The ideas of August, brings us the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - the Theotokos – the Mother of God. With August, the 8th month of the year, there is a shift. We transition into a new octave – preparing us for Autumn. The word ‘August’ comes from the Latin, meaning: ‘consecrated; venerable; marked by majestic dignity or grandeur’ – I think of the line as spoken in Les Miserables: “This was a touching and august instant, all heads uncovered, all hearts beat high.” This mysterious Feast Day, represents the 1st fruits of the Resurrection. It comes during the Season of Lughnasadh or Loaf-mass - when Lugh has the funeral games, & John Barleycorn, is cut down, brought to the threshing floor, & ground to make our bread - It is a time of Sacrifice, of death in service to life - a time when we leave the sleepiness of Summer, to begin the harvest. And the Solemnity of the Assumption is a symbol of this Sacrifice, a willing, conscious death, which in reality is the ultimate transformation. Mary’s Assumption sets the example that makes it possible to go into the Spiritual World in full wakefulness - for this is our goal as well. Assumption is an interesting word – The concept is applied to mean that the body of the Mother of God was not subjected to the usual process of physical decay, but was “assumed” body, soul & spirit into the Heavenly realms to be reunited with her eternal Spirit in the Holy Trinity. Mary’s bodily assumption foreshadows the transformation of all matter into Spirit. The Body that birthed the god of Love, is a precursor - first fruit of the human race, setting the pace - paving the way - for the rebirth of our own Spiritual bodies - a swirling ascension of our twirling DNA into the light.
Like the Sacrifice the caterpillar makes to become a butterfly. This mysterious event represents the 1st fruits of a Universal Resurrection - The ultimate transformation of matter into Spirit – of death into Life.
Still known as the ‘Feast of Our Lady of the Harvest’ in Europe where folk make offerings of new wheat to the Theotokos on this day. In Italy, some farmers still light torches in the fields - In the cities they throw coins out their windows - as the parading Icons of the Virgin Mary taking Assumption, move down the street in procession.
Blue, with an inner red, are her colors - the twilight Sky & the rising Sun
The Rose & the lily are her fragrance.
The scent of Mariae Himmelfahrt – Mary’s Ascension – seeding the clouds - as The God-Bearer = The Theotokos - is taken up to thru the Heavenly Worlds by the Angels.
Our Eastern Orthodox brethren hold it as ‘The Feast of the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos & Ever-Virgin Mary’ Her Dormition - Latin = to fall asleep, or to ‘pass into’ a different phase.
We can think of the many Marian Apparitions as a reflection of the Assumption - as well as a revealing of the etheric Christ.
The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, is laid in 1248 in honor of the Feast of the Assumption.
For centuries, during the Egyptian epoch, this day was celebrated as the Feast of Isis in her aspect as Isis of the Sea.
It is at this time that a Sacred Rite occurs. The outer aspect is a celebration called ‘Lychnapsia’- the ‘Festival of Lights for Isis of the Sea’.
The Mystery Drama attached to this Sais Festival includes the lighting of many lamps set afloat on the sea to assist Isis in Her search for her beloved - the slain Sun god Osiris. 
Here is a recording connecting these Themes
The Feast of Isis is signaled by the Rising of Sirius, creating a sacred gate, which joins the Earth with the Cosmos. The ancient Egyptians aligned their Temples to these aspects. Sirius, like the Goddess Isis, was called the Great Provider - whose ising brought inundation - the flooding of the sacred River Nile, fostering fertility in the land of Misraim – the ancient Mystery name of Egypt. The Heliacal Rising of Sirius (coming from the name of the Greek god of the Sun, Helios) marked the beginning of the Egyptian Sothic Year.
The star Sirius is also known as Sopdet or Sothis, personified as an Egyptian Goddess who is a commingling of the Goddess Isis with Osiris after he became the god of the Underworld working with Anubis. Sothis is depicted with a five-pointed star upon her head. I have been attuned to the star Sirius, rising in the Southeastern sky before sunrise these days. Its name means: ‘glowing’ or ‘scorching star’. It resides in the constellation Canis Major - which gives Sirius the name “Dog Star” - & is the origin of the term ‘The Dog Days of Summer’. It’s intriguing to reverse the letters - & dog, becomes god. And how do we find god? Or in this case, how can we find Sirius the dog star?
Follow Orion - the starry belt of the mythological Hunter points us to this scintillating star.
Later in Greece & Rome it is called ‘Nemoralia’- ‘The Festival of Torches’ - a 3-day event celebrated on the Ides of August, commemorating the foundation of the Temple of Diana, on the shores of Lake Nemi -
Where woman would adorn the lake with lamps - Marching with hunting hounds along the shore carrying torches. There, they would offer the fruits of the harvest to the goddess Diana. These ceremonies also honor the Rex Nemorensis - the King of the Wood - & Egreria - The Lady of the Lake.
The Golden Bough speaks of these Rites as the original impulse behind Excalibur, the mythical sword of King Arthur.
My Italian Strega Nona kept this Festival as an ideal time for the renewal of vows & oaths.
The Ides of August has also become associated with the Underworld Triple Goddess Hecate because of the connection to the waning Sun as a symbol of the inevitability of death; which is seen as a stage of preparation before the Resurrection. In Greece even today, Hecate is given offerings during the ‘Dog Days of Summer’ to protect the crops against blight & storms.
It’s also interesting to think that on this Feast Day – we were given the very 1st performance of Rudolf Steiner’s very 1st Mystery Drama “The Portal of Initiation” which opened on this day in Munich - 15 August 1910
Also on this auspicious date in 1906, Rudolf Steiner wrote about the origin of the ‘Cognitive-Ritual‘: “This ritual can be nothing else than a mirror image of what is a spiritual fact on the higher planes. At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th Century there hovers in the immediate neighborhood of the physical world, a great super-sensible event, consisting of acts of ritual, an unfolding of images of the spiritual life of mighty Beings of the Universe, the Beings of the Angelic Hierarchies, in connection with the great ether-workings of the Cosmos, and the human workings upon Earth. It is interesting to see how at this most favorable moment a little miniature picture of this super-sensible ritual & action flowed into Goethe’s spirit. Transformed and changed in miniature we receive this picture set down by Goethe in his fairy story of the Green Snake & the Beautiful Lily...”
The Three altars, depicted in the the Fairy Tale, are artisticly shown in the Temple scenes of his Mystery Dramas - & are employed in Steiner’s Misraim Dienst.
Continuing on from the letter of 15 August 1906, Steiner further states, that the ritual appropriate for our time, was prefigured by esotericists & in particular the initiate Melchizedek, over 2,300 years ago, & then taken up by: “The Rosicrucians who said: ‘Shape the world in such a way that it contains, Wisdom, Beauty, and Strength, then these be mirrored in us. If you have used your time to this end, then you will depart from this life taking with you the mirror-image of Wisdom, Beauty, and Strength. Wisdom is the image of Manas; Beauty, piety; Goodness, the image of Buddhi; Strength is the image of Atman… It is not through idle contemplation that the human being progresses on Earth, but by incorporating Wisdom, Beauty and Strength into the Earth”.
From Marie Steiner in reference to Steiner’s autobiography ‘The Story of My Life’, she writes: “When Rudolf Steiner first made his public appearance with the intention of removing the veil of esotericism, he took Goethe’s Fairy Tale as his starting point, & spoke about the altars of Wisdom, Beauty, and Strength. He placed them in the Temple of his Mystery Dramas and spoke to us in greater depth about their significance. And again he placed them into our Esoteric School (specifically in the Cognitive-Ritual of the Misraim Service) & let us approach again & again the various aspects of Thinking, Feeling and Willing, which are an expression of these altars”.
A start had been made in fulfilling the central demand of Goethe’s Fairy Tale: To bring the Temple Mysteries - out of occult obscurity - into the full light of day - for all who have eyes to see, & the will to build it.
Rudolf Steiner: “What is Anthroposophy in it’s reality? My dear friends, if you comprehend all the wonderful, majestic imaginations which are present as a Super-sensible Cognitive-Ritual, and translate them into human concepts, that is Anthroposophy” ~Dornach, 8 July 1924, Karmic Relationships Vol. 3.
Goethe’s fairy Tale developed further in the Cognitive-Ritual, brought the underground Temple out of the depths - into the light of day - into the head, heart & hands of humankind.
May we unfold this present gift, & honor the memory which these milestone Feast days hold for us - as we unfold the New Mysteries to unlock the tasks of today - Awakening our conscious intention, to birth the deeds, that can arise from the Higher-Self, conceived where the Cosmic Word is ever stirring, calling for the unveiling. ~hag
To honor & foster the Christian Community of Southeast Wisconsin, we gather for ‘Devotional Services’ in-between Priest Visits. All are welcome to join in this opportunity to come together for devotion, reflection, & sharing. Sunday 13 September - 18 October Please arrive by 10:15 am so that we can be ready to begin promptly at 10:30 am– when the Consecration of the Human Being is being celebrated all over the country 11:30 am - Optional Potluck-Social Time (food contributions welcome) Families welcome - Children can play downstairs during the service. RSVP hazel@CogRite.com
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