San Miguel Branch

Celebration of Ascension and Pentecost

In-person study group in San Marcos at 10AM
Email contact@sandiegoanthroposophy.com for details.

The Festivals and Their Meaning III : Ascension and Pentecost: The Whitsun Mystery and its Connection with the Ascension , By Rudolf Steiner 07 May 1923, Dornach, GA 224 Translated by Dorothy S. Osmond, Alan P. Shepherd https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/AscenPent/19230507p01.html

Other suggested studies by Rudolf Steiner include:

The Life of Man on Earth and the Essence of Christianity
GA 349, 9 May 1923, Dornach Translated by Steiner Online Library

XIII. Christ's Death, Resurrection and Ascension
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA349/English/SOL2024/19230509p02.html

Fifth Gospel (D. Osmond): Lecture II/ GA 148/ 02 Oct 1913, Oslo
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA148/English/RSPC1950/19131002p02.html

The date of Ascension is 40 days after Easter. In 2026 that will be Thursday, May 14. Pentecost is 50 days after Easter, Sunday, May 24.

A Celebration of the Easter Festival

Dear Friends, a celebration of the Easter festival will be held on:

Saturday, April 4th, at 11am
at the home of Elizabeth Olley

Please email contact@sandiegoanthroposophy.com for contact details/directions.

The gathering will include the study of The Festivals and their Meaning II
EASTER, Lecture I: EASTER; THE FESTIVAL OF WARNING
The Event at Damascus and the new Knowledge of the Spirit
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/Easter/19200402a01.html

The Winter Festival (a Poem)

The festivals are reminders of great happenings in the amazing story of man’s evolution. They are celebrations of man’s intimate connection with all in the universe.

Once upon a time before there was time as we know time to be, before there was space as we know space to be, before Time and Space was as it is now, the Earth was not simply the earth and the Sun and Moon were not as they are now. The Sun and Moon and Earth were One body, One Being. The human being had a very different body, a very different soul and the spirit did not yet have a home in this body temple.

For the immortal, imperishable Soul, the Divine Spark of Being, existed in another space, in a higher planetary sphere, until it was time and when it was time it descended into the evolving human body which, before the Divine Spark entered was only at the stage of consciousness as the animals (was not yet fully human) -- it was preparing for something new, something more. And this descent of the Divine Spark of the Spirit was celebrated as the victory of the Light over the Darkness. The celebration of Human Becoming. The Temple Priests transmitted this knowledge to the disciples of the Mysteries at midnight on the Winter Solstice.

At the same time everything changed in the universe. The SunMoonEarth being was shifting and first the Sun separated out and then the Moon. And for the first time, and forever after, the Sun and Moon played down upon the Earth from the outside. Now, man and woman, dwellers on the Earth are also Sun and Moon Beings, they have the Spirit of the Sun and Moon in them. The Spirit of Man and the Spirit of the Universe are intimately connected. The human body is a Body of Spirit, a bearer of the Spirit. We are children of the Sun Spirit.

The Winter Festival

This is the winter festival, 
the victory of the Sun over the darkness, 
when the Sun shone down upon the Earth for the first time 
and when the immortal soul brought light 
into the dark recesses of animal nature; 
a light seed of new possibility.

We are the Human Beings,
The children of the Sun Spirit
The Beings in whom the light of Consciousness may be awakened; 
in whom the unruly chaotic forces of desires and reactivities 
may be transmuted and harmonized 
We are Beings who hold the rhythmic harmony of the Sun, 
the harmony of the Universe 
as a possibility of our own Becoming.

We are Beings of Divine Harmony.
The Divine Harmony of the Cosmos fills our Soul
    With Peace
We are Beings of Peace
    Of Trust and Hope
Sun Heroes are we.
The tiny seed of light is 
    buried in the dark.
The treasure of our Being
    immersed in chaos
Is revealed 
by standing still, 
being silent
by lifting our hearts to the stars
turning our gaze to the Divine Self,
    the Divine God Child within
    in essence like the Sun,
    Bringer of Peace.
We are the Bringers of Peace
Standing in the darkness  
Cradling the light.

—Joseph Rubano

Celebration of the Holy Days and Nights

The Fifth Gospel

Thirteen lectures given in Oslo, Berlin, Cologne between
October 1, 1913 and February 10, 1914
By Rudolf Steiner

There are several translations and editions of this book available. We will be following the sequence of lectures in the edition pictured left:
https://steinerbooks.org/products/9781855840393-the-fifth-gospel

NOTE: Some of the reading times have/may change. Please check back and confirm time with the hosts before attending.

Please email contact@sandiegoanthroposophy.com if you need directions/contact information for any of the hosts/ study days.

Thu, December 25 (or before)	Lecture 1	Read at home			Archive: Lecture 1
Fri, December 26	Lecture 2	Jacqueline and Soleil	1:00 pm	Fallbrook	Archive: Lecture 2
Sat, December 27	Lecture 3	Johanna	1:00 pm	San Diego	Archive: Lecture 3
Sun, December 28	Lecture 4	Blake	1:00 pm	Encinitas	Archive: Lecture 4
Mon, December 29	Lecture 5	Lori and Carlos	~~1:00 pm~~ 4:00 pm	Escondido	Archive: Lecture 5
Tue, December 30	Lecture 6	Diane	1:00 pm	Oceanside	Archive: Lecture 6
Wed, December 31	Lecture 7	Read at home			Archive: Lecture 7
Thu, January 1	Lecture 8	John and Cristy	1:00 pm	Vista	Archive: Lecture 8
Fri, January 2	Lecture 9	Mary	1:00 pm	Poway	Archive: Lecture 9
Sat, January 3	Lecture 10	Scott and Andrea	1:00 pm	La Mesa	Archive: Lecture 10
Sun, January 4	Lecture 11	Joseph and Patricia	~~1:00 pm~~ 4:00 pm	Oceanside	Archive: Lecture 11
Mon, January 5	Lecture 12	Karen	~~7:30 pm~~ 4:00 pm	Poway	Archive: Lecture 12
Tue, January 6	Lecture 13	Elizabeth and Victor	~~1:00 pm~~ 6:30 pm	San Marcos	Archive: Lecture 13

While we recommend getting a copy of the pictured book to follow along with, the lectures are also available on the Rudolf Steiner archive with the links specified above. There are two translations available on the archive. We recommend / have links supplied for the Frank Thomas Smith edition.

We will begin our readings with Lecture 2.

Please read Lectures 1 and 7 at home.

Bring your Christmas caroling voices!

Shepherd's Play at WSSD

Fri Dec 12th 4:30pm
and
Sun Dec 14th 6:30pm

WSSD Auditorium
3547 Altadena Ave.
San Diego 92128

Every year, many Waldorf Schools around the world perform The Shepherds' Play, one of a collection of three plays written in the 16th or early 17th century by a group of German farmers who migrated to the island of Oberufer on the Danube River.

They brought with them a cycle of religious plays that had been handed down through the oral tradition for generations. These plays have been preserved for centuries in their original form and were translated into a suitably archaic English version by A.C. Harwood, a Waldorf teacher in England. Both reverential and humorous, the Shepherds' Play is now performed annually in many languages in Waldorf schools worldwide.

The play’s universal, archetypal themes demonstrate goodness overcoming evil, love overcoming fear, light shining in the darkness, and goodwill enduring in human hearts. It is suitable for all ages. We hope you’ll join us for this beloved tradition!