Calendar of the soul 37, December 15 - 21
byMieke Mosmuller
15-12-2023
1 comments
Although the tumult in the outer world goes on and on, we can 'hear' an oncoming silence too.
'To bring spiritual light into world-winter-night
aims blissfully my heart’s desire,
That soul-seeds radiant
Root into foundations of the world,
And divine Word in the darkness of the senses
Sounds transfiguring through all being.'
(Rudolf Steiner, Calendar of the soul)
The inspiration of the soul, the league between soul and body becomes complete in midwinter. After this inspiration, that had begun in summer, earth and man hold their breath, until in the new year, after Epiphany or 'twelve days' the expiration begins again. In the old German calendar one counted with twelve lunar months, of 29.5 days. That gives a total of 354 days, and the people felt that in the remaining 11 days and 12 nights that differ with the 365 days of the sun-year, there was a gap in the divine order, from midnight 00.00 h. 25th of December until midnight 00.00 h. as the 6th of January begins. During this period, the danger lurked that the demons would take over. The people had several ways to protect themselves: making noise, burning candles, fireworks, incense...
Raphael: Sistine Madonna
'To bring spiritual light into world-winter-night
aims blissfully my heart’s desire,
That soul-seeds radiant
Root into foundations of the world,
And divine Word in the darkness of the senses
Sounds transfiguring through all being.'
(Rudolf Steiner, Calendar of the soul)
The inspiration of the soul, the league between soul and body becomes complete in midwinter. After this inspiration, that had begun in summer, earth and man hold their breath, until in the new year, after Epiphany or 'twelve days' the expiration begins again. In the old German calendar one counted with twelve lunar months, of 29.5 days. That gives a total of 354 days, and the people felt that in the remaining 11 days and 12 nights that differ with the 365 days of the sun-year, there was a gap in the divine order, from midnight 00.00 h. 25th of December until midnight 00.00 h. as the 6th of January begins. During this period, the danger lurked that the demons would take over. The people had several ways to protect themselves: making noise, burning candles, fireworks, incense...
But then the moment came that a Child was born in this midwinter time (where there is wintertime on earth), on Christmas Eve. He was born to protect us for ever and ever in the time of loneliness of the earth and of the human being, as long as they have to live together. Since then these nights have become thirteen, from the 24th of December after sunset till the 6th of January. And they have become holy, for Christ and earth are closely together during these nights and corresponding days.
Raphael: Sistine Madonna
This verses were given by Rudolf Steiner in 1912 / 1913: Anthroposophischer Seelenkalender.
Calendar of the soul 37, December 15 - 21 by Mieke MosmullerComments
-
From Robert Walberg @Thanks Mieke,
Perfect picture for this time... I just read this from: Four Seasons/Archangels: Lecture II: The Christmas Imagination
"If we understand the depths of winter, how it shows us the connection of the cosmos with man, with man who takes up the birth-forces in the Earth, the only possible way of presenting the woman is in this form: formed out of the clouds, endowed with the forces of the Earth: with the Moon-forces below, with the Sun-forces in the middle, and above, towards the head, with the forces of the stars. The picture of Mary with the little Jesus-child arises out of the cosmos itself.
If we understand the cosmos in autumn, so as to represent all its formative forces in a picture, we come by necessity to an artistic portrayal of Michael and the Dragon, as I indicated yesterday. In the same way, everything we feel at Christmas-time flows together into the picture of Mary and the child — that picture which hovered so often before painters in earlier times, especially in the first Christian centuries, and of which the last echoes have been preserved in Raphael's Sistine Madonna.
The Sistine Madonna was born out of the great instinctive knowledge of nature and the spirit which prevailed in ancient times. For it is a picture of the Imagination which must in fact come to a man who transposes his inner vision into the secrets of Christmas in such a way that they become for him a living picture.