Midcoast Anthroposophical Society Group

St. John's Tide Bonfire and Celebration, June 24, 2010

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 21:44:00 -0400

St. John’s Tide Bonfire and Celebration at Ashwood
There will be a gathering of people on Thursday June 24, 7:30 PM at Rosewood ECC for social time and a bonfire, to be lit at dusk. We will collect dry Christmas greens and brush at the fire circle after June 11. If you would like more information, to share ideas about the celebration, or help plan a special activity for children, please call Susan Junge (236-0505).

Everyone is encouraged to work this festival into their family life on whatever scale feels most comfortable. If you can’t join us at Ashwood, maybe you can have a campfire at home with a few friends on June 24th.

This is a high summer festival that occurs after the solstice, once the shortening of daylight can be observed. It has been celebrated from ancient times with diverse stories picturing the earth and all it’s life forms reaching up into the heavens, communing with the spiritual world. The soil expands with the heat, water rises into clouds, plants grow tall, and animals raise their young in the time of warmth and nourishment. We human beings have turned gratefully towards the sun too. We enjoy the long warm days, the ripening fruits and vegetables, and the more frequent opportunities to socialize with each other during what most of us call ‘summer vacation’. All this stretching upwards also means that our imaginations explore higher ideals of who we are and can become. In this spirit we join around the bonfire: to celebrate what is good and beautiful in our world and in ourselves, and to affirm our intentions to continue creating out of this love.
Happy St. John’s Tide!

Please Join Midcoast Anthroposophical Society for a three-part Reading of and Conversation about Goethe's Fairy Tale: "The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily"

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:06:00 -0500

From Steiner Books http://www.steinerbooks.org/detail.html?id=9780880105705 on The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, A Fairy Tale:

“Goethe’s fairy tale is one of the most important stories of the Anthroposophic and Rosicrucian streams. It is a timeless, allegorical tale of initiation and had a profound impact on Rudolf Steiner and on the formulation of his teachings. He called the fairy tale a kind of “secret revelation,” an “apocalypse.”As the authors point out in The Time Is At Hand! Goethe’s fairy tale begins with a specific image: a river separating two lands that contrast to each other, as do the sensory world and the spiritual world. The story ends with a bridge, created through sacrifice, that spans the river between the two lands.”

Please join us for one or all of our March, April or May gatherings to read and discuss this important tale about spiritual and social renewal. Each will take place at the Ashwood Campus in the Early Childhood Center on the third Sunday of the month, 4-5:30. Dates: March 21, April 18, May 16, 2010. See poster below.

Photo

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:01:00 -0500

The Wed. evening Esoteric Study Group will take a hiatus

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:55:45 -0500

The Wed. evening Esoteric Study Group will take a hiatus at the end of February. It is unclear at this point if it will reconvene at a later date.

Summary of Generations Talk with Susan Silverio

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:50:00 -0500

In our conversation about the generations that each of us experience, it took on an immediately personal turn when Susan Silverio enumerated the characteristics of those people born to live through the World Wars and the great Depression, versus those of us Baby Boomers, or Generation Xers, Millennials, or since 2000, Gen-Y. These are labels and generalities that raised questions and a few hackles, yet there were also opportunities to see into the larger possibilities for understanding destiny and human relationships.

We alternated between social observations, anecdotes, and brief histories - in an attempt to build up these categories into something realistic enough to think about and use. This conversation became especially substantive when applied to the youngest generation surrounding us now, and the upsurge of challenges they face in their health, education and environment.

There were no momentous conclusions, just an awareness and respect for the complexity of human experience, whether it is looked at macro or micro-cosmically

CHANGE of DATE!!! to FEB. 7, For Susan Silverio's talk and conversation: Generation Gap? Or Differences to be Celebrated?

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:33:00 -0500

As happens with many of us in mid-life, Susan has responded to the call to tend to her aging parents in Ohio on the date previously scheduled for her talk. She regrets any inconvenience to those planning to attend on Jan. 31.

The NEW date for her presentation will be the following weekend, February 7. Same place, same time. We realize that Feb. 7, is also “Super Bowl Sunday” and again regret any conflicts, but this seemed like the only reasonable time with school vacation and Valentines being the following week.

See details below.

An invitation to a community conversation, on Sunday January 31 from 4 pm to 5:30 pm at...

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:03:57 -0500

An invitation to a community conversation, on Sunday January 31 from 4 pm to 5:30 pm at Ashwood’s Early Childhood Center:

Generation Gap? Or Differences to be Celebrated?

While at Rudolf Steiner College this summer with a gathering of early childhood training directors, Susan Silverio had the pleasure of having dinner with Waldorf educator Betty Staley, author of many books including Between Form and Freedom: A Practical Guide to the Teenage Years and Tapestries: Weaving Life’s Journeys.. Betty described her current research on the Four Generations, those generations - including one’s own - with which each of us is in some contact.

How does your world view differ from your parents…your grandparents…your children? And what does that mean?

Let’s compare our observations. Susan will share some of Betty Staley’s insights. This event is sponsored by Midcoast Anthroposophical Society Group, so call Bridget Qualey (236-2019) bridget@qualey.net or Susan Junge (236-0505) for more information.

"Calendar of the Soul [January 10, 2010 - January 16, 2010] ..."

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:26:20 -0500

“

Calendar of the Soul

[January 10, 2010 - January 16, 2010]

Fortieth Week

And when I live in spirit depths
And dwell within my soul’s foundations,
There streams from love-worlds of the heart,
To fill the vain delusion of the self,
The fiery power of the cosmic Word.
___________________________________

English translation by Ruth and Hans Pusch
___________________________________

Und bin ich in den Geistestiefen,
Erfüllt in meinen Seelengründen
Aus Herzens Liebewelten
Der Eigenheiten leerer Wahn
Sich mit des Weltenwortes Feuerkraft.
____________________________________________________________

Created for: The Rudolf Steiner Archive by:
The e.Lib, Inc. (c) 1990-2010

”

The Three Kings Play

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:39:00 -0500

The pleasure of your company is requested. Will you join us? According to ancient tradition (at least 5 years now) We will gather at the Silverio’s on January 3, Sunday at 7:00 p.m. for a dramatic reading of The Three Kings Play from the medieval island town of Oberufer. Who ever finds a bean in her/his cake will be a king, we will draw lots for the other parts. R.S.V.P to silverio@tidewater.net so we can arrange seating!

Holy Nights Update

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:28:00 -0500

The New Years eve offering at Seth and Cheryl’s was postponed due to conflicts in schedules. They have rescheduled and invite you to come to Lincolnville for one last Holy Night offering at Cheryl Martine and Seth Lester’s home on Proctor Road, Tuesday, Jan. 5, at 7 pm.

We will finish Prokofieff’s short book on John the Baptist and John the Evangelist and discover how they were the two pillars at the birth and death of the Christ.

Please rsvp to Cheryl Martine cmartine@tidewater.net or call 763 4388 for directions and so that she can make space for all. Thanks! Hope to see you there.

Calendar of the Soul [January 03, 2010 - January 09, 2010] Thirty-ninth Week Surrendering to...

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:24:06 -0500

Calendar of the Soul

[January 03, 2010 - January 09, 2010]

Thirty-ninth Week

Surrendering to spirit revelation
I gain the light of cosmic being;
The power of thinking, growing clearer,
Gains strength to give myself to me,
And quickening there frees itself
From thinker’s energy my sense of self.
___________________________________

English translation by Ruth and Hans Pusch
___________________________________

An Geistesoffenbarung hingegeben
Gewinne ich des Weltenwesens Licht.
Gedankenkraft, sie wächst
Sich klärend mir mich selbst zu geben,
Und weckend löst sich mir
Aus Denkermacht das Selbstgefühl.
____________________________________________________________

Created for: The Rudolf Steiner Archive by:
The e.Lib, Inc. (c) 1990-2010

Calendar of the Soul [December 27, 2009 - January 02, 2010] Thirty-eighth Week The spirit child...

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:08:40 -0500

Calendar of the Soul

[December 27, 2009 - January 02, 2010]

Thirty-eighth Week

The spirit child within my soul
I feel freed of enchantment.
In heart-high gladness has
The holy cosmic Word engendered
The heavenly fruit of hope,
Which grows rejoicing into worlds afar
Out of my being’s godly roots.
___________________________________

English translation by Ruth and Hans Pusch
___________________________________

Ich fühle wie entzaubert
Das Geisteskind im Seelenschoss;
Es hat in Herzenshelligkeit
Gezeugt das Heilige Weltenwort
Der Hoffnung Himmelsfrucht,
Die jubelnd wächst in Weltenfernen
Aus meines Wesens Gottesgrund.>b>
____________________________________________________________

Created for: The Rudolf Steiner Archive by:
The e.Lib, Inc. (c) 1990-2009

Calendar of the Soul Thirty-seventh Week WINTER To carry spirit light into world-winter-night ...

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:54:00 -0500

Calendar of the Soul

Thirty-seventh Week

WINTER

  To carry spirit light into world-winter-night
  My heart is ardently impelled,
  That shining seeds of soul
  Take root in grounds of worlds
  And Word Divine through senses' darkness
  Resounds, transfiguring all life.

English translation by Ruth and Hans Pusch

  Zu tragen Geisteslicht in Weltenwinternacht
  Erstrebet selig meines Herzens Trieb,
  Dass leuchtend Seelenkeime
  In Weltengründen wurzeln,
  Und Gotteswort im Sinnesdunkel
  Verklärend alles Sein durchtönt.

The Year Participated translation
by Owen Barfield

  To be a torch to bear the Spirit's light
  into the dark night of a wintry world
  blessing and blest my eager heart aspires;
  bright shoots of soul
  sunk in the ground-bed of the world shall be
  and shining from the sensual dark
  the Word resound through all Reality.

(provided with the kind permission of the Rudolf Steiner Press)

Celebration of the Holy Nights

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:45:00 -0500

The planning group for Midcoast Anthroposophical Society Group is happy to announce four evenings of reading, discussion, lead pouring, a dramatic reading of the Three Kings play along with a social time with light refreshments.

The short text that we will read and share conversation around will be: The Mystery of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Turning Point of Time, an esoteric study, by Sergei O. Prokofieff. We will share and pass the texts available. From the back cover: from Rudolf Steiner’s ‘Last Address’, “We have shown how in the course of time the being who was present in Elijah appeared again at the most important moments of human evolution on Earth - appeared again so that Christ Jesus Himself could give him the initiation he was to receive for the evolution of mankind. For the being of Elijah reappeared in Lazarus-John - who are in truth one and the same figure…”

All gatherings will take place at 7 pm at these hosts’ homes:

Sunday, Dec. 27, Susan Junge and Richard Ailes, 42 Cobb Rd. Camden, (SAGE studio sign at the driveway entrance) 236-0505 susanjunge00@gmail.com

Tuesday, Dec. 29, Bridget Qualey and Richard Stetson, 22 Belmont Ave. Camden, (Green and red lighted Christmas tree along the street) We will also do lead pouring once again this year- by popular demand! 236-2019 bridget@qualey.net

Thursday, Dec. 31, Cheryl Martine and Seth Lester, 75 Proctor Rd. Lincolnville, 763 4388 cmartine@tidewater.net

Sunday, Jan. 3, Susan and Jack Silverio, 105 Proctor Rd. Lincolnville, Reading of the Three Kings Play, 763 4652 silverio@tidewater.net

We warmly invite you to come together at this special time of year. Call or email any host if you need more detail on their location

New Study Group: Philosophy of Freedom hosted by Bill Laurita

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:42:14 -0500

Midcoast Anthroposophical Society Group has received an announcement of the formation of a new study group! Bill Laurita will host a Monday evening Study at his home on 35 Harden Ave. in Camden.

The group will meet weekly from 7:15 to 8:45 pm. The book that will be taken up is Rudolf Steiner’s “The Philosophy of Freedom” which is currently listed as “Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path”. Here is a link to it at Steiner Books. http://www.steinerbooks.org/p.php?id=10 Some Anthroposophical books are also availible at Richard Ailes and Susan Junge’s store: S.A.G.E on Bayview St. in Camden and you can also contact them to order specific books. They also give a discount for study group books.

The study will begin Monday Dec. 14 and then take a break until Monday, January 4th. Anyone is warmly welcome. Don’t hesitate to approach the study of one Steiner’s earliest and most important (and challenging!) books. Contact Bill at: blankets@prexar.com with any questions.

Calendar of the Soul [December 06, 2009 - December 12, 2009] Thirty-fifth WeekCan I know...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:27:00 -0500

Calendar of the Soul

[December 06, 2009 - December 12, 2009]

Thirty-fifth Week

Can I know life’s reality
So that it’s found again
Within my soul’s creative urge?
I feel that I am granted power
To make my self, as humble part,
At home within the cosmic self.

___________________________________

English translation by Ruth and Hans Pusch
___________________________________

Kann ich das Sein erkennen,
Dass es sich wiederfindet
Im Seelenschaffensdrange?
Ich fühle, dass mir Macht verlieh’n,
Das eigne Selbst dem Weltenselbst
Als Glied bescheiden einzuleben.
____________________________________________________________

Created for: The Rudolf Steiner Archive by:
The e.Lib, Inc. (c) 1990-2009

"In secret inwardly to feel How all that I’ve preserved of old Is quickened by new-risen..."

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:42:00 -0500

“

In secret inwardly to feel

How all that I’ve preserved of old

Is quickened by new-risen sense of self:

This shall, awakening, pour forth cosmic forces

Into the outer actions of my life

And growing, mould me into true existence.

”

- Calendar of the Soul

[November 29, 2009 - December 05, 2009]

Thirty-fourth Week

English translation by Ruth and Hans Pusch

First Goetheanum via www.heyokamagazine.com

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:38:30 -0500

First Goetheanum

via www.heyokamagazine.com

Possibilities for Anthroposophical Group Work

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:23:00 -0500

By Susan Junge

The uncertainties of our particular time in history seem magnified by the enhanced technologies of communication and information. We hear news and see images faster and in greater quantities than we can process with our thinking. This can create questions which come in the absence of trustworthy guidance. Should we prioritize our worries about the rising oceans predicted from global warming, the imminent collapse of our top-heavy financial system or the heartlessness of a for-profit healthcare industry? To be processing all these woes at the same time feels overwhelming.

But what if - like “Alice through the looking glass” - there is another perspective that can relieve the gridlock of thoughts and calm our fears? We might expect such a perspective to be celebrated and sought after by everyone. Instead, people seem to have habits of thinking and feeling that fight against change, especially one that involves looking at our individual soul life as part of the vast cosmic process. Suddenly, all talk of soul life and the cosmos is not ‘scientific’. It is not founded in the solid, practical realm of what these critics define as human life. But, it is becoming increasingly clear to many hopeful people that only by enlarging our view of who we are as moral human beings can we find the tools to work fruitfully in our particular times.

We can see, by studying recorded history and the evolution of art and language, that human beings have held vastly different perspectives on our relationship to the cosmos, and the moral grounding that comes when we feel aligned with it. Only in our modern times has this discussion been relegated to religious life and the ‘God conversation’. Rudolf Steiner, and his work of describing anthroposophy, provides the opportunity to return our thinking, feeling and willing (or acting) to a new harmony with the cosmos.

He was not laying down a dogma to be learned and upheld rigidly. Rudolf Steiner spoke as a human being who fully acknowledged that the cosmos was both the spiritual world and the world of matter we perceive with our senses. He researched how our human capacities to experience this truth could be enhanced, and then become a scientific inquiry that will reinvent our life in the world. Waldorf education is one of the many initiatives that were born from his research.

While many people are influenced by them, the primary focus of Rudolf Steiner’s work is often obscured by these initiatives - caught up as they often become with the materialistic thinking of our time. His focus was (and still is) on the growth of human capacities woven together in conversation and community throughout the world. He founded the Anthroposophical Society as both a manifestation and a support for this new reality on the earth. Any time people gather and are able to open the door to this larger thinking, feeling and willing in harmony with each other, it creates the possibility to be in harmony with the cosmos, and individual souls can experience this new connection.

When these meetings occur under the auspices of the Anthroposophical Society, strength from the spiritual world can pour in to both the participating individuals and to their interactions. This is not something that depends on belief. It is more about openness to observing other types of experience, which can include an inner knowing that something is true. Often we can remember having this type of experience when we were children, before we acquired the intellectual trappings of facts that blend into opinions without our being sure of that distinction.

Studying and working with anthroposophy is available to everyone, no matter what their circumstances. Some people seem to be part of this work from the moment they first meet Rudolf Steiner. Others spend years as Waldorf parents, and slowly take up an interest in the ‘philosophy’ behind their children’s education. The universally accessible path is the one that he laid down in his books, lectures, and the momentous action that he took in founding the Anthroposophical Society. It is easy to take the Society work for granted today. It can seem like any special interest group, but on close inspection, it has a much deeper taproot.

Those of us who have come together for Anthroposophical Society group work are looking for ways of stepping outside of rigid forms, and creating opportunities for lively conversation informed by each of our inner explorations in the context of our current world. By sharing thoughts and enthusiasm as a group of seeking individuals, we know that an enlarged perspective for each of us can be discovered and maintained. Whether our gathering involves a festival celebration, a book study or a guest presentation, our common feeling for the truth that flows from spiritual sources will enhance our capacity to address the questions of our times without worry and fear.

November 16, 2009

Midcoast Anthroposophical Society Group

Camden, Maine

About:

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:14:00 -0500

Coming soon.