This year’s Holy Nights Journey with Mary Stewart Adams and the Great Lakes Branch of the Anthroposophical Society will be a deepening of our experience of the cycle of the year, as it is expressed through the colors, forms, and astronomical aspects of the original Calendar of the Soul, which was published for the year 1912-13.
Following the inspiration of the original calendar’s impulse, and in celebration of the glass etched images of the zodiac that are continuously on display at the Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the Branch centers its activity, we will contemplate the New Images of the Zodiac day by day, what they mean to impart to the seeking soul, and how they support our ability to know the Being of the Coming Year, 2022.
In an exciting development based on the commitment of the Great Lakes Branch, participants in this year’s activity are also invited to share the artwork they create out of this year’s Holy Nights Journey, to serve as companion to the Calendar verses for the spiritual new year beginning Easter 2022. Then, starting at Easter, the Great Lakes Branch will send monthly emails with the verses and corresponding images created by the community, as well as the celestial highlights of the year, to once again enliven the elements of the original Calendar, and as a way to enrich our engagement with the Year Being. This activity is particularly inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s statement from December 31, 1922: The first beginning of what must come to pass if Anthroposophy is to fulfill its mission in the world is that the human being’s whole relationship to the world must be recognized to be one of cosmic ritual (lecture V, The Spiritual Communion of Mankind).
Please note that all are welcome, and that you do not need to be a member of the branch or live in our vicinity to participate. The more widely we come to this work, the more enlivened we all become!
Registration is $45 (see registration button below)
Event happens online, with a primer workshop Saturday, December 4, 2021, from 7-8:30 pm, during which Mary Stewart Adams will share the history of the images and how our working with them can strengthen our experience of “speaking to the stars.” This introductory session will be followed by our connecting each day of the Holy Christmastide, for 15 minutes at 11 am, eastern time, beginning Friday, December 24. During our daily sessions, members of the Great Lakes Branch will be onsite at Steiner House, illuminating the glass etched image of the day with a candle, while online participants are led through artistic and contemplative exercises to draw out the meaning of the images, how their colors and forms awaken our sense of engagement with the Year Being, and how our own biographies serve as the research subject for uncovering the meaning of the celestial rhythms that unfold each year, specifically with regard to the year now completing (2021), and in anticipation of the weeks and months and mysteries that lie ahead, in 2022.
You will receive the Zoom link for our December 4, 2021 in your inbox after you register, followed by the link for making a daily connection online for 15 minutes at 11 am (eastern time), December 24, 2021 through January 6, 2022.