Anthroposophy in Hawkes Bay
Newsletter 44-24 for Sunday 3 November 2024
Calendar of Coming Events-- Diary Dates
In the Rudolf Steiner Centre, 401 Whitehead Road, Hastings
unless stated otherwise.
- Monday 4 November afternoon from 1pm Memorial meeting for Paul Anderson.
- Friday 8 November. 7pm. Leading Thoughts 124-6. "At the Gates of the Spiritual Soul: How Michael in the Spiritual World is preparing for his Earth-mission through the conquest of Lucifer"
- Thursday, 14th November 7.00p.m. Wagner's Libretto of Parsifal -- "The Grail and the Spear"--- with Eva Knausenberger
- Sunday 17 November. Taikura School Fête - The Centre will have a table stall there. Help requested.
- Sunday 17 November in Centre. 10 to 3pm. Youth Ambassador to Finland.
- Kairos_Post_Graduate_flyer_2025.pdf
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Wagner's Libretto of Parsifal --- "The Grail and the Spear" ,
Thursday, 14th November at 7.00p.m.
You are invited to the third talk/conversation/workshop on the topic of Wagner's Libretto of Parsifal. Together we will explore more of this marvelous "mystery drama" in particular the role of "the Grail" and "the Spear".
The spear Parsifal returns to the Grail has the power to heal and redeem Amfortas.
If possible, read the Libretto (again).
I look forward to seeing all who are interested.
++ I am also hoping that some members will be interested - on a regular basis- to read and study Rudolf Steiner's explorations into the Spiritual Activity of Thinking. If you are interested in such a venture, please contact me.
Eva Knausenberger 06-873 7615, or 021-2101859 or knausenberger2@gmail.com
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Taikura Fête or Fair Stall
Sunday 17 NOVEMBER
Dear Friends
The Rudolf Steiner Centre is looking forward to having a stall at the Taikura Fair on Sunday, November 17. For the next two weeks, if you have anthroposophical treasures that someone else may like to buy, please bring them to the Centre between 1 and 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday. These may include artwork, books, and ornaments with a spiritual focus.
If you are available to help with set up on Sunday morning, clean up in the afternoon or help at the stall, please get in touch with Angela Hair at 027-4436737 or angela@concordia.co.nz
This is a great opportunity to let people know about what happens at the Centre and encourage more use of the library and bookings for the rooms.
Angela Hair will have her 'Keyflowers - A Homeopathic Transformation’ book and homeopathic kits for use at home for sale. A third of all sales made at the Fête will go to Taikura to support this awesome school.
We are particularly happy to confirm that they have installed filters in the kindergartens and school to remove fluoride and chlorine from the water.
Warm regards,
Angela Hair,
For the HB Anthroposophical Branch Committee
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Funding for Youth to go to FINLAND
Sunday 17th November @ Anthroposophical Centre
10am-3pm
(opposite Taikura Rudolf Steiner School on Nelson street)
There will be selling of Art pieces donated by Artists and up and coming Artists work available, Raffles and Hangi Tickets (no eftpos)
Donations welcome
He Rangatahi Pounamu
Westpac Trust
03-0698-0198353-000
Kia Ora whanau,
Calling ALL artists..We Need your ART..
To raise funds for He Rangatahi Pounamu, our youth Ambassador Program to Finland, 2025 - we are having an art fundraising exhibition sale...
** Tracy Mclean 20x36 Acrylic on Canvas Te Maranga
Kia ora whanau we are having an art sale featuring up and comings and established artists.
ALL proceeds are going to He Rangatahi Pounamu to help youth from Aotearoa being Ambassadors in Suomi, Finland.
Date: Nov 17th
Where: Anthroposophical Centre [over the road from the Taikura School Fair]
10am - 3pm
Payment in cash or bank transfer ( sorry no eftpos)
Thank you kindly
Te Whiti Seeds
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Speech Eurythmy
An Esoteric Study
Reflections 49 years after beginning the Path.
by John Allison
This essay will attempt to uncover some of the mysteries that are connected with the new art created by Rudolf Steiner out of his spiritual research into speech and song. It is written for students of Anthroposophy and therefore a basic knowledge of spiritual scientific facts is expected.
I would like to start by looking at the aims of a Eurythmy performance and what the challenges are that need to be faced and wrestled with. Steiner’s hope was that this new art would be able to show the etheric movements that are spiritually connected to the sounds of speech. Also, the moods and meaning of poems would be made visible through the gestures, the group choreography, the costumes, the lighting, the design of the stage and the style of speaking. He hoped for an inner development of each Eurythmist with a need for a selfless devotion to the sounds of the poetry and a striving for a connection to the spiritual world. This is one of the challenges – it is not enough to learn the gestures and to develop a skillful technique in moving. A reverence for the word as an expression of spirit and as a creative formative being is an essential mood of soul.
I would like to look at how the technique of Eurythmy can enhance this mood. Firstly, the movements are done silently as a response to what is heard and felt with the whole body, head, arms, hands, legs and feet. This frees the Eurythmy from some of the Ahrimanic power that comes when words are spoken, for speech is a gift of Ahriman and is easily tied down into self-willed opinion, criticism and lies. (The riddle of humanity L14, GA170. 2 Sept 1916) Contrast that to the practice of selflessly devoting one's hearing and movements to the sound of a poem and it is not difficult to see how the self-will of Ahriman is softened and transformed. Steiner said that if two different Eurythmists performed the same piece it would look the same if this selfless devotion was practised. Whether or not the performers have a pretty face or not is not important, the beauty can shine through the gestures, colours and forms. Rudolf Steiner: “the right atmosphere must enter in, the feeling for the connection between man and the divine spiritual powers, this is essential if you would become Eurythmists in the true sense.” (Eurythmy as visible speech L1 GA279 July 1924)
Art is kind of magic, a conjuring up of a divine experience that clothes our sense impression with cosmic beauty. Another challenge that faces Eurythmy is how to transform normal 3-dimensional space into the 2 dimensional space of the etheric world. Steiner speaks of the transition from 3 to 2 dimensions as we enter into Imagination. (The arts and their Mission L3. GA276. 2 June 1923) Here the technique has to be acquired that as I move from back to front and to show I take the back space with me; and the same when I move from front to back. As I move back, I feel an ascent upwards, when I move forwards, I feel a descent downwards. I try to overcome the dimension forward and back, joining it to up and down. The basic exercise of expansion and contraction lays the foundation for this awareness. The polarity of seeing and hearing, joy and sorrow can be expressed also. The frontal position needs to be mastered so all directions can be shown whilst still facing the audience. Turning around has the effect of breaking this mode and falling into the purely physical space. The exercise “I Think Speech” orientates us to the will-plane that joins front and back. The whole exercise is performed in 2 dimensions up-down, right-left. Next the design of stage and theatre is important in conjuring up the feeling of 2 dimensions. The stage needs to be raked higher at the back and sloping down to the front. The seating needs to ascend from the stage to the back of the theatre. This is how the stage is designed in Rudolf Steiner House in London where I trained. Seated in the middle of the 5th row I would meet eye to eye with the performer when she was in the centre of the stage, then she would rise up when moving back and descend when moving forwards. When I worked as a stagehand at the Goetheanum we would put sloping structures at the back of the stage which were a metre high for the Eurythmy. This is not enough, however, to give the full expression of a transformed space. Steiner wanted very strong bathing of coloured light to flood the stage in ever-changing moods reflecting the meaning of the poetry. The colour should feel equal behind and in front, softening the 3rd dimension. This activates the eyes of the audience so we start to bring our own creation of the complimentary colour to meet what comes from the stage. This is an objective etheric activity and can lead us into experiencing the 2-dimensional space. Also these floods of colour change the colours of the costumes, so we are led into an ever changing space of movement, sound and colour. This brings us to an artistic experience of Imagination. The art of stage lighting for Eurythmy was ahead of its time. Practice of the gestures and movements for the colours helps to enter this space of Imagination. The colours become free dynamics moving through and clothing the sounds. The mysteries of space on earth are connected to the Father God, Christ brings Time into space, from the Sun. (Karmic Relationships 2 GA236. Apr 1924) The Holy Spirit ascends out of Time and Space to Eternity.
Eurythmy serves the word as Logos, the creative power of Christ. So, in Eurythmy we are faced with this challenge, how do I bring the world of time into the world of space? Some of the answers are given above. I would like to look at a new aspect and that is how can the physical body be lifted out of space into time. The challenge is a Michaelic one, how can I move from The Word that became Flesh to the new experience that, in our time, the Flesh can learn to live in the realm of the Word. (The Mission of the Archangel Michael. GA194. 22 Nov 1919)
Opposed totally to this is Ahriman, who wants to achieve the separation of space from time (World thoughts in Michael and Ahriman. GA26. 1924) This is especially relevant to the tasks of Eurythmy. Indeed, it is the essence of this art of free movement. Among all the creatures of the earth the human being stands upright. No other animal has achieved this in the same way. One effect of this posture is that we enter into gravity directly and change it so that, as a healthy young person, we do not feel the pull downwards as we move. It is this principle of uprightness that gives us the ability to incarnate the ego into space and transform weight into levity. (Curative Education. L3. GA315. 13 Apr 1921)
So, it is these forces that are called on in Eurythmy and led out through gesture to take hold of the instreaming cosmic etheric forces of the stars and planets working in the sounds of speech. No need to leap through the air or walk on point like the ballerina, the Eurythmist can learn to move without effort in a gliding almost magical hovering across the stage. Held by the forces of levity and the inner transformation of gravity. According to Steiner there is no such thing as a tired Eurythmist! (Tone Eurythmy. GA278. 20 Feb 1924)
Of course, this will arise but then you must no longer consider yourself as expressing the spirit of Eurythmy which is connected to the rhythmic beat of heart and lung, that never tires as long as we are alive. The opposite is the case, you can be tired and heavy then go to a Eurythmy class and the tiredness and heaviness vanish away! Of course, out of the realm of levity we can use the force of weight when appropriate in the context of the performance. So, a free balance can arise between weight and lightness, between Ahriman and Lucifer. Every step that a human being takes reflects this, Lucifer helps us lift the foot, Ahriman helps us reconnect to the earth. Our ego is called on to be the master of this situation, giving purpose and direction. This is fostered by constant practice of the Eurythmic 3-fold step, one of the essential basic exercises.
Steiner once described Eurythmy as having reached the stage of a babbling infant! He had no illusions about the fact that Eurythmy would only fully develop in the future. Why is this? Firstly, because it was so new and the indications would take time to be worked through and refined. Also, in a lecture on the 7 arts he said Eurythmy happens when the Life Spirit is shown in the Spirit Self. We know that in most people today these members are still in embryo, held in the womb of the Spirit, and are still to be fully revealed in earthly life. So how does Eurythmy lead us into connection to these sublime heights? In the lectures published under the title (A psychology of body soul and spirit. GA115. Oct 1909), it is pointed out that a connection exists between the senses of Movement and Balance and the Life Spirit and the Spirit Self. Could this be one aspect of how Eurythmy leads us through an ensouling of our movement and balance into a living awareness of these higher members of our being?
Interesting also is the connection between the control of movement and the development of the Sense of Hearing and Sense of Word. In his book on the first 3 years of the child Dr Karl König points out how the awareness of speech in the 2nd year develops after the conquest of space and balance in the first year. Through the control of movement into stillness the Sense of Word is born. This is the realm of Eurythmy, we listen to the word with the whole of our movement organism. Through our sense of balance, we enter into the soul realm of the thinking, feeling and willing, and lift this up to the spirit self. The highest wisdom works in our physical senses. The body is revealed as the temple of the gods. Konig reveals that the sense organ for the Word is the whole pyramidal nervous system which we also use to perceive movement. We gain control of this by learning to walk! Fidgety children will not be able to listen and understand spoken words as well as children who can sit completely still.
Another challenge faces the Eurythmist, and this is to do with willing in the etheric, placing the will activity into a relation with the cosmic creative forces, not just the earthly physical. Humanity is in danger of being sucked down in our will into sub-nature, into soulless mechanical movement. Eurythmy has the task to ensoul the limbs and let cosmic beauty shine into earthly movement and gesture. Steiner said every true Eurythmy gesture is wrestled away from Ahriman who wants a payment in return. He said Eurythmy should be well paid for and then the debt to Ahriman is balanced out. If we stand so to speak on the new ground of the etheric, we have a new three foldness that opens up to replace body soul and spirit with Etheric-Astral-SpiritSelf. (The Whitsun festival GA236) This is another gateway to the sources of Eurythmy. I would recommend this lecture with its beautiful crescendo of Imaginations.
Eurythmy needs the artistic formed speech, set free and released into the outward stream of the breath. Speaking for Eurythmy is a special challenge, for the speaker needs to be in touch with all the movements on stage as well as forming the sounds of speech in such a way as to support the gestures. The co-working of speech and Eurythmy allows each art to learn from the other! Finding suitable poetry that has a spiritual archetype and real inner fire and dynamic is not an easy task and many hours of searching through a poetry collection may be needed to find something. In an evolutionary sense we are at a turning point where we can allow our will to descend more deeply into the physical and the sub-physical. Wild dance to electronic music and the repetitive movements of sport lead in this direction. Here the tendency is for physical movement to be torn away from the etheric impulse.
What may seem to lead to short-term health will often lead to a longer-term illness tendency because it is in the etheric that the health-giving forces are to be found. Eurythmy brings will and initiative but also guards the sacred connection between the etheric impulse and its physical expression. Every movement should be graceful, filled with grace. This is the magical force that allows us to do the good, bestowed on us by the being of Christ. A delicate and nuanced control of the muscles is another great challenge for the performer. The audience will directly experience whether the movements are felt or just churned out mechanically. We live in an age where reverence for great men and women is weakened, and criticism and cynicism are widespread. This has an effect on how we move. A lack of reverence and wonder in childhood leads to a loss of dexterity, we connect with our skeleton and less to our muscles. (Curative Education L6. GA315. 17 Apr 1921)
So the ground is laid very early for an ability to feel the delicate tensions and character in our Eurythmy. We are lucky if we have had the experience of wonder and reverence for adults when we were children. From one point of view Eurythmy can be understood as listening made visible. When we listen to speech our larynx does a kind of invisible Eurythmy behind us in sympathy to the heard sounds. The task of Eurythmy is to turn this around, place it into the front space and make it visible. This mystery is revealed in the first lecture of the Curative Eurythmy course. So Eurythmy is nothing unnatural or strange, we do it all the time when we listen to speech or song.
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