Easter 2024

Engaging the Mystery

 "For it is anthroposophy's task to add to the thought of death that of resurrection, to become an inner celebration of the resurrection of the human soul, imbuing our philosophy with an Easter mood."
-Rudolf Steiner, The Easter Festival in the Evolution of the Mysteries GA 233a 

The moveable date of the Easter Festival belies the nature of its mystery, and necessitates our finding it anew each year. As Rudolf Steiner described in 1912, what is uniform and fixed bears the impress of death, but in what is unequal, such as the unequal length of the spiritual year from one Easter to the next, there we find the forces of life. But how? 

This Easter 2024, we will seek to answer this question by engaging with the Easter mystery through the esoteric imagery of the planetary seals at Spring Equinox, and by creating a contemporary “after image” form following the Holy Week and inspired by this year’s festival. This work of engaging with the Easter Mystery through form will also include an imagination on the celestial picture overarching this festival season.

At Spring Equinox, March 19, Brian Gray will lead us in working with the planetary seals, which first appeared at the Munich Congress in 1907. Following the Holy Week, on April 2, Laura Embrey will lead us in an exercise in form drawing as an “after image” of Easter, on April 2. Also on April 2, Mary Stewart Adams will share her research on the significance of the 40-day interval from Easter to Ascension, which includes the Total Solar Eclipse on the 8^th day after Easter. 

In addition to these two online offerings, participants will receive inspiring resources to support study and engagement through each day of the Holy Week.

We look forward to seeing you there! 

Date & Time:

Tuesday March 19 & April 2 at 7 pm Eastern/4 pm Pacific - Two Online Sessions via Zoom 
March 24-April 2 ~ Daily Resource Packets Emailed to you during Holy Week (10 total) 
All online sessions will be recorded and shared with registrants.

Schedule:

SESSION 1: Drawing the Sun Seal with Brian Gray 
Tuesday March 19 at 7pm Eastern/ 4pm Pacific 

Rudolf Steiner's Planetary Seals are powerful images to help one awaken to the mysteries of cosmic and human evolution. This session will furnish you with a template of the Sun Seal to print out that bears significant points of the image, which you can use to draw the Sun Seal as a series of concave and convex lines. Brian Gray will guide you through this process - all you need is to print the template and have it ready to draw.

NOTE: Drawing template will be provide to all registered participants.

SELF-GUIDED OFFLINE PACKETS:
Throughout the course of Holy Week and Easter we will send you a packet by email for your own self practice and study.
Included in this mailing will be
- Notes on the 8-fold path
- Information about the Harmony of the Gospels
- Four recordings of the lecture cycle "The Easter Festival in the Evolution of the Mysteries" (GA 233a) given by Rudolf Steiner during Easter 1924
...and more! 

SESSION 2: The After-Image of Easter with Laura Embrey and Mary Stewart Adams 
Tuesday April 2 at 7pm Eastern/ 4pm Pacific 

Laura will be bringing a form carrying the message of Christ's gift of the incorruptible physical archetype. We will be drawing the form together so bring your own paper and colored pencils! After we learn to draw this healing form, Mary Stewart Adams will share her resarch on the significance of the 40-day interval from Eastern to Ascension, which includes the Total Solar Eclipse on the 8th day after Easter. 

Contribution: 
This program is free with a suggested donation between $20-$60. 

Meet your Presenters

Mary Stewart Adams met anthroposophy and star wisdom in the 1980s, and by combining these mysteries with her education in the literary arts, she has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars, which she describes as the work of a star lore historian. Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas of contemporary astronomy in order to more fully understand the human being in relation to the natural world. Mary led the initiative to establish the 9th international dark sky park in the world, and has, for the last 12 years, hosted the weekly radio podcast "The Storyteller's Night Sky." Mary has served as General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America since 2023. 

Laura Embrey has been deeply interested in form drawing since the beginning of her career as a Waldorf teacher. Laura’s fascination with the beauty, power and efficacy of the forms has only increased over time. She has been a teacher for forty years, in both public and private Waldorf schools. She has recently retired from her position as Pedagogical Chair at Camellia Waldorf School in Sacramento, California, partly in order to bring her new discoveries regarding the meaning of and ways of working with the forms to others. Visit her website, www.lauraembrey.com, for more information.

Brian Gray has been a student of Anthroposophy since 1976, and of astrology since 1966. He has been a teacher of subjects related to Anthroposophy and star wisdom at Rudolf Steiner College for 38 years. Brian is also the author of articles on star wisdom (published in the Journal for Star Wisdom) and the presenter of several video courses on WiseCosmos.org.
 

Holy Week Readers

Many thanks to all those who contributed their voices to record "The Easter Festival in the Evolution of the Mysteries" (GA 233a) for this program. 

Christine Burke, Joan Caldarera, Angela Foster, Jennifer Fox, Jennifer Kleinbach, Michele Mariscal, Tess Parker, Joyce Riley, Peter Rennick, Margaret Shipman, Jordan Walker