The Holy Nights 2024-2025

Our Paths Among the Stars
Preparing a Place for Dialogue with the Divine Spiritual Powers Revealing Themselves from the Stars
With Mary Stewart Adams and Alan Thewless

Earth shines like a star into the universe, and the universe beholds the body of Earth thus enlivened, shining like a rainbow. Never are Earth and the Universe nearer to each other in freedom and full consciousness than at Christmas time. ~Elizabeth Vreede

The sacredness of this year's holy night's season takes on an added significance in the context of the centennial celebrations connected to the life and work of Rudolf Steiner. For our daily online offerings, we will undertake a practice that he recommended to artists around the time of the publication of the first Calendar of the Soul 1912/13, which was to recreate the new images of the zodiac found therein each year, as a way to prepare a space for receiving the spiritual fruits ripening in the coming year. 
We will be guided in our work by Mary Stewart Adams, with special guest Alan Thewless, each of whom have hosted holy nights events and published workbooks annually for many years.
Each day, participants will be offered a year-in-review process that aligns to a specific region of the zodiac, with access to the Calendar of the Soul image for the corresponding sign, to support artistic engagement. The end of each session will include a preview of the starry highlights for each month of the coming year.
Each session will be recorded, and a packet will be provided each day with the zodiac image, star maps, and suggested contemplation. Journals and Zodiac Card sets may also be purchased, to support and deepen your study.

The nature of the human being cannot be understood unless we are just as conscious of our connection with the stars as we are of our connection with the Earth.
~Rudolf Steiner, from the Leading Thoughts published 100 years ago 1924-25.

REGISTER HERE

What:  
The Holy Nights 2024-2025 offering daily, 15-minute gatherings via Zoom, with contemplative resources as a celebration of our seasonal connection with the stars. Each session will be recorded and shared with registrants. Participants are also invited to join Mary Stewart Adams at Winter Solstice on December 21st and Epiphany on January 6th for an opening address (Winter Solstice) and a theme of the year presentation (Epiphany).

Date and Time:
Solstice Address with Mary Stewart Adams
December 21, 2024          
4 pm ET/1 pm PT for 45 min. via Zoom*

Holy Nights Sessions  
December 24, 2024 - January 5, 2025
At 11am ET/8 am PT for 15 minutes a day via Zoom 
          December 24:  1^st Holy Night ~ Virgo
          December 25:  2^nd Holy Night ~ Leo
          December 26:  3^rd Holy Night ~ Cancer
          December 27: 4^th Holy Night ~ Gemini
          December 28:  5^th Holy Night ~ Taurus
          December 29:  6^th Holy Night ~ Aries
          December 30:  7^th Holy Night ~ Pisces
          December 31:  Universal Holy Night ~ Preparing for the Year’s Midnight
          January 1: 8^th Holy Night ~ Aquarius
          January 2: 9^th Holy Night ~ Capricorn
          January 3: 10^th Holy Night ~ Sagittarius 
          January 4: 11^th Holy Night ~ Scorpio
          January 5: 12^th Night ~ Libra

Epiphany Address on the Theme of the Year with Mary Stewart Adams
January 6, 2025
4 pm ET/1 pm PT for 45 min. via Zoom*

Can't join us live? Each gathering will be recorded and posted on our Participant Portal (link emailed upon registration).

*The opening and closing addresses will take place online and in-person at the Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor. Interested in attending in person?
Email programs@anthroposophy.org for more info! 

Contribution: 
This event is FREE with suggested donations of $25 (Candle), $50 (Light), or $100 (Star).
Your donations help support the work of those contributing to this event and future events. Thank you for your support.

REGISTER HERE

Meet your Presenters  

Mary Stewart Adams has been General Secretary and President of the Anthroposophical Society in America since autumn, 2023.  She serves as a spokesperson for the Society and country representative in the international movement. For over twenty years, under the title of Star Lore Historian, Mary has worked as a dark skies advocate, to raise awareness about the effects of light pollution and to make known the mysteries of the starry skies from environmental, cultural, and anthroposophical perspectives. She first encountered the work of Rudolf Steiner at the age 18 in 1981, and met Hazel Straker, a pioneer in astrosophy, in 1996. These two destiny moments have shaped much of her life path, which, together with her education in literary arts, continue to inspire her work and research. She joined the School of Spiritual Science in 2000.

Alan Thewless was born in the North of England and through his childhood and youth developed a close kinship with the natural landscapes of Britain, especially its mountains. He studied Fine Art in Sheffield and Liverpool, and Education in Leicester. He studied Waldorf Education in London with Dr. Brian Masters and became a Waldorf teacher in 1984. In 2002 he moved to the USA to study Therapeutic Education at Camphill Special School, Beaver Run and also to complete his studies in the Psychosophy Seminar with James Dyson, MD and William Bento, PhD. Alan is presently a faculty member of the Association for Anthroposophic Psychology. Alan has been a student of Astrosophy for over 30 years and regularly writes and gives courses, lectures and personal consultations on this and more. Alan lectures and gives workshops in England, USA and China and teaches curative education, Astrosophy, Waldorf Education and Anthroposphy in several areas of the world.