, we meditatively allow ourselves to contemplate the painful parts of the human experience. We let pass before our souls the picture of the Garden of Eden, which we have left long ago, and acknowledge how far we have come from paradise. We acknowledge that we cannot hear the voices of the gods speaking to us, nor easily see the elemental beings at work around us. All too clearly do we see what we are doing to our earth-mother, and what we are doing to one another in war and violence. We see then the lack of love in our own hearts, our arrogance and our self-righteousness, and know how much of the shadow lives within us. Then, in contemplating Easter, we must admit that we too could have been the ones who crucified Jesus. This might step in self-knowledge challenges us to engage in an ever-deeper commitment to spiritual development. Can we allow the spirit of resurrecting love become a reality for ourselves? Once we awaken to this profound self-knowledge, we can prepare ourselves to walk the inner path towards a new commitment to the spirit at Easter.
The seven days of the coming week, beginning with Palm Sunday, is known as the Holy Week. Each of the seven days carries the powerful archetype of its ruling planet, imprinted on the human psyche. Through the insights of esoteric Christianity, we can find a path of meaning through Holy Week, as we contemplate the archetypes of Lent. In the journey through the seven days, we face the deep questions of life: meaning, intention, birth, death, suffering, sorrow. These questions are not only for the religious person: these are the powerful questions that are brooding in all of us. The journey from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday lead us from the exultation of a crowd of ecstatic worshippers to the gravity of the crucifixion that leads beyond death, into the solemn realms of the dead. By studying the qualities of the planets and what we learn from the scriptures of what might have taken place on each of the seven days, we are filled with wonder of how the lord of Love fulfilled each archetype as he walked with righteousness and compassions through the traps of betrayal and death laid upon him by his foes. According to ancient wisdom, these archetypes are: Sunday Sun Wholeness and abundance au Monday Moon Reflection i Tuesday Mars Assertive opposition ā Wednesday Mercury Agility and balance ē Thursday Jupiter Generosity, wisdom o Friday Venus Love ah Saturday Saturn Solemnity u
The Saturday of Holy Week is called the last day of the ancient world, before the Turning Point of Time. Because the Lord of Love gave away his power to the created world, a wholly new creation could be born on the earth. Easter Sunday is thus the first day of the new world, suffused with the resurrection power of the new sun that has risen in this world, and may rise in the heart of every human being who seeks it. We can thus awaken to a new appreciation for the gift of being alive, of having been created and placed into time and space. We can draw nearer to understanding our ultimate responsibility: the task of creating the new human being through living on the earth in sacred service to the Creator and the created world. In that spirit, this year I will once again publish the 8 Easter essays I have written for this season, one for each day of the week. Each day contains an essay that describes the gifts of the planet that rules the day, and a description of the deeds of Christ on that day.
THE EURYTHMYONLINE SHORT SERIES WEBINARS ARE 4-WEEK ONLINE MODULES, WITH CAREFULLY CHOSEN THEMES TO HELP YOU BUILD YOUR OWN PERSONAL EURYTHMY PRACTICE.
OUR FIRST TWO BLOCKS FOCUSED ON EXERCISES TO STRENGTHEN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM.
NOW, THE NEXT STEP IN THE EURYTHMY CURRICULUM WILL BE A SERIES OF PRACTICES DONE WITH COPPER RODS, WHICH WILL FURTHER DEVELOP YOUR PRACTICE. THESE ARE PART OF MY DAILY EURYTHMY PRACTICE. I USE THEM TO KEEP ME EURYTHMICALLY FIT AND ATTUNED.
AND: THEY ARE FUN!
ABOUT ROD EXERCISES
EURYTHMY, AS A MOVEMENT MEDITATION, SUPPORTS THE WAY THAT YOUR SPIRIT AND SOUL LIVE IN YOUR BODY.
WITH THE ROD EXERCISES, WE CONTINUE WITH SOME FUN AND LIVELY EXERCISES THAT HAVE BEEN PART OF THE EURYTHMY SINCE ITS BEGINNING.
THIS BLOCK OF EXERCISES WILL FOCUS ON THE FOUR PRIMARY ROD EXERCISES.
THESE AWAKEN AND ENLIVEN US ON THE FOUR LEVELS OF THE PHYSICAL BODY, THE ETHERIC OR LIFE-BODY, THE ASTRAL OR SOUL-BODY, AND THE SENSE OF SPIRIT IN SPACE.
YOUR ROD WORK WILL HELP YOU DEVELOP A VERY AWAKE SENSE OF SPACE AND MOVEMENT, AND DEVELOP YOUR AGILITY IN YOUR HANDS AND FINGERS. THESE ALL AIM TO DEVELOP AGILITY AND CONFIDENCE IN MOVEMENT.
EURYTHMY TEACHERS HAVE DEVELOPED DOZENS OF OTHER ROD EXERCISES OVER THE YEARS, AND I HOPE YOU WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO LEARN SOME OF THEM AS YOU PROGRESS.
COPPER IS USED IN THE EURYTHMY PRACTICE BECAUSE IT IS AN EXCELLENT CONDUCTOR OF HEAT, AND WARMS UP QUICKLY WHEN USED. MOST PEOPLE EXPERIENCE IT AS A VERY COMFORTING AND FRIENDLY METAL TO WORK WITH.
COPPER CORRESPONDS TO THE PLANET VENUS: WE COULD SAY THAT VENUS MANIFESTS IN THE MINERAL REALM THROUGH COPPER. (IRON, IN CONTRAST, CORRESPONDS TO MARS. IT FEELS HARD AND UNYIELDING. THE SUN METAL GOLD, ON THE OTHER IS EXQUISITELY AGREEABLE TO THE TOUCH.)
HOW CAN I GET A COPPER ROD?
(AND IS IT POSSIBLE TO USE SOMETHING ELSE?)
THE SIMPLEST WAY TO GET A COPPER ROD IS TO GO TO YOUR LOCAL HARDWARE STORE AND PURCHASE A 33 INCH PIECE OF ½ INCH HOLLOW COPPER PLUMBING PIPE. BUY TWO RUBBER CAPS AS WELL, TO PUT ON THE ENDS OF THE ROD. THE EXACT LENGTH OF THE ROD MIGHT VARY A BIT: YOUR PERSONAL ROD SHOULD BE EXACTLY ONE HALF THE DISTANCE BETWEEN YOUR FINGERTIPS WHEN YOU STRETCH OUT YOUR ARMS TO THE SIDES. IF YOU ARE WORKING IN A CLASS, HOWEVER, ALL STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE THE SAME 33-INCH ROD.
YOU CAN CARE FOR YOUR COPPER ROD BY POLISHING IT WITH COPPER POLISH OR WITH LEMON AND SALT.
BUT: WHAT IF YOU SIMPLY CAN’T GET A ROD? IT IS POSSIBLE TO USE A WOODEN DOWEL OF THE SAME SIZE, IF YOU SIMPLY CAN’T GET A COPPER ROD RIGHT AWAY!
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Of course, in the modern age we would substitute “human being” for “Man,” but the verse is not intending to speak of a gender but of the Human condition.
Even as a child, I was invited to partake in the magic celebration of Advent. Week by week, my family’s home was permeated with warmth and color and music, as we prepared for the festival of Christmas.
Now, as an adult, I cultivate the four weeks of Advent as a passage through wonder, taking time to witness and honor the majesty of the world we live in. In gratitude, I observe the minerals, plants and animals, mindful of both the visible world I see them in and also of the invisible dimensions of the etheric and astral worlds that they manifest.
Now, in the fourth week of Advent, my thoughts turn to the Human Being. And now, the considerations become more complex. I cannot in good conscience write a simple, one-dimensional essay. To write of the human being means to “go deep.”
What am I? what does it mean to be a human being? Am I only body? Am I only nature? Am I only my desires and dreams? When the vicissitudes of inner and outer life toss me hither and thither, do I have any freedom?
These are the questions of the ages. And in the asking of the question and the seeking for the answers, we create our future, and the future of the planet.
My personal life journey took me far and wide before it led me to the work of Anthropo-sophy, the work of Rudolf Steiner, from which I gain great strength and understanding of the challenge and the miracle of being a human being.
Anthropo-sophy means “wisdom of the human being.” Never dogmatic but always engaging, it is an invitation to embark on a path to be a modern spiritual seeker, fully and completely engaged in contemporary life yet always considering the spiritual dimensions that underlie all things, all circumstances, all understanding.
After decades of anthroposophical study I understand that, even as the minerals have their highest self in lofty realms of pure spirit, the plants have theirs in a realms one step closer to the earth, and the animals have their group-souls very near to the earth, we human beings are completely here, on the earth. We are the ones in whom body and spirit are interwoven in complex and perfect relationship.
In contrast to those “lower” kingdoms, we are fully here, not living under the compulsions or mandates of the natural or the spiritual world. We have been bestowed the wonderful and powerful possibility of freedom, to choose what and how we think, and from there, what and how we do.
Admittedly, we do not always do a great job of it! But it is our challenge to recognize and tame the so-called “lower nature” in us, and to deal responsibly with the gift of existence. Each individual must choose for themselves what goals to pursue, what star to follow in writing the biography of his or her own life.
The journey of Anthroposophy is a continual encouragement to ask living questions of life. How am I related to the other kingdoms of nature? What is beyond the mechanical level of physical existence? What is the nature of thinking? Is there an objective morality? Can I know truth? How can I be of service?
And finally, these all lead me to the fundamental question: where do I come from? Who, or what, or where is God?
Must I abandon my thinking and freedom and follow blind faith and dogma in my search for “a god”?
In Anthroposophy, each human being must stand before this question in complete freedom.
At last, this question may lead us to the profound Christmas question: how can I find a true, living relationship with Spirit? Can Spirit be born in me?
And if so, what shall I do to make a place for Spirit?
How can I sanctify my own inner life, so that in the depths of darkness of my own free will I can make a space for the birth of spirit in my own self?
This is the true meaning of the story of Advent. At this time of the year, when the light of the outer sun fades into twilight, when the earth is shrouded in mystery, we can create a place for a new “sunrise of the spirit” in our own souls. The ancient mysteries that were celebrated in the great stone circles such as Stonehenge are now celebrated in the homes and houses of any deeply committed human being who creates a place of quiet in the darkest time of the year. Each year, the world offers us this sacred time of mid-winter to open ourselves to the in-flooding of spirit light and love.
Now we can ask: how can I make my own self into a “womb?” Can I prepare a place in myself for the birth of the Divine in me? Am I ready to evolve?
We human beings are far from being what we will evolve towards.
We are beings in the process of a great becoming.
We are vastly different from what we were in the ancient shadows of mythological history, where we felt as if we walked with gods.
We are different from what we were when we built pyramids in ancient countries, sailed the seas as conquerors or slaves, studied manuscripts in monasteries or labored in the farms or factories of the industrial revolution.
Here and now, we are changing again, working with a new kind of consciousness. We will continue to evolve into the far distant future. I believe a new human being will learn to perceive all the invisible and intangible beings who have brought this creation into being. And to the extent that we dedicate our work towards serving the creative forces that have made us, towards serving nature and our fellow human beings, we will also be serving the further evolution of our creator and of the entire universe.
I believe a new human being will learn to perceive all the invisible and intangible beings who have brought this creation into being. And to the extent that we dedicate our work towards serving the creative forces that have made us, towards serving nature and our fellow human beings, we will also be serving the further evolution of our creator and of the entire universe.
And the radical turn we may accomplish is that the human race may finally understand how to value the gift of life. We may finally understand gratitude. And out of gratitude, we may become bestowers of love—enough love to give birth to a new world.
We can learn to hold space for the sacred communion that can happen in each listening heart when we become quiet on Christmas Eve.
From these thoughts, we can prepare ourselves rightly for the holy evening of Christmas.
In the fourth week of Advent, we have the opportunity of contemplating deeply the mystery of human life, and of the path we take in our own biography.
From these thoughts, we can prepare ourselves rightly for the holy evening of Christmas.
We can learn to hold space for the sacred communion that can happen in each listening heart when we become quiet on Christmas Eve.
And the radical turn we may accomplish is that the human race may finally understand how to value the gift of life. We may finally understand gratitude. And out of gratitude, we may become bestowers of love—enough love to give birth to a new world.
In the fourth week of Advent, we have the opportunity of contemplating deeply the mystery of human life, and of the path we take in our own biography.
From these thoughts, we can prepare ourselves rightly for the holy evening of Christmas.
We can learn to hold space for the sacred communion that can happen in each listening heart when we become quiet on Christmas Eve.
And the radical turn we may accomplish is that the human race may finally understand how to value the gift of life. We may finally understand gratitude. And out of gratitude, we may become bestowers of love—enough love to give birth to a new world.
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“We are in the midst of a great ripening”
In the long heat of high summer, the world seems to sleep in a rich, deep sun-drenched world. Flowers–especially those of the fruit-bearing trees–have been pollinated, and long since dropped their petals. Now the fertilized seeds hang on the boughs, encased in their delicate sheathes. Throughout the weeks that follow, the light of the sun weaves a cloak of world-wisdom into this world of senses. The sunlight is no mere “carrier of hot photons:” rather, it carries universal, cosmic archetypes from spirit realms into the natural world. It brings to each plant exactly what it will need to fulfill its own ripening. And in these long days of summer, as the flesh of the fruit becomes ripe and rich and full of flavor and goodness, the tremendous gifts of spirit are woven out of pure light, and given to the sentinet beings of the natural world as gifts of beauty and nourishment.
And how is with us, human beings, living in the light of the spirit sun? How do we find our ripening?
We, too, are as seeds, slowly maturing through the course of our lifetimes. We are seeds of the spirit. Our ripening selves live in the core of our hearts. Through the seasons of the year, we have been laid into the earth at winter, and received the gift of new life at Easter. And in the bounty of spring, we have unfolded the flower of our hearts, and been fertilizied. Now, it is our time to let our seed ripen. At every moment of our lives , we are given an invitation from the spirt, to open ourselves to the spirit sun that is unceasingly, continuously drenching our world with light,. We, seeds of the future, are only beginning our evolution. We must open our hearts to allow this light to teach us, guide us, shape us, lest our ives remain empty and cold, devoid of meaning/. This living light drenches our world with love. And as we allow it to enter us, it shapes us, matures us, makes us whole. Our fruit becomes a gift for the world,, nourishment for world evolution.
I witness the tumultuous events of our present age, and I perceive many, many threads of meaning underlying it. But most of all, I rest in the deep confidence that this story, all of it, is part of our great ripening. Even as we are being surrounded by forces of hate and feat and despair and distrust, we can find a way to traverse these trials in peace. Even deeper than the forces of destruction and trials are the forces of light and of love and of wisdom. At every moment, those forces are here with us as the emanations of living, loving Being. We are being ripened, as we seek to live in the reality of this light, which loves our earth, our natural world, and us human beings, as we ripen towards our future as cosmic creative beings.
Fourth Free Online (Zoom) Class this Tuesday, June 16
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THROUGH THE GENEROSITY OF RUDOLF STEINER CHARITABLE TRUST, I WAS GRANTED FUNDS TO OFFER SIX FREE (ZOOM) WORKSHOPS THIS SPRING. THE RESPONSE TO THESE WORKSHOPS HAS BEEN SO OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE, THAT I AM WORKING ON HOW TO CONTINUE THIS WORK IN THE FUTURE.
BEGINNING IN EARLY JULY, I PLAN TO OFFER TWO CLASSES A WEEK FOR MOST OF THE SUMMER. ONE CLASS WILL BE COMPLETELY EXPERIENTIAL, A RICH HOUR OF EURYTHMY AS A PERSONAL PRACTICE. THE OTHER CLASS WILL BE A DEEP DIVE INTO THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATIONS OF ANTHROPOSOPHY, THE SPIRITUAL SCIENCE OUT OF WHICH EURYTHMY WAS BORN, AND WILL INCLUDE EURYTHMY TO ENLIVEN THE THOUGHTS WE WORK WITH ! THIS SUMMER, THESE CLASSES WILL BE DONATION-BASED.
ARE YOU INTERESTED? I WOULD LOVE YOUR HELP! I HAVE BEEN TEACHING EURYTHMY AND ANTHROPOSOPHY FOR DECADES TO THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE, AND I HAVE A LONG LIST OF TOPICS TO CHOOSE FROM. NOW I HAVE TO PRIORITIZE THEM, AND YOU CAN TELL ME WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO STUDY WITH ME.
I am looking at titles like:
The Nature of the Human Being
Biographies and Life Cycles
The Spiritual Foundations of Eurythmy
Goethean Plant Observation (curtesy of my husband!)
Life after Death
The Evolution of Consciousness
The Cycle of the Year
Star Wisdom: the Zodiac and the Planets
Anthroposophical Contributions to Health
Parenting and Waldorf Education
Meditation and Inner Work
The Four Elements
The Threefold Social Order: Envisioning the Future
AND THESE ARE JUST THE BEGINNING! THERE ARE ENOUGH POSSIBILITIES TO GROW THIS WORK FOR YEARS. SO PLEASE SEND ME YOUR IDEAS AND FEEDBACK AND HELP ME TO SPREAD THE WORD!
Easter! It is both a thunderous orchestra of triumphant trumpets and the tender voice we are hearing in our hearts.
It is the powerful voice of the elements, and the thrill of birdsong that fills the springtime air.
Easter is represented as the barefoot gardener at sunrise, bringing the forces of re-brith, of new life to the world. Easter is the huge, universal celebration of the Creator that has entered the world of non-spirit and gone through the dark trials of death, emerging unscathed and victorious. And Easter is the small, tender sprouts of greenery and fragrant blossoms that sparkle in the grass, trusting in the power of life that they may thrive. Easter is flight of the joyous butterfly that emerges in winged freedom from the narrow confines of the cocoon and dances upon the air.
And in our hearts, Easter is the very quiet beginning of self-knowing, as we learn ever more to trust the wisdom of life. It is the path that we walk as we learn to celebrate the beauty of the world, even as we release our attachments to the things that bind us to the unnecessary distractions of life. Easter is the love we find, steadfast and unwavering, ferocious and yet infinitely tender.
For me, Easter lives on the edge of existentialism and faith. To understand it, I have to find my way to the very core of self. That place is awe-some, fearful, beautiful. I have to awaken inside myself; I have to get to know what I am when I have silenced my body, my desires, my thoughts and feelings, my memories, my sense impressions. When all this falls away, there remains a core of me that shudders on the knife edge between being and non-being. Throughout my life, it is watching and listening and growing through this immersion in matter in life, this path towards freedom. The very existence of this self-awareness is a gift. It is a glass that I must daily polish, to become so clear and pure that I can see the Creator in it more clearly than I see myself. That is to say: my job is to polish the glass. Then the glass will do what it does best: it will reveal to me what really is. And in its shining, I can see that the infinite narrative of this story of Creation. It is Love. The Creator loves us so much that we are linked forever with its story, its journey into this world, its journey through death, its forever-ness. I know that every bit of my becoming is dependent on me discovering how we are connected with the Creator, with one another. The Creator thinks into me. It speaks through me. It moves in me, in all I do. It becomes aware of its own self anew, through me. Easter Sunrise happens, especially when we pay attention.
May our hearts feel the sunrise in ourselves, and allow it to kindle the power of love within us.
SATURDAY PLANET: SATURN QUALITY: SOLEMNITY COLOR:BLUE SOUND:U METAL: LEAD TREE: FIR ORGAN: SPLEEN
Read slowly, and allow the words to come alive within you.
Saturday of Holy Week
THE DAY DEATH DIED
I have heard a beautiful story from Rudolf Steiner.
“Imagine,” he says, “that you were looking at the Earth from the far distances of space. Imagine that you had been doing this for long long ages of time. For, he says, there came one moment when you could see something astonishing. Suddenly, the earth began to glow. To shine. To radiate light out into space. The light that it sent out was no reflected light, such as the moon sends sunlight back into space. This light came from within the earth itself, when the blood of Christ flowed into the Earth. This,” he says, “is what happened on Good Friday.”
Through his sacrificial death, Christ offered Holy Communion to the earth. The soul of Christ then entered with His body and blood deep into the earth.
How was the death of Christ different from other deaths? Christ’s being did not rise away from the earth and dissolve into the expanses of the spiritual world. Christ continued to contract His being upon death. His work was to permeate every layer of this created world with the seed forces of vital creative life, to wrest it from death and bestow upon it the forces of continued future existence. Even as it was dark on the earth, as the earthquakes still rumbled and madness permeated the city, the sun-seed in the earth began to shine. Spirit light was born in the core of the earth.
We human beings were created to be citizens of both worlds: of the heaven and of the earth. Or perhaps to say it better: when we were created, both worlds were still one. But as the earth-world became more solid and as we human beings became more enmeshed in it, the spiritual world faced the very real danger of losing the human race to materialism. When they die, human beings who have not cultivated a relationship to the spiritual world while on the earth face the very real danger of not being able to find their way in the land of spirit. They face the danger of dying not only in body, but also in consciousness. Our consciousness has relevance not only for ourselves, but also for the spiritual world. Dead thoughts rely heavily on material processes and the brain, but living thinking can access the spiritual world. Living thinking can build the bridge to the spirit even while we are living on earth. Yet, the more people turn away from the spirit, the less they can access higher world and the fewer the forces of spirit rejuvenation the earth has access to. This sets the stage for a continuing cycle of cosmic-earthly devolution. Christ, the creating spirit of both worlds, bridges spirit and matter. With the force of a spiritual sun, his gift of light, love and life to the world returns life forces to the earth, and shines in the spiritual world for all people, whether living in body or not.
Each individual must find his or her way to the seed forces of the I-AM alone. The awakening must occur from within, in freedom. The I-AM is not a thing. It is a verb, an activity of presence-ing. of being consciousness. An active I-AM resurrects at every moment, out of the state of death that we live in even when alive. The I-Am is a living seed, planted in the human heart. It will sprout, grow and flower in the soil of love.
It is said that the new Sunrise of Easter already occurred deep in the center of the earth on Holy Saturday. There the new day dawned for those human souls who had previously not been able to find their way back to spirit. The death of matter has been overcome. The resurrection of the human race in the realm of the etheric forces has begun. Can we awaken in ourselves the capacity for love and living consciousness? Can we grasp what really happened on Easter? Can we be part of the new future?
Read slowly, and allow the words to come alive within you.
Friday of Holy Week
The journey through the week before Easter takes us through the archetypes of the seven planets, the seven stages of planetary/cosmic evolution. What then does it mean that on Friday, the day of the crucifixion, we live in the sphere of Venus? By all traditions, Venus is the goddess of love and beauty. When we behold the violence, hate and true evil of the day of crucifixion, it is hard to reconcile that discrepancy. What aspect of Good Friday can be called “good,” when it was a day of suffering and death?
LIVING IN THE WORLD OF THE SENSES
We can begin by considering the life of Christ-Jesus. What can it mean that Christ, in becoming human, actually lived in a body with eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to touch? What can it mean that the world Creator could step into this limited dimension and see the world as we do, an image–only an image–of His own thoughts and love. This world is infinitely precious, but also fraught with pain and trials. This plane of existence poses almost insurmountable challenges to human beings. Too often we undervalue the gift of existence: we forget to ask essential questions, become consumed with frivolities, distract ourselves to death. On our long and arduous journey towards freedom, we too often forget the unspeakable great gift of life. What would the experience be of a God who becomes Human? How would it be to touch this world with such hands of love and healing and knowing? Would not every word, every deed, be suffused with awe, appreciation, wonder–the very essence of Love? And what does it mean when a God suffers? When a God dies? Although many readers will have heard the story of the death and resurrection of 2000 years ago, its deeper meaning can only be fully grasped if we dare to wrestle with it deeply. Was there actually a chance that He would not be strong enough? Not able to overcome Death? Can we dare to ask such a question? He, the world creator, entered this state of being. He, who brought love, was crucified by those whom he had created.
THE WORLD BECOMES SILENT
Paintings, poetry and stories tell of the grim stories of the afternoon of Good Friday. The world seems to remember the mood of those hours even today, for if we walk in nature at the hour of death on that day, between noon and 3 pm, the world still seems shrouded in quiet, waiting. The seed has fallen to the ground. It will be given unto the earth. Those who choose to meditate on the mystery of this death will allow themselves to cultivate silence on this day. They will take the time to deeply ponder the veil that separates us from spiritual world. We will wonder why we are born, why we die. And when we come to the core of the question in our hearts, we will meditate on the power of the seed. Are the forces of life strong enough in us so that, even if we die, we will live?
THE QUESTION AND THE FREEDOM
Where is Love in that Friday drama?
Christ will never force anyone to believe in Him, to acknowledge Him, to follow His way, for if He did, He would be denying them their freedom. And this is the gift that He came to offer. Christ’s creating being is identical with love. In living on earth and becoming Human, He gave Himself away, in abundant, creating love. Of all the great spirits of the universe, it is said the Christ alone became fully human, and He alone died. There have been initiates, masters, heroes, and world teachers, but only once did a God pass through death into the core of the earth.. As the sun sets on Good Friday night, the entire universe waits to behold:.what will happen when love is slain? Will it disappear, victim of its own created world?
Read slowly, and allow the words to come alive within you.
Thursday of Holy Week
From the beginning of Holy Week, we have been tracing the journey of the seven planetary forces that rule the seven days of the week, standing as prototypes for our human experiences. We have passed from the shining Sun forces of Palm Sunday, to the reflective character of the moon, the assertiveness of Mars, and the fulcrum balance-point of Mercury. Mercury, celebrated as the god of healing and as the god of communication, commerce and even thievery in ancient Rome, inspires inner and outer movement. As we learn to understand the lessons of Mercury, we can find the quiet center of all movement in our heart. This marks the first step in the journey towards the awakening of the true I-Am. Thursday represents the next step on the journey through the planets, in which the awakened self reaches out beyond its own inner core, learning to embrace the world with love. Thursday stands under the rulership of Jupiter, celebrated in ancient times as Jove or Zeus. As a king, he rules with wisdom and generosity. The task of the true king is to have an overview over the well-being of his kingdom, caring for it with love and compassion. He must forego his own self-centeredness, and expand his awareness to embrace the whole kingdom. (And of course it goes without saying that this is not gender-specific!) The new king must become a participant, must become a servant.
CHRIST AS THE BESTOWER OF THE I-AM
Meditations on the nature of Christ the cosmic creator spirit and Jesus the great initiate human being unveil to us deepest questions of human existence. Among them is this: in offering himself to become a bearer of Christ, Jesus was able to give over his separate human self for the greater good of humanity. And Christ was able to give over his all-sovereign spiritual majesty to become a human being. In do doing, Christ as a “king” became a servant of humanity. Every word he spoke, every deed he did in his years as a human being served to lay the seeds of a future for humanity. Uniting himself with Jesus, He gave to human beings the possibility of taking the next step in evolution, so that we could become bearers of the I-AM consciousness. Christ gave to human beings seven powerful meditative pictures of what the I-AM is. Each of these is a mantra that we can meditate upon: each has the possibility of opening new insights to us.
I-AM the Bread of Life I-AM the Light of the World I-AM the Door I-AM the Good Shepherd I-AM the Resurrection and the Life I-AM the Way and the Truth and the Life I-AM the True Vine
CHRIST AND THE LAST SUPPER
On Thursday of Holy Week, Christ Jesus celebrated the Passover Meal with His disciples.We can find this described in beautiful language in the Gospel of St. John, which describes how He speaks with great love of His connection with humanity. Then, we read, He knelt at the feet of His disciples and washed their feet. When I consider this image, I am moved at the image of the Lord kneeling in service of those whom he came to serve. The archetype of the king no longer stands above his folk: Spirit bows to the world in love. Other gospels tell us then of how Jesus picked up the bread and the wine at the table of the supper, and blessed it before sharing it with his disciples. Christ said to those sitting with them “Eat this, drink this, and do it in remembrance of me.” In this, He poured all of His life forces, then, now and into the future, into the world of matter. Christ promises that He will be in matter, working as a seed force, forever. We will walk on him with our feet, touch Him with our hands, see Him through our senses. We need only choose to perceive Him, and we awaken in our selves. Through the presence of Christ, the I-AM has entered into the life of the earth, and is active, everywhere. Spirit does not stand aloof from its Creation. It lives in my mind, my heart, my body, even as it lives in the material substance of the earth.
THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT
As He sat with his disciples for the Passover feast, Christ Jesus shared with them his most intimate thoughts. Only hours later, in the darkness of night in the garden of Gethsame, Christ was taken prisoner by soldiers, and delivered into the hands of the those who would eventually crucify Him. The next step in the drama of Holy Week becomes a dark tale of betrayal, cruelty and evil. Christ, obeyng a higher lawfulness, allowed himself to become vulnerable. In the darkness of night, the seed forces he offered to humanity would be laid into the earth.
OH, THE VOWEL OF JUPITER
Thursday is the day of Jupiter. We perceive its signature in the gesture of the king: wisdom, life and abundance. In the body, it rules the liver, long honored as the source of good health and vitality. In language, Jupiter speaks the sound “Oh.” To move the sound “Oh” in eurythmy, we round our arms in a great, symmetrical circle. This roundness is buoyant and light-filled, overcoming the heaviness of gravity. But most importantly, in making the Oh, our soul needs to step outside of itself. The singular “I” of Mercury evolves to become an experience of community, caring for others as much as it cares for itself. In rounding the arms in Oh, we aspire to embrace the entire world, thereby experiencing that we ourselves are but one point on the circle of community. So Christ, in entering the earth, created a circle of abundance. At the Last Supper, His radiant love embraced the disciples in the archetypal “Oh.” And the circle of His never-ending love continues to expand throughout the entire earth.
WEDNESDAY: STANDING IN THE BALANCE PLANET: MERCURY QUALITY: MOVEMENT AND BALANCE COLOR:YELLOW SOUND: Ē METAL: MERCURY TREE: MERCURY ORGAN: ELM
In this year of the corona virus, humanity, wrapped in the cocoon of mandated quarantine, faces essential questions of life. Unfortunately, many will be confronted with urgent questions of survival, perhaps not able to secure housing, food and essential supplies. The foundations of society are confronted with the very real image of death. As the days crawl by, we have watched enough movies, done enough puzzles, to last a lifetime. If we are lucky, we are gifted the chance to go outside often enough to breathe clean air, hear birdsong and enjoy the greening of spring. We are able to enjoy good food and loving conversations with those near us. But all of this poses the urgent question: What are you really doing with yourself in this time of retreat? What balance are you finding in this weeks of quarantine? Now restricted to the interior rooms of our dwellings, our interior spaces open up. By this I mean: the interior spaces of our souls. Increasingly we find: it is time to face the inner questions, such as: can I be comfortable in my own skin? am I driven by the incessant urge to distract myself? does the societal fear drummed up to a fever pitch take root in me, too? Centuries ago, Henry David Thoreau chose to seek out these states of self-isolation. He chose to move into the woods to be alone, writing he wanted to “confront only the essential facts of life, and not, when it came to die, discover that I had not lived.” In my own experience, this time is a gift to confront these essential fact. For when all else fades away, there is only one true place we can go to find the authentic self, and that is the center of the heart. In our threefold self, neither the mind nor the gut alone can give us the balance that we need. We need to find the fulcrum point of our selves in the heart. True: we need clarity of thought to stream through all of our consciousness, to be honestly seeking understanding and wisdom. And as long as we live on the earth, we need to feel the power of being grounded in caring for the needs of the present day. But it is the heart—the heart chakra— that can hold the dynamic balance between these extremes. In my eurythmy practice, this feeling becomes somatic. Standing quietly, we can cultivate the experience that the heart has an “interior door to the infinite.” When we center ourselves in the heart, we can be aware of many wonders simultaneously: the present moment and the infinite, the heavens and the earth, the head and the limbs, self and others. In the heart, you are both World and Self. Here is the home of the Spirit Self, being born in you through your life journey. Here we learn to love life. Here there is no fear of death. This is the lesson of Wednesday, the middle of the week, the day of Balance.
WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK
In the meditative journey through Holy Week, Wednesday stands at the midpoint, offering the fulcrum in the unfolding drama. Midpoints always imply a crisis, and a turning point. Here we move from what has been towards what will become. Holy Week marks the journey of Christ’s last week of his life on earth in the body and soul of Jesus. We could also say it marks the journey of the human being Jesus as he walked through the last week of his life on earth bearing the stupendous power of the Christ in every aspect of his being.How could this limitless Creating Spirit and this earth-man merge into one? How could God become so small, and the human being become so pure a vessel that they could become one perfect union? And to take the next step: how can I work on my own self so that I, too, can become a vessel for creation, for God? In the story of Holy Week in the Bible, Wednesday presents us with two powerful archetypal figures in Jesus’ circles. One is Mary Magdalene, who kneels at his feet with a bottle of precious ointment and anoints him with the devotional power of her overwhelming love. The other is Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. It is said that he had been hoping that Christ would reveal himself to the world as a fully public savior and bring political and social peace to the world. He grew impatient with Mary’s deed, and fled to Jesus’ enemies. For the price of 30 pieces of silver, he revealed to them where Jesus could be found, and led them to him the following night. In the crisis of Wednesday, these archetypes can speak deeply to our souls. Don’t we all bear within ourselves two souls: the idealist and the pragmatist, the generous and the greedy, the pure and the impure? How can we balance the polarities in our being? How can we create the active center point in ourselves that can endure the tension between extremes? How can we access the quiet place in the human heart that is really aligned with truth? Can this time of quarantine give us the strength to seek, find and build our center?
The Eurythmy Gesture for Wednesday
The planet Mercury rules Wednesday, and speaks through the vowel sound I (ee). In the eurythmy gesture for I (ee), we can experience the archetype of the Divine Ego, of the I-Am, as it strives towards self- actualization. I invite you to move this gesture with your own body. (You can find more about the sounds in my book, Eurythmy Movements and Meditations)
This I (ee) is spirit self is the Ego, the I-Am, and its invisible fuel is the essence of spirit-being. So, too, in the course of each human life, we can evolve past the immature experience of defining ourselves by what we are not, and begin to define ourselves from within. The Ego, the I-Am of the human being is the eternal flame that burns in the inner core of our being. It is never in a stagnant condition. In constant self-creating, it lives in the dynamic relationship between being and non-being, interior and exterior, right and left, up and down, heaven and earth. As if on a tightrope, the I-Am seeks and creates balance between polarities. It creates itself anew whenever it awakens into self-consciousness. The sound I (ee) rings forth from the soul when it manifests its own light-being in spirit filled self-manifestation.
Begin by imagining yourself clothed in radiant yellow-orange. Feel your heart, the center of your being. A stream of light radiates outward from this center with energetic red brilliance, expanding outwards through the upper arm into the space above you. Balance this outgoing energy with a blue counterweight in your other arm. The lower arm grounds you, helps you feel the earnest necessities of life. Feel the dynamic tension of the forces of the two. The awakened human begin can balance heaven and earth, spirit and matter, light and dark. As you practice this gesture in eurythmy, learn about your own soul. Do you tend more towards the light or towards the darkness? Can you be both practical and enlightened.? Can you bear responsibility and align yourself with high spiritual striving? Who are you? Who are you becoming?
This is the gesture of the awakened heart, a heart that allows itself to learn through constantly practicing awareness of the I-Am. This is the prototypal gesture of Christ, imprinted into human beings for the first time through one human being, and vouchsafed for all humanity as our future birthright. Walking the path through matter, we awaken through balancing heaven and earth.
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As Holy Week unfolds, we meet the power of Mars on Tuesday. Mars has long been associated with masculine, self-assertive actions, with power. What are the true sources of Power? And what power has been vouchsafed to human beings? We can imagine the tremendous forces of the natural world: volcanic eruptions, tectonic shifts, hurricanes, tornadoes. Far greater are the forces of the cosmos, where stars are born and explode, or collapse into black holes. We might well believe that these are mere mechanical process, because they can be explained through physical laws. But if we long to go deeper, then we may ask: “What being or beings are moving behind the phenomena we perceive?” Without denying the validity of scientific explanations, can we explore Consciousnesses that are active behind the phenomena of the world? Are they the source of the power that we now perceive enchanted into forms and mechanics? The spiritual science of Rudolf Steiner urges us to consider ranks and ranks of beings, each of whom have different levels of consciousness. We human beings are but beginners on the journey of our acquisition of consciousness, and we rely on our modest physical senses to reveal to us the ways of the physical world we live in. But beings far greater than we have more subtle and more expansive consciousness and abilities. Their very being IS source of love, of will and intention, of wisdom and movement and form. Their deeds and thoughts are the powerful sources of all aspects of our world. We live in a living world, yet as long as we remain passive in our knowledge, we believe our world is dead. These are the great mysteries I seek to understand at Easter. Christ the Creating Spirit was born as the Son of God, and lived as a human being on earth. His level of consciousness contains and encompasses that of all other ranks of beings. Entering into embodiment into this world of substance, He consciously sacrificed His original power. He became infinitesimally small, infinitely human. This was the greatest test of Spirit Consciousness: would the power of Love and Being be extinguished, or would it be able to overcome Death? What then is Death? There are many layers of death. One is the death that we experience at the end of life. Another consists of the small deaths we go through every day, in our body, in our thoughts and feelings as we evolve. And yet I believe the actual death consists of our descent into matter. We have died to the spiritual world through being born into the world of maya. We are developing our capacity to be conscious through being taught by the senses. Yet this is but an intermediary level. When we grasp the force of Seed of Spirit that has been given to us, we will be able to be alive, to think living thoughts and have living consciousness by dint of practicing our awareness, constantly. Power? Power surrounds us on all sides. Cosmic power created the world, and its effects are found in all things. Humanity lives in this world of power, and has seized power and is learning to wield it. Humanity’s capacity to use power has evolved over long ages, and can be seen as a motive force behind all of human history. Power can be used wisely, kindly, lovingly, or it can be horribly abused. When humans misuse power in their treatment of other people, the results include control, murder, enslavement, wars and torture. When humans misuse power in their treatment of the natural world, the results are the fearsome destruction of forests, oceans, ecosystems, and now of food systems, seed crops, genetic integrity. On Tuesday of the first Holy Week, Christ Jesus openly challenged the power wielders in his world. He spoke words of Truth to the false priests, the money changers, the hypocrites and the fundamentalists. I imagine the force of His spirit-force charging the words that He spoke, as He lay clear to them how they were misusing power. In the face of the absolute moral power that Christ wielded, there is no place to hide. Human beings must judge themselves when they realize the cosmic consequences of their own misdeeds.
The power of speech
Tuesday is the day of Mars, and every Tuesday we meet its challenge. Mars rules not only power but also Speech. It is said that the World was originally spoken into being by the Creator, and that Christ is that very Creating Word. By becoming fully human Christ gave the power of the living Word to humanity. In the fullness of time, conscious human beings will be able to unite with Christ is such a living way that our Word also will be capable of cosmic Creating. On the journey towards such a future, human beings will hopefully seek to permeate all power with love, and wisdom. The first step towards this consists in learning to perceive the Created World with living thinking that can perceive the moral laws made the world. We can internalize this morality by uniting ourselves with Christ, with Him who made Himself small so that we can be re-born in spirit.
PLANET: MARS QUALITY: STRENGTH COLOR:RED SOUND: Ā TREE: OAK
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