Turning Living Nature Imagination Inward
Thank you for your replies to this series on Goethe, phenomenology, and the etheric. I’m so pleased at the interest As I alluded to in my last email, it’s time to turn this way of seeing back on ourselves and peer at our own soul activity. While Goethe refined this way of seeing into nature, Rudolf…
Read MoreEtheric Vision
In the inner work of developing your consciousness, there is a stage of development called “etheric vision”. This concept is found in many forms in the work of Rudolf Steiner. To form an idea of this, it is useful to look at the work of Goethe known as phenomenology, or the perception of phenomena. This…
Read MoreTechniques for Transforming Dreaming
The technique of transforming dreaming is to saturate the going into sleep and the waking up times with as much attention and devotion as possible. For this reason Rudolf Steiner has given a number of very useful exercises and indications concerning these times of day. The fundamental idea however is not that there is a…
Read MoreThe Power of Belief – Some thoughts for the New Year
That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming. ~Emerson Human beings have a fundamental need to believe in something. Beliefs are generally divided into two categories, immanent and transcendent. These…
Read MoreGoethe’s Living-Nature Imagination
Those who have tried to grasp and not merely read about the nature-consciousness developed in Goethe, know how elusive this child of the 18th century can be. For no sooner do you grasp what appears to be a limb (or branch), then at once the fragile form disappears. You hold in your hand something akin to the carbon structure of the thing or a burnt etching, but the living experience awaits the next effort of perception.
Read MoreMeeting with the spirit during the Holy Nights
There is an exercise that is a blend of two indications from Rudolf Steiner regarding Christmas day in particular and the twelve Holy Nights in general. The particular reference was about a meeting in the spirit of those souls on the path founded by Christian Rosencreutz. On Christmas day there is traditionally a meeting in…
Read MoreColors of the Sunrise: Light, Darkness and the Atmospheric Dance of the Soul
[Republished from the Journal of Anthroposophical Medicine Vol.9 1992] From a mechanical point of view the motion of the earth as it revolves around its axis brings into being the diverse set of phenomena known as the sunrise. From a more poetic point of view the sunrise is a rune of high significance for human…
Read MoreJonah and the Whale: An Encrypted Alchemical Meditation
In “Jonah and the Whale: An Encrypted Alchemical Meditation,” Dennis Klocek delves into the symbolic richness of the biblical tale of Jonah and the Whale, using the lens of alchemical interpretation. Klocek elucidates how the story’s sequence of events mirrors the four stages of the alchemical mandala: earth, water, air, and fire, each representing different levels of consciousness and transformation.
Jonah’s journey begins with an earthly task from the Lord, but he attempts to evade it by fleeing to sea—a move against the mandalic protocol. Caught in a storm, Jonah’s unconscious state parallels the water stage, where chaos reigns until he accepts responsibility. Cast overboard, Jonah undergoes a profound initiation within the whale’s belly, akin to a spiritual retreat, leading to a higher understanding and resolution to fulfill his divine task.
As Jonah returns to land, he enters a cycle of repentance and redemption, symbolized by the gourd vine that shelters him briefly before withering away. This cyclical growth and decay represent the alchemical process of owning one’s shadow and surrendering to higher forces. Through Jonah’s journey, Klocek illustrates the transformative power of spiritual initiation and the possibility of redemption for all souls.
Read MoreEarth Stewardship and Imagination
To truly see the Earth as a living being with a soul capable of will impulses and feelings requires humans to come into contact with the way that phenomena in nature stimulate feelings and will impulses in human beings. The sequence here is sense experience creating a picture image in the nerves that leads to…
Read MoreSoul Qualities of the 12 Personality Archetypes
In Part 6 of our Soul Course, Dennis shows us how how to use the twelve personality archetypes to begin to see into the biographical stories of people in our lives. The soul dynamics of control in each archetype will be explored through the Artist/Agent and Activist/Hermet polarities. Understanding these dynamics allows us to heal…
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