May Newsletter/Calendar 2022

The library is open 10 am-8pm every Saturday For more information or an appointment contact librarian Lisa Jones, lmjones1075@protonmail.com

To contact the Portland Branch: portlandanthroposophy@gmail.com Website portlandbranch.net

In this Issue:

• Save the Dates

• Workshop: Reintegrating in Community After Separation and Crisis, with Orland Bishop

• Portland Branch Annual Gathering

• Verse: Spirit Triumphant!

• New Column: From the Library: Book Reviews, featuring books available from the library

• You Radiance - a poem for Rudolf Steiner by Daisy Aldan

• Michaela Glockler: Where Are We Now in the Corona-pandemic? (we have included the link again in this newsletter for anyone who may have missed it last time. A downloadable pdf is being prepared for the website.)

• New Class: The Tarot in Light of Spiritual Science

• Calendar: Events/Ongoing Groups

• Events Fliers

• Embryo DVD’s Available

• Advertisers and Sponsors; please support those who support the Branch!

• Members/Donors

Save the Dates (more details in the Fliers, Articles & Calendar below)

• The Tarot in Light of Spiritual Science with James Knight Tuesdays beginning May 3

• Community-Supported High School Art Show, Live music and Bake Sale May 6

• Drawing Forms from the First Goetheanum with Patrick Marooney May 13, 14

• Christian Community Events with Rev. Sanford Miller May 19-22

• Beauty and the Beast: A Cathar Tale - An Original, Community-Supported High School Musical May 20-21

• Reintegrating in Community After Separation and Crisis, with Orland Bishop June 3-4-5 (Whitsun)

• Portland Branch Annual Gathering and Potluck June 25, 3-5 pm

• Micha-el Institute Teacher Training, Summer Conferences and Intensives, June-August

SCHEDULE

Friday, June 3, 7-9:30 pm

The individual and the community in the cycle of separation, crisis and reintegration - or - What is a Crisis of Healing?

Saturday, June 4

Morning:

9:00-10:30 Your Word and your Will in agreements

10:30-11:00 Break

11:00-12:30 How can we rebuild broken agreements

12:30-2:00 Lunch Break

Afternoon:

2:00-3:30 Exercising receiving and giving in community

3:30-4:00 Break

4:00-5:30 Individual in the community and community in the Individual

Evening:

5:30-7:30 Dinner Break

7:30-9:30 Optional Evening - Working with the extended community of all beings ( or specifically those who have crossed the threshold)

Sunday Morning, June 5 (Whitsun)

9-10:30 am Listening and Understanding across the divides

10:30-11 am Break

11 am-1 pm Wrapping up where we've been, what are we now carrying and how do we carry it with us into the extended community

Great thanks to artist and author Marie Laure Valandro who donated her painting titled ‘Pentecost’ for our newsletter. It is her favorite holy day.

Spirit Triumphant! Flame through the weakness of faltering, fainthearted souls! Burn up egoism, kindle compassion, so that selflessness, the lifestream of humanity, may flow as the wellspring of spiritual rebirth!" — Rudolf Steiner

From the Library

A new column offered by librarian LM Jones to showcase the many and varied treasures available from the library. Contact her at lmjones1075@protonmail.com

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THE TWELVE HARMONIES (Verses for the Zodiac) by Rudolf Steiner, Translated by Daisy Aldan

On August 24th, 1915, one year after the beginning of World War I, Rudolf Steiner gave his Verses for the Zodiac to eurythmists who performed them just five days later. These verses are less well-known than his “Calendar of the Soul”, the weekly verses many people work with regularly. As we enter into the verses of the Twelve Harmonies with their mysteriously veiled language, carefully seeking access to them by speaking them aloud and gradually making them our own, we can be profoundly moved by the depth and power of the Living Word.

When we meet the zodiacal circle, we meet the laws that influence the human being and nature. In man’s evolution, twelve cosmic regions have formed the visible and invisible manifestations of his being. “In Twelve Harmonies, Rudolf Steiner gathers the essence of poetry in the significance of the constellations and thereby presents us with a world of art which during our lives may serve as a vehicle of healing and transformation,” states Dr. Daisy Aldan in her introduction to this profound work.

As human beings, we are connected to the cosmos through events described by Rudolf Steiner in “The Future of Humanity and the Work of Michael”. When we descend from pre-earthly existence to a new birth, we seek to establish “harmony between the stars and our earthly life.” The fact that this is possible is thanks to the great deed of Michael. Rudolf Steiner observed that Michael’s deed makes it possible for us to voluntarily enter into a spiritual, productive relationship with the cosmos from the earth--and to re-enliven the cosmos by becoming aware of our own connection with it. Beginning with Aries and ending with Pisces, each of the twelve commentaries by Daisy Aldan contains the symbol, sign, part of the body, earthly and spiritual gesture and sound of every zodiacal sign and contemplative impulse.

We are told that “The twelve mantrams form one of the most remarkably structured compositions in contemporary poetry,” the structure of the twelve regions of the heavens paralleling the twelve stanzas. Each line of the seven-line stanzas represents a planet as it journeys into the range of a particular zodiacal sign. Each of the seven lines relates to its parallel in each separate stanza: seven different themes of twelve lines with corresponding emerging thoughts.

The poem becomes “A hymn to the relationship between man and Cosmos...Music of the Spheres.” When we study how the Cosmos is brought to expression through constant transformation, we begin to move to a heightened consciousness, returning to the spiritual world the virtues it has bestowed upon us. Each sign has its poem, and each poem is a fragment of the whole constellation of the greater poem. As the sun travels its path, so the human being evolves with it.

The twelve Harmonies (Verses for the Zodiac) will help us to contemplate the Cosmic Word speaking through the zodiacal circle, crystalizing all things and beings as man travels in turn from a spiritual and soul existence into an earthly life, evolving consciousness of self.

Y o u r a d i a n c e…

For Rudolf Steiner

by Daisy Aldan

(*a reference to the work of German-American artist-educator Josef Albers.)

New Class: The Tarot in Light of Spiritual Science

James Knight will be offering a bi-weekly class on "The Tarot" in light of spiritual science and practical occultism. This will not be a class on the use of Tarot for divination. In this class we will focus on the major arcanum of "The Tarot" as a practical tool for self development and insight into oneself and the world. For more details and to RSVP go to: https://www.meetup.com/experiences-in-spiritual-science/events/285493022/

For further information please contact James at j365k@yahoo.com

MICHAELA GLÖCKLER

WHERE ARE WE NOW IN THE CORONA-PANDEMIC?

WHAT CAN HELP US TO LIVE CONSTRUCTIVELY

WITH THE CONSEQUENCES?

This 49 page booklet was kindly translated from German to English by Astrid Schmidt-Stegmann and forwarded to council member Walter Rice at his request. We have Dr. GlÖckler’s permission to make it available through our newsletter. Click here to be linked to the materials, now available as a pdf.

Dr. GlÖckler opens this piece with the following preliminary remarks: In the course of the Corona pandemic, so much has already been published on the subject that the question is only too justified: What more should be written? Who would be served by it? For whom would this be helpful? Who might still be interested in the flood of different views and interpretations of numbers, facts, statistics? In addition, the pandemic has polarized society to such an extent that many are now tabooing the subject in order not to further strain social peace. Therefore, it is only too understandable that uncertainty, fears and disorientation are the result, despite the political and media uniformity in communicating strategic goals and measures. In any case, it was the speechlessness and the feeling of powerlessness that I encounter in many conversations on this theme that ultimately motivated me to write this contribution.

Dr. Glockler ends this well considered piece with a section on Spiritual Sources of Strength, and concludes with this message: Spirituality is not only a private matter or a matter of faith. It is today an urgent time requirement, in order to help to repair the damage which developed as a result of the one-sided technocratic progress of our culture. Since this brings with it immaterial developmental goals and values, it leads of itself to the renunciation of non-essentials, to a conscious consumerism, to tolerance and an understanding of humanity, while also working for a culture of peace.

About the Author: Dr. Michaela Glöckler, pediatrician, has been for 28 years the Head of the Medical Section at the Goetheanum, the anthroposophic School of Spiritual Science in Dornach, Switzerland. During this time she was lecturing worldwide on the integrative medical model of Anthroposophic Medicine. Before that she worked in the pediatric department of the Community Hospital in Herdecke/Germany and served as school doctor for the Rudolf Steiner School in Witten/ Germany. She is Co-founder of the Alliance for Childhood and the European Alliance of Initiatives for applied Anthroposophy/ELIANT. Many of her several books on medicine and education are available in English.

Beginning Astrosophy Class First and Third Tuesdays, 7-8:30 pm • 8654 NE Boehmer St. • Contact Diane Rumage, 971-271-7479 drumage@comcast.net This class will introduce participants to the basic principles of Astrosophy in a study of the works of Willi Sucher and Diane Rumage’s work with the stars, with indications that Rudolf Steiner gave for those interested in the cosmos. No previous knowledge necessary. Please bring blank paper and colored pencils to the class in case we need to use them. If you are just curious if you’d be interested, please feel free to come and check us out. Free

The Influences of Lucifer and Ahriman Study Group First Monday of the month, 7:45-9:00 pm • Currently conducted on Zoom • Contact Heidi Sheppard, HSHEPPAR@LHS.ORG Free Please join us in lively discussions centered on Rudolf Steiner’s Influences of Lucifer and Ahriman: Human Responsibility for the Earth.

Speech Formation and Mystery Drama Group 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 7:30-9 pm • 8654 NE Boehmer St, Portland, OR 97220 • Contact Diane Rumage drumage@comcast.net or 971 271-7479. Free No experience necessary, just enthusiasm and a love of the Word. Now studying Glen Williamson’s mystery drama, Future Dawning.

Pacific Eurythmy Open Classes for the Community in Anthroposophy and the Arts Monday Evenings For details please see Pacific Eurythmy or call Jolanda, 503-896-3345 or Carrie, 415-686-3791

Waldorf Education and Teacher Training Lectures and Courses Conducted throughout the year by the Micha-el Institute Contact Jen Davis, 503-449-7387 jennifer@micha-elinstitute.com

Embryo in Us & Embryo in Motion: Two Seminars with Jaap van der Waal. Two separate DVD sets recorded live in Portland in 2010 & 2017, available only here. These two seminars explore human prenatal development and show how biology is expressing the essence of human spiritual enfoldment. Jaap van der Wal, PhD, MD now retired, was an associate professor for anatomy and embryology at the University of Maastricht, Holland. Contact the Portland Branch.

Great gratitude to the members and friends who have donated thus far in 2022 to make this newsletter and our library/community space possible.

John Beck, Jeremy Davis, Julie Foster, Vicki Hess-Smith, Mark Hope, Valerie Hope, Lois (Tish) Johnson, Marsha Johnson, Timothy Kennedy, Rene Kehrwald, James Knight, Anne Kollender, Barry Lia, Mihoko Lunsford, Lisa Masterson, Cheri Munske, Robin O'Brien, Lucy O’Neal, Donna Patterson-Kellum, Diane Rumage, Kimberly Sinclair, Jerry Soloway, Rebecca Soloway, Linda Sussman