‘St. John’s Fest at Anthroposophy NYC’

     
On the first full day of summer—Sunday, June 22—the Anthroposophical Society in New York City will host its St. John’s Fest, a Festival Celebration and Potluck with Music, Song, Poetry, Thoughts, Food, and Friends at four o’clock. From the publicity:

St. John’s Tide is traditionally celebrated with a huge evening bonfire, around which we give back to the cosmos offerings of song, music and poetry. We won’t have a bonfire in our auditorium, but will certainly have music, song, and poetry. The opening presentation will be by Joyce Reilly. The artistic programming is coordinated by Dorothy Emmerson. As is our custom, we invite you into a beautifully decorated space, and will provide all liquid refreshment. The offerings of our buffet table are up to you. Please bring something yummy and seasonal to share with all.

Courtesy Anthroposophy NYC

We depend on your donations to make events like this possible so we’re suggesting a $5 donation to cover costs.

The program will begins at 4 p.m. Please plan to arrive by 3:30 to set out your food and get settled. We look forward to a delightful Mid-Summer festival. Contact Phoebe: email phoebe(at)artopathy.com.
     

‘Stories That Can Change Your Life’

     
I’m drafting a Magpie post that will praise the School of Practical Philosophy, and explain why you should enroll, but in the meantime an unsolicited, unremunerated, etc. advertisement of upcoming events we learned about in class last night.

Next month, a three-night series titled “Stories That Can Change Your Life” is scheduled. Each night is to be unique in content, and requires separate registration. (This is the New York City school on East 79th Street.) From the publicity:

Stories That Can Change Your Life

Can a story change your life?

An ancient legend teaches that if you enter a spice shop and do not even buy anything, you will leave smelling a little differently than when you walked in. So it is with stories, with their capacity to enrich and enlarge our lives and remind us of truths we may have forgotten.

Come listen to “Stories That Can Change Your Life” three Mondays in July. Invite family and friends for evenings of good company, engaging conversation and light refreshments.

Click on these links for tickets: Mondays, July 7, 14, and 21
at 7 p.m. $10 each evening.


Also, Mr. David Beardsley will return to the school on Wednesday, July 16 at 7 p.m. to present his lecture “Homer’s Odyssey as Spiritual Quest,” described thusly:

Along with the Iliad, Homer’s Odyssey is the wellspring of Western literature. It offers a glimpse into the lives of humans and gods in ancient Greece and a rousing adventure story with evil monsters, beautiful goddesses and narrow escapes. But it’s also an allegory of a soul journeying from multiplicity and strife back to unity and love. Overcoming trials and temptations, including a visit to Hades, Odysseus casts off his warlike persona and learns to restrain his senses and desires. In this presentation we will trace his return from darkness to light, his reunion with his family, and his reclaiming “my very self,” the rightful ruler of “my native land.”

$15 per person. Click here for tickets.


I attended Mr. Beardsley’s lecture last month, and can tell you it is very worthwhile, and that tickets sell out.
     

‘BOTA Vibratory Attunement’

     
Builders of the Adytum in Philadelphia will host—and open to the public—a special ritual working later this month. This Vibratory Attunement Ritual will be worked Saturday, June 21 at 3 p.m. (after the regular 1 p.m. study group) at the First Unitarian Church, located at 2125 Chestnut Street.

From the publicity:

Courtesy BOTA

BOTA members, their guests, and the general public are invited to participate in this beautiful ritual of healing and transmutation by building patterns of harmony through ancient vibratory formulae of color and sound.

I attended a presentation of this ritual in April in Manhattan, and I found it very interesting. Knowing only a whiff of conversational knowledge about esoteric uses of sound and color, I was very lost, but not hopeless. The ritual involves enough elements that are very familiar (archangels, cardinal directions, prayer, meditation, Scriptural passages, et al.) so that those experienced in other esoteric streams can grasp what’s being done.
     

‘The moon is in the east’

   
“When the sun and the moon are separated by the entire extent of the firmament, and the moon is in the east with the sun over against her in the west, she is completely relieved by her still greater distance from his rays, and so, on the fourteenth day, she is at the full, and her entire disc emits its light.”

Vitruvius
The Ten Books of Architecture
Book IX, Chapter 2


It’s a pleasure to read Vitruvius. Augustus was fond of saying how he found Rome built of brick but left it made of marble, but history remembers it was Vitruvius who made the transformation a reality. His decalogue on architecture encompasses far more than the technical know-how on constructing enduring buildings for all human needs. He provides insight into the ancient mind, and how it knowingly set about ordering life in that age. That long sentence quoted above is Vitruvius borrowing from Berosus, the Chaldean historian.

Moonlit Sea by Shoda Koho, woodblock print, 1920.

Anyway, you know the Summer Solstice is near when the Rosicrucian Order’s monthly Full Moon Meditation comes at the nine o’clock hour. I recommend this rewarding experience to you, and remember it is not necessary to be a member of the Order to participate.

June’s Full Moon Meditation will take place on Friday the 13th at 9:30 p.m. I have class at the School of Practical Philosophy and cannot join you, but gather at the Rosicrucian Cultural Center (2303 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. in Manhattan) for a period of mindfulness exercise at 9:30, after which the group will proceed to a nearby park for more spiritual work under the gaze of the full moon.

Trust me, if you’ve never done such a thing, this is fun if nothing else, but if you know about meditation, then this exercise will suit you in ways more direct.
     

‘Rosicrucian Mystical Weekend’

     
The Rosicrucian Cultural Center in New York City (2303 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard) will host its June Mystical Weekend.

Saturday, June 7

1 to 5 p.m.

Discuss Spiritual Laws with Dr. Lonnie Edwards,

author of Spiritual Laws that Govern Humanity

and the Universe.

Sunday, June 8

1 to 3 p.m.

Second Temple Degree Review Forum

with Julian Johnson (open to members

in the Second Temple Degree or beyond).

3 to 3:30

Guided Meditation: overall exercise

and vowel intonations.

3:30 to 4

Silent Meditation

4 to 5 p.m.

Convocation

     

‘Words and wishes of the gods’

     
Morbid Anatomy will continue its Death and the Occult in the Ancient World lecture series next month with another illustrated presentation. This one will be in Manhattan, rather than Observatory’s Brooklyn location. From the publicity:

Possession and Prophets

Illustrated Lecture

with Ava Forte Vitali

of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thursday, June 12 at 8 p.m.

Morbid Anatomy Museum

424A Third Avenue (at Seventh Street)

$8 per person—click here

The new year festival of Opet.

On the ancient Mediterranean, the words and wishes of the gods were handed down through a number of different conduits – some human and some not. What were the vehicles for prophecy and how were they interpreted in ancient Egyptian society? From omens to offerings to the ancient equivalent of ‘phone a friend,’ the manner in which the living communicated with their deities varied, across economic levels and with the development of time. We often see instances of both godly and demonic possession, and will discuss the different vehicles through which the gods could speak, including statues, smells, wind, light, and humans and animals, briefly expanding our dialogue to include neighboring Greece and Rome.

Ava Forte Vitali

Ava Forte Vitali completed her Master’s Degree in Art History and Archaeology, with a specialization in the Egyptian and Classical World, at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Her research interests include the interaction of the physical and spirit world in Ancient Egypt, archaeology of the household, and Ancient Egyptian domestic and ancestor cults, on which her Master’s focused. She has excavated at sites in Egypt and Turkey, and is a Collections Manager for Greek and Roman Art at the Metropolitan Museum. She is currently writing a contribution on the Arts and Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, for an upcoming textbook on the introduction to Art History.

Death and the Occult

in the Ancient World Series

Death and the Occult in the Ancient World is a new series of monthly lectures, workshops, and tours that aim to examine the way people along the ancient Mediterranean interacted with the unseen forces in the world. While many basic ancient myths and mortuary traditions are known to most people with a casual interest, often this barely scrapes the top of a rich wealth of information and long history of interesting, engaging, and surprisingly weird traditions and beliefs. Through illustrated lectures, guided tours, and occasional workshops, we will strive to understand the different approaches that the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans had to explain the world around them and challenge popular misconceptions held by the public today.

Through this series we hope to bridge the gap that often exists between academic disciplines and the public audience, bringing the two together in an approachable forum. Led by a trained archaeologist and art historian Ava Forte Vitali of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this series will expand on topics including religion, art, archaeology, and texts, to further our understanding of both our world and theirs.
     

‘Dead Sea Scrolls at Yeshiva’

     
Professor Lawrence Schiffman, of Dead Sea Scrolls, Yeshiva University, and NYU fame, announces YU will host its Second Annual Dead Sea Scrolls Seminar next month.

This will take place Sunday, June 8, from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Kovno Room in the Center for Jewish History’s Yeshiva University Museum. 15 West 16th Street in Manhattan.

I always say, if you think the Essenes have something to do with your secret society, you owe it to yourself to learn about Qumran from true scholars. The truth is more interesting than fantasy.

The program:

1-1:05 Opening Remarks

Lawrence H. Schiffman, Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Judaic Studies, Yeshiva University


1:05-1:45 “Creature of Clay: Humanity According to the Thanksgiving Hymns”

Jeffrey Garcia, Lecturer in Bible, Nyack College


1:45-2:25 “When Insiders Become Outsiders: The Fear of Deviance in the Community Rule”

Ari J. Mermelstein, Assistant Professor of Bible, Yeshiva University


2:25-2:35 Break


2:35-3:15 “Torah and Prayer as Replacements for the Temple: Qumran and the Rabbis”

Azzan Yadin-Israel, Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Classics, Rutgers University


3:15-3:55 “Looking for ‘Literature’ in the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Poetry of the War Scroll (1QM) from Qumran”

Moshe J. Bernstein, Professor of Bible and Jewish History and David A. and Fannie M. Denenberg Chair in Biblical Studies, Yeshiva University


3:55-4 p.m. Closing Remarks

Professor Schiffman


After the lectures, attendees are invited to tour the YU Museum exhibition Modeling the Synagogue: From Dura to Touro, featuring seven scale models of historic synagogues.
     

‘The coming week at Anthroposophy’

     
No fewer than three lectures to take place at the Anthroposophical Society in the coming week. That’s 138 West 15th Street in Manhattan.

Tomorrow night, Eugene Schwartz will complete his four-part series titled “In the Midst of Life:
Understanding Death in Our Time.” 7 p.m. $20 admission. From the publicity:

Eugene Schwartz at his lecture
last month.

In these talks, Eugene Schwartz has been exploring Rudolf Steiner’s often surprising and sometimes counter-intuitive indications about life after death and the dead, and how they may help us face the challenges of modern life.

Lecture 4: Heaven Can Wait. The presentation of death in today’s world—literary and lowbrow alike—may give us insight into the strange and subtle ways that light from “across the threshold” is shining into the darkness of our century. We will explore some manifestations of this light as they appear in popular culture, and witness the surprising ways in which we are coming to understand death in our time.

Eugene Schwartz has been a Waldorf school teacher,
an educator of teachers, and an educational consultant for 33 years. He has given nearly 2,000 lectures on Waldorf education and Anthroposophy. His articles, podcasts, and videos are here.


On Monday, Memorial Day, at 7 p.m., 
László Böszörményi will present “A Meditative Experience: Becoming Silent Inwardly.” No admission fee, but donations are welcome. From the publicity:

When I sit in an attitude of inner silence, I expect heaven to open up and to behold Jacob’s Ladder reaching to heaven, the angels of God ascending and descending. That would happen if I were healthy. Instead, my consciousness is overwhelmed by magnified images of my egoistic everyday obsessions. Becoming inwardly silent has to be learned; opening myself to heaven, earned. In our meditation together we will learn exercises that help us to become silent. In preparation, take the following meditation from Georg Kühlewind: “What in the visible is light, in the hearable is stillness.”

László Böszörményi

László Böszörményi, a friend of Georg Kühlewind and a founder of the Kühlewind Foundation in Budapest, is head of the Institute of Information Technology and Research Group Distributed Multimedia Systems, Alpen-Adria University, Klagenfurt, Austria.



Mr. Böszörményi will return to the podium next Thursday, the 26th, to present “The Limits of Science and the Limitlessness of the Human Spirit” at 7 p.m. $20 admission.

Our science is as good as our way of knowing is. Modern science was born from the revolutionary changes in the Renaissance, following the medieval scholastic way of knowing. The new way of knowing is based in the almost perfect separation of thinking, perceiving, and feeling, which frees knowing for a science which can deal with the dead and past world in an amazingly efficient and creative way. On the other side, this science is not able to deal adequately with life and human beings. László Böszörményi will bring examples of limits of modern science and of this way of knowing. The main part of the talk then deals with extending the borders of consciousness in full wakefulness, without illusions. A new science can be based on new ways of knowing that we develop in ourselves. Such a science strives to read the signs of nature and people, not to analyze and measure them. Such a science is, in a way, science, art, and religion in one. This would bring a new revolution, gentle and self-aware—not damaging anything, but recreating everything.
     

‘A Saturday Satie memory’

     
For some reason—I don’t know why, and I’m not necessarily proud of it—many of my earliest memories are of things seen on television. Bill Jorgensen with that day’s Vietnam body count on the Ten O’Clock News. Nixon’s resignation speech. Munich. A snippet of some cartoon showing anthropomorphized vegetables (e.g. an ill-tempered tomato) splashing down inside a stomach, or maybe a garbage can, and bickering among themselves about it.

One day at age three or four—definitely before kindergarten—I squeezed in a full morning of Sesame Street and other such programming before it was time for a nap. I abandoned the television in the master bedroom, but left it turned on, and walked a straight line of no more than twenty feet to my bed. Sacking out for a while and still able to hear the TV, I held still as haunting music reached my ears. A melody so laden with pathos that it made me afraid and sad. My eyes began tearing. I listened for maybe a minute more, feeling very uneasy, before venturing back to my parents’ room to see whatever trouble the program was. It showed wild animals, in slow motion, running through the grass and trees of some jungle-like setting. Which animals I do not remember; the music stayed with me for life.

Erik Satie

It was Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 1, as I would learn some 35 years later, in an arrangement—if I really can recall correctly—for guitar.

Erik-Alfred-Leslie Satie, says Encyclopædia Britannica, was a French composer “whose spare, unconventional, often witty style exerted a major influence on 20th-century music, particularly in France.” If you’re a fan of John Cage, you are acquainted with the sparse composition style and unconventional harmonies that are Satie’s legacy.

My proper introduction to M. Satie came courtesy of the Rose Circle Research Foundation, specifically Trevor Stewart’s lecture at our first conference, held in April 2006. Trevor spoke at length on the Salon de la Rose + Croix movement, led by Joseph Péladan in fin de siècle Paris. In short, it was an artistic movement wed to Péladan’s self-styled Rosicrucianism, a highly idiomatic esoteric Christianity indeed. (Now that is a subject any Rosicrucian ought to explore for personal edification.) The goal of the annual art salons was to restore the expression of spirituality to the Paris art scene, which at the time was devoted almost entirely to Realism. The art itself expressed themes from mythologies, mysticism, dreams, and other such intuitive inspirations. We can tell these paintings were generations ahead of their time because today they are merely awesome. A hundred and twenty years ago they were explosive.

Armand Point's poster promoting the 1895 Salon de la Rose Croix depicts Greek mythical hero Perseus, slayer of Medusa the Gorgon, holding up decapitated Emile Zola. 

In the liner notes of the CD Musique de la Rose-Croix (LTMCD 2469), James Nice summarizes Satie’s involvement with this arts movement:

A Templar Knight Rose Croix meets
Leonardo da Vinci in this Salon poster.

For a short period Erik Satie was appointed official composer for the esoteric Ordre de la Rose-Croix Catholique du Temple et du Graal, founded in Paris by the flamboyant mystic ‘Sar’ Joséphin Péladan. The first Salon de la Rose-Croix was held in March 1892, at which Satie’s solemn Trois Sonneries de la Rose + Croix were performed for the first time. Satie also composed music for Péladan’s play Le Fils des Étoiles (Son of the Stars), as well as two preludes for a chivalric play, Le Nazaréen. Satie subsequently broke from the Order in August 1892.

It would be too wonderful a coincidence for the sublime melody that upset me in a moment of early childhood to be among the composer’s Rosicrucian works I enjoy in middle age, and that is not the case, but I am delighted—très content—to connect the pieces and enjoy them. Erik Satie was born on this date in 1866, and when today settles down enough so I may sneak off with some tobacco and a glass of whiskey, I surely will toast his memory.
     

‘Rosicrucian Summer in the City’

     
Five wonderful events (and I suspect more will be announced) are scheduled for the Rosicrucian Cultural Center in New York City in the coming months. Remember, one need not be a member of either the Rosicrucian Order or the Traditional Martinist Order to enjoy these Rosicrucian and Martinist workshops and programs, although one of them is bound to get you thinking about partaking in these philosophies and practices.

The Rosicrucian Cultural Center is located at 2303 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard in New York City.

The Way of the Heart:

The Sophia Tradition

Monday, June 16 through Friday, June 20

Nightly from 6:30 to 7:30

One of the central pillars of the Western Esoteric Tradition is the Sophia Tradition, or the Path of Divine Wisdom. Essential in Martinism, it is strongly present in mystical Judaism, Christianity. and Islam as well, and is connected to similar paths in many world spiritualities.

With its feminine imagery for the Divine, the Sophia Tradition leads us into the very core of our being, where the soul is united to its Divine Source in a Mystical Marriage. According to Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin:

“The only initiation I advocate and search for with all the ardor of my soul is the one through which we can enter into the heart of God and make God’s heart enter our own, there to make an indissoluble marriage which makes us friend, brother, and spouse of our Divine Repairer.”

This workshop will explore some of the major figures in this ancient manifestation of the Primordial Tradition, and its themes and spirituality. Included will be practical suggestions for learning more about Sophia, and entering into the practice of the Tradition.

The facilitator of this workshop, Steven A. Armstrong, M.A. Hum., M.A., M.Div., is a professional historian, philosopher, and teacher based in the San Francisco Bay area. He currently serves at the Grand Lodge (San Jose) in Membership Services. He is an active member of both the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC and the Traditional Martinist Order, and has served as an officer in both Orders.

His current areas of interest include how the Primordial Tradition permeates all world traditions, and the way in which the Rosicrucian and Martinist paths provide a unique and unifying viewpoint on those traditions.

The Prayer of the Heart Practicum

Monday, June 23 through Friday, June 27

Nightly from 6:30 to 7:30

Deep, heart-centered prayer is at the core of the mystical practice of Martinism, as well as many world spiritual traditions. It is a practical and real way to actualize the Sophia Tradition and the Way of the Heart. This work allows practitioners to realize the union of their heart with the Divine Heart, beating with the rhythm of the Cosmos. As Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin puts it:

“There is no other mystery to arrive at this holy initiation than to go more and more down into the depths of our being, and not let go till we can bring forth the living vivifying root, because then all the fruit which we ought to bear, according to our kind, will be produced within and without us naturally, as we see occurs with our earthly trees, because they are attached to their particular root, and do not cease to draw up its sap.”

This five-day practicum will assist participants in meditation practices, leading up to and including the Prayer of the Heart. The exercises are non-sectarian, as the Prayer of the Heart is found virtually in all world spiritualities.

The facilitator of this workshop will be Steven A. Armstrong.

Learn Rosicrucian Healing Techniques

Tuesday, July 8 through Thursday, July 10

Nightly from 6:30 to 8

This experiential workshop will guide participants in learning how to use many Rosicrucian techniques to create radiant physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

The facilitator of this workshop will be Julie Scott, Grand Master of the Rosicrucian Order.

Tarot: A Rosicrucian Approach

Monday, August 18 through Friday, August 22

Nightly from 6:30 to 7:30

The Tarot is of perennial interest to students of esotericism. Its compact symbolism and connections to other Mystical Paths continue to intrigue us.

In this workshop, we will consider the Major and Minor Arcana of the Tarot from a Rosicrucian perspective, seeing how they connect with Kabbalah, Alchemy and meditation. After having taken a look at the history of Tarot, workshop participants will then have a chance to consider the symbolism of the Trumps and Suits, and to begin to develop a personal numerology, which comes from their own experience, as well as from the Primordial Tradition.

The facilitator of this workshop will be Steven A. Armstrong.

Mystics for Moderns

Monday, August 25 through Friday, August 29

Nightly from 6:30 to 7:30

Mysticism, according to the Rosicrucian approach, is not only for those on mountaintops and in monasteries. It is a real and vibrant practice available to all women and men in the modern world.

This participatory workshop will introduce / re-familiarize participants with some of the greatest mystics and their writings from our Rosicrucian lineage, across time and cultures. A brief historical introduction to each will then be complemented with meditative exercises utilizing their mystical writings and approaches.

Among the goals of the workshop is to assist us in growing in our ability to see the world and our lives as mystics—a holographic view which keeps the reality of “As Above, So Below” in our awareness.

The facilitator of this workshop will be Steven A. Armstrong.
     

‘Full Moon Meditation Wednesday’

   

The Phases of the Moon by Galileo

“You whose eyes were made to see what all other eyes would not see, due glory you rendered saying, ‘I render infinite thanks to God for being so kind as to make me the first observer of marvels kept hidden from all previous times.’ ”

Galileo





One need not be a member of the Rosicrucian Order to take part in its cyclical Full Moon Meditations, but doing so may cause you to wonder if the Order just might offer an appealing method of organizing the mind. (If you’re into that kind of thing.)

Full Moon Meditation

Wednesday, May 14

8:45 p.m.

Rosicrucian Cultural Center

2303 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard

New York City

The group gathers in the downstairs meeting room of the RCC for a period of mindfulness exercise before heading over to a nearby park.