I Think Speech

There is a connection here with Demeter The goddess of agriculture who is known as “The Pure Mother Bee”, but she doesn’t really show up until Equinox, so today we look to the Celtic Triple Goddess of this cross-quarter time. She who invented language & Agriculture in the West. 

So let’s take a few moments now to let the gifts of honeyed Brigid, unite & bless us for our time together. 

In early Celtic times, the light of the growing Sun was seen as Brigid’s Fire of Purification, burning away the dross of winter & shining forth Hope for the coming Spring-tide.

So as we stand at the midway point, betwixt winter & spring, we can remember that for our ancestors this was a time of initiation, a time of purification & re-dedication, called by some the season of the Celtic Triple Goddess Brigid, associated with the mysteries of the sacred well-the healing Holy Waters AND the fires of the forge, the eternal flame of the hearth & the fire in the head to bring us poetry & clear thinking, to call in the will of the Sun. And so to tune into these potent energies, let’s take a little inner journey, what do you say? Are you ready to engage your imagination?

Dear friends, I am inspired to continue to keep the energy of the season going with a little story that I shared with my writing buddies & the folks working with the 6 basic exercises yesterday. This tale is dedicated to the Celtic Triple Goddess Brigid. She of the 4 Alchemical fires & the purifying waters, which gives birth to healing. And so it is of her that I will share

The Cross-quarter betwixt the Winter Solstice & the Vernal Equinox is not only intuited & out-pictured in nature, but is determined by a cosmic conversation. But most folks celebrate today on the fixed date of Feb. 2nd. In the time of the ancient Mystery Schools it was a time of purification & re-dedication, a time of initiation. For the Celtic tribes, who were very much in touch with the cycles of the season, this is called Imbolc – which means in the belly – it’s the lambing season. They call it Celtic Spring - the time of year when the belly of the great mother quickens with the growing light. And it is dedicated to the Triple Goddess Brigid, holding the power of the Maiden, Mother, Crone, & associated with the mysteries of the sacred well connected to purification & the fires of the forge, to call in the will of the Sun.

As a veiled Crone, with one eye & pale blue/grey skin, The Cailleach or twilight hag, has been feared & revered across Celtic cultures for over 3000 years. Depicted as a giant with a bow-legged stride -She leaps across mountains & valleys with a power to shape & transform the landscape, rocks falling from Her gathered apron.

The Cailleach is said to be responsible for raising mountains & creating the ancient burial cairns & barrow mounds.  She is a Goddess of the Underworld, associated with the ancestors & the realms of death & rebirth. The Cailleach is connected to the bean sidhe (Banshee), the wild women of the Faeries, She oversees the faerie mounds & entrances to the realm of the Fey.  You will also find Her near sacred standing stones, the “bones of the earth”.  Her companion the Owl is associated with death, the underworld, magic, & the ability to see spirits.  She is said to be a shapeshifter, & can transform into a giant bird - "the night hag", "cailleach-oidhche", which is old Gaelic for "owl".

As a Goddess of transformation & death, She oversees the culling of the old, & lets die all that is no longer needed. And also with the passing of the Winter months, the Cailleach finds & guards the seeds for the coming re-birth of Spring.

In the 16th century, the Kabbalists compiled a Tu B’Shvat “Seder,” similar to the Seder for Passover. It involves enjoying the fruits & seeds of the tree, while discussing philosophical & Kabbalistic concepts, like the idea that by eating with the highest intention we can repair the ‘fall’. The ‘sin’ against the Tree of Knowledge was that Adam & Eve ate its fruit before it was ripe. So, what is it about waiting that transforms knowledge from hurtful to healthy? Do we have faith that the spring will come & everything will grow & ripen in its season? There is wisdom in waiting. And Through conscious eating, we have a daily opportunity to correct a part of our soul, so deep & intrinsic that it reaches back into the Garden of Eden. 

The custom on Tu B’Shvat is to eat fruits from what is called ‘the seven species’ for which the Earth is praised: “…a land of wheat and barley and (grape) vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and (date) honey” (Deut. 8:8).

On Tu B’Shvat, it is also customary to eat a “new fruit” something we have not yet tasted in the new year.

This festival lets us ask: Am I getting the spiritual food I need, to truly live with grace; or has my tree been left untended; or is it being blown down by the forces of information overload & rampant materialism?

We can also remember how trees are able to communicate with each other. And we can ask: Am I part of a strong community, providing a warm & nurturing environment? Or am I cast into the pale bleak anonymity of urban life & cyberspace?

Am I looking to future generations knowing that I am providing them with the proper foundations for their lives?

Dear friends, To really live into the 3rdof the 6 basic exercises, which is about equanimity or the capacity to remain balanced & calm rather than reactive, we can tune into our breathing, our rhythmic system. In the 2nd panel of the Foundation Stone Meditation Rudolf Steiner tells us when we live into the beat of heart & lung we are supported thru the rhythms of time. They say time heals all wounds. We find our stability within the fluctuation, which reveals the true feeling of our own soul-being. When we practice Spirit Mindfulness, which is to observe the spirit behind mind, beyond matter, listening to the riddle it poses & the awareness it awakens, this brings us a steadiness of Soul, a balance of earth & spirit. 

When we unite our own 'I' our consciousness, with the 'I' or consciousness of the world, this weaving in our souls allows us to use our feeling life creatively. Emotion comes from motion; if the motion gets bent out of shape, we can change the shape to change the emotion. We can work with the feeling. Cultivate it - to change the atmosphere - to become steady -To feel deeper. Instead of being buffeted by the ‘surging deeds of world evolving’ we can take the reins of our emotion & steer it where we want to go - into a unity.

https://reverseritual.com/blog/

Open the I to the Sky

Let the clouds reveal their secrets

Speak your heart to the Sun

In the light of the new Damascus

That the Comforter Come, again & yet again -

Vibrating in the Etherized Blood of Right-Mindfulness

In Wisdom’s Word beckoning.

The recording of 'Reclaiming the Spirit of America' https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-K-0SnCuVkSxiIbfJierJA

Dorothy was right: There’s no place like home. As we journey thru life―dodging the occasional wicked witch―the ‘Spirit of Place’, which perhaps drew us to our home, creates a definite ambiance that we live with. But do we recognize it? Do we honor it, & seek to know its nature? If we strive to cultivate a relationship with our Spirit of Place, we might even discover a Munchkin or two, over the rainbow or just across the threshold, but we have to open the door of our black & white life & step into the reality of technicolor.

Sunday 24 January 2021 – Reclaiming the Wisdom of America –

2–4 pm CST – An interactive Zoom Presentation with

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Rosemary McMullen, Anne Nicholson,

Stewart Lundy, Sally Greenberg, Anne Dale

* Anne Nicholson, Social Scientist & tech guru is our Host

* Sally Greenberg – Opening Verse: Walt Whitman-Leaves of Grass

* Hazel Archer will explore the concept of Columbia as the Folk Spirit of America, as seen from the perspective of the Native Peoples’, as well as the Founding Fathers. How do we renew this for our age of the consciousness soul, as a preparation for the unveiling of the New Isis-Sophia in the 7th epoch – to fulfill the true destiny of America?

* Stewart Lundy of Perennial Roots Farm brings the connection of Bio-dynamics

* Rosemary McMullen sets the scene for the ancestors – ‘Land Acknowledgement’, as a way for each participant to look at their current placement in America. A look also at how The 3 Realms of Culture, Rights, Economy, becomes 4-fold when we bring in the element of Ecology.

* Artistic gesture: The Spirit of Place

* Sally Greenberg & Anne Dale: a contemplation of the expression of our Civil Responsibility that recommits us to our core values, to one another, & to the Spirit of Place & Time.

* Breakout Groups: Social Sharing – What do you see is wanting to come into being in America? How will you contribute to it? Each will share their artistic creation in relation to these questions to see if something new arises.

* Anne Nicholson: Plenary- Closing

* Sally Greenberg–Ending Verse: Alice Walker-America

We are bringing Anthroposophy to the People! Our presentation will be screened along with many other offerings from around the country in conjunction with ‘The People’s Inauguration’.

Time: Jan 24, 2021 02:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/7052931041?pwd=Q1RNcDliYS9QK3JDV1hNQ1pxUmwwZz09

Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 - Passcode: dove

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Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 - Passcode: 664936

"To meditate is to become a stage where the eternal and transitory meet, so that our actions can become those of the eternal, for which we are but mediators; we are the eyes and the hands of the primal spirit, who sees and creates through us. Out of the spirit, then, let us create a better world” ~Rudolf Steiner

https://reverseritual.com/blog/