Folks often ask why I call myself ~hag. No, I was not born hag - I chose those initials because I want to reclaim the archetype of the Wise Crone. In our modern culture, the Crone is either invisible or scorned. If a woman is wise & powerful she is often feared or demonized. It’s true that we can often be direct, & outspoken, which in a woman is not prized.
The Wise Woman Crone is featured in many myths & fairytales. She is the Witch – the haggard old woman, who lives in the forest wilds; a friend of death, feared by the uninitiated. From Hansel & Gretel to Baba Yaga, this archetype has become one to avoid - Even La Befana, The ‘Christmas Witch’, celebrated on the Eve of Epiphany is awaited with a mixture of joy & anxiety. In folklore the Crone often exhibits supernatural, magical abilities, either for helpful, or obstructive purposes.
The ancient archetype of the Crone held a more holistic ideal & can be traced back to the Middle East, Balkans, Scandinavia & Ancient Greece. For example, in Norse mythology the God Thor wrestled the crone Elli. The word ‘crone’ only entered the English language around 1390. It was derived from the Anglo-French word ‘carogne’ (an insult), which itself was derived from the Old North French ‘charogne’ or ‘caroigne’, meaning a disagreeable woman (or literally “carrion”).
However, when we reclaim this archetype - The Crone is said to derive from another more positive origin, with the Word Crone coming from Crown - indicating Wisdom emanating from the head. She plays the role of Hierophant or Initiator, demanding seemingly impossible tasks, which are often only completed with the help of supernatural elemental beings. In a culture where the darkness is thought of as evil – where there is no place for the compost, this aspect is avoided or loathed. Where only the Light is valued as positive, where the nurturance of the Dark has been forgotten, real wisdom & compassion will never be realized.
~Umbra PerchiazzIf we are stuck in the duality of light vs. dark, good vs. evil, blue vs. red – or any other either/or frame of mind, we will never escape the prison walls of division – we will never escape the jailer – the executioner who divides one I from another. Freedom is to be able to live in the frame of mind that is guided by an all-inclusive attitude, always able to consider & even accept contradiction, whose outlook on life & interaction with the world is not cause for division but guided by the searching for a higher unity. The world has been run for too long by the analytical man-mind-set of either/or. A new womb-mind-set of ‘As Well As’ brings the opening to choice, & promotes both, with the heart in the center, weighing & balancing the 2 with the transcendent third.
And so let us write a new story, where we embrace the gifts of darkness, the hard truth of death in life, which makes true regeneration possible. ~hag ***Listen to the “I Think Speech’ podcast on this theme HERE
10 December 2024 – “Speaking with the Stars”
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
According to the original Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner, Today is the Birthday of Judith. The book from the Apocrypha, named after her, tells the lesser known story of this beautiful widow who plied enemy Assyrian General Holofernes with cheese & wine until he fell into a drunken stupor. Judith then beheaded the general in his sleep, & his soldiers fled in fear, saving her people from the Assyrians. This story is the subject of much renowned artwork. And is told at Hanukkah.
1198 – Deathday of Averroes, Arabian philosopher, astronomer, most famous for his commentaries on Aristotle’s works, which had been largely forgotten in the West. It was through the Latin translations of Averroes’ work, beginning in the twelfth century, that the legacy of Aristotle was recovered in the West. Averroes attempted to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Islamic theology & to demonstrate that philosophy & theology were two paths to understanding the same truth. Rudolf Steiner refers to him a lot in his lectures on Karmic relationships.
1520 – The Burning the Papal Bull of Excommunication by Martin Luther. Because of constant attacks from the Roman Church, Luther was forced to shape his ideology into an autonomous theology. During the years 1520-1521 he worked on the three great works “Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation”, “The Babylonian Captivity” & “The Freedom of the Christian Man”, thereby emotionally cutting himself off from Rome. The inquisition against Luther was taken up again in 1520, partly because of these works. The peak of the inquisition came, with the Papal Bull of excommunication in which Luther was ordered to recant his teachings. Luther reacted in protest. He burned the Papal Bull (“Exurge Domine”) along with the book of church law & many other books by his enemies on December 10, 1520 in Wittenberg where the Luther Oak (Luthereiche) stands today. He is said to have yelled: “Because you, godless book, have grieved or shamed the holiness of the Father, be saddened and consumed by the eternal flames of Hell”. This behavior caused a conclusive and irrevocable break with Rome. On January 3, 1521 the Pope excommunicated Luther. The Emperor, however, felt forced to accept Luther because of the pro-Luther mood in the empire & because of the influence of various princes who were hoping to weaken the Pope’s political influence through Luther. As a result, the rebel was guaranteed safe escort on his trip to the Imperial Diet of Worms.
1884 – Birthday of Albert Steffen, poet, painter, dramatist, essayist, & novelist. He joined the Theosophical Society in Germany in 1910, & the Anthroposophical Society in 1912. He was 1 of the original Vorstand members, & became its president after the death of founder, Rudolf Steiner. Steffen was chief editor of the society’s journal, Das Goetheanum, from 1921-1963. At an early age his senses were especially attuned to all of nature. “As a child it always seemed to me as though a human countenance peeped forth from every blossom. From the tulip, that of a Turkish maiden; from the chrysanthemum, that of a Japanese dancer; from the sunflower of Inca King; from the geranium a Moorish boy.”~AS By age 14 he had intuitively ‘understood’ that the human soul goes through the process of reincarnation. At age 21 he moved to Berlin, & 2 years later, to Munich. There he became a freelance writer & published his first novel, ‘Ott, Alois and Werelsche’ in 1907. In Berlin, Steffen 1st heard a lecture by Rudolf Steiner. He writes: “I recognized immediately the leader of humanity: the wisdom on his brow, the love pervading his eye, the conscience in his word.” In 1914, the beginning of World War I, Steffen was 29. At that time he was making frequent visits to Dornach. Of his experience there, he wrote: “Harmony reigned through a single man’s God-founded spirit,”…“Carving the Goetheanum capitals and architraves furthered me as a shaper of words.” In 1920, at the age of 35 Steffen moved to Dornach. In 1921 he was asked by Rudolf Steiner to be editor of the newly founded ‘Das Goetheanum’ weekly periodical. On New Year’s 1923 Steffen witnessed the destruction by fire of the 1st Goetheanum, despite all efforts to save it. At the Christmas Conference Rudolf Steiner named Steffen to head the Section for Belles Lettres in the newly constituted Anthroposophical Society & named him Deputy Chairman. Of Albert Steffen he said: “The members of Vorstand are, I believe, chosen in the right way. Albert Steffen has already been an anthroposophist before he was born; this must be recognized with regard to him” (The Christmas Conference). In an article which appeared in Das Goetheanum February 22nd, 1923, Steiner wrote about Steffen: “Within the Anthroposophical Movement, the spirit of such a poet, if rightly felt, should be experienced as the bringer of a message from the spiritual sphere.”… “That he wishes to work in this Movement, should be felt as a good destiny.” F W Zeylmans van Emmichoven, a Dutch Anthroposophist, wrote that Rudolf Steiner wanted the members of the Vorstand to recognize themselves & each other against the background of the spiritual streams to which they belonged, “to cultivate fraternal feeling even between strongly contrasting personalities.” Rudolf Steiner died in 1925; Steffen was with him in his last days. He expressed his reverence & thankfulness for this great initiate’s being & gift to humanity, recreating a ‘memory picture’ for the reader – ‘In Memoriam, Rudolf Steiner’. After Steiner’s death, in accordance with his wishes, Albert Steffen became Chairman of the Society, serving to keep a center point of balance amidst contrasting personalities & divergent streams, which he was not able to do. “Let this be for us our cosmic goal: – Albert Steffen is also concerned with how the forces of growth & becoming are victorious. He writes: “Everywhere Christ emerges from the elements. With the lifting power with which he rolled the stone from the grave, support your body, with the light forces with which he permeates the plants, renew your life! With the air of heaven with which he sends you thoughts, like butterflies, fill your words. Guide your ego from rock to forest to the clouds, right up to the sun, by shaping, condensing, transforming and purifying it. Gaze upon your destiny from above, with starry eyes.” Steffen’s work is grounded in a living experience of the eternal. It conveys a quality which helps transform our consciousness of the earth, helping to redeem & heal. One of Steffen’s friends was the American poet-dramatist Percy MacKaye. They spoke a similar inner language & conversed together through poetry. In an essay, ‘The Excellence of Albert Steffen’, Percy MacKaye seeks to describe his friend. “How shall I sketch his portrait for the reader? The solemnity of Savonarola, illumined by the radiance of Shelly, the staunch piety of William Penn (in black quakerish hat), all twinkled over and merrified by the arch smile and skipping gait of the marble faun himself – on a holiday, the athleticism of an alpine skier, subdued to the tender solitude of St Francis feeding the birds.” In Steffen’s dramas one can discover interweaving themes. One is that of the victory of the spirit reborn in Christ over physical death & the forces of destruction & chaos. This is an aspect of the struggle for transformation of evil into good, a teaching of Manes who lived in the third century after Christ. Strength is called forth to release worn-out thought forms in order to grasp a deeper clarity; this leads to acts of sacrifice, inspired through love. Their example has a transforming effect, both on the people within the play & in the audience. ‘Friend’ – (from the Anglo-Saxon root: freon – to love) is defined as ‘one disposed to promote the good of another’. – Steffen describes how he aspires to view others: “The developed person does not judge others and thus set them back, but lets them stand and understands them.”
1896 – Deathday of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, & philanthropist. Known for inventing dynamite, Nobel also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron & steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon & other armaments. Nobel held 355 different patents, dynamite being the most famous. After reading a premature obituary which condemned him for profiting from the sales of arms, he bequeathed his fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes.
Winter Solstice w/ Mysteria Mystica Americana MA Saturday 21 December - 1 pm – 2 pm CST Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7050174041?pwd=IHmFS9yuzUXffIXg5b4OojEMtLzbFA.1&omn=84580651527 Meeting ID: 705 017 4041 - Passcode: MA A Special gift from the Grand Lodge of Mysteria Mystica Americana: Richard Cloud, Hazel Archer, Lisa Dalton w/ guests: Michael Draskovic, Russell Blackstone
MA will be observing the ‘Silence of the Elders’ during the 2024-25 Holy Nights
The Fellowship of Preparation Makers' annual gathering, to be held this year in Viroqua, WI. Registration and further info will be posted on their page as it becomes available: https://www.biodynamics.com/content/fellowship-preparation-makers .
If you want to support the Spiritualization of the Earth thru the Biodynamic Farming done on Zinniker Farm, you are invited to become a paid subscriber, with all donations going directly to the farm
Greetings Friend, you currently a free subscriber to Cognitive Ritual. Thank you for receiving my workings freely offered. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. ALL donations go to support Zinniker Farm - The oldest Biodynamic Farm in America! Together we can spiritualize the Universe. XOX ~hag
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Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Cronyism
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