 The Anthroposophical Society in America offered a series of four recorded webinars with Mary Stewart Adams on this theme. They are linked below. |  |
For the year 1912-1913, Rudolf Steiner oversaw the publication of a new calendar that was intended to be a creative impulse for living a spiritual life. The Calendar of the Soul was composed of three essential elements which included: the well-known soul verses; name and feast days; and new images for the Sun and Moon zodiac. Rudolf Steiner worked with artist Imma von Eckardstein to develop these new images with the intent that they support calendar users in becoming aware of the waking and sleeping rhythms of certain elemental forces throughout the course of the year. This was undertaken in order to address the understanding that the ancient, traditional images, or glyphs, of the zodiac had long-since ceased to support wakeful, creative life forces in man. The Stuttgart artist Margot Rossler furthered the work with these new images, and in the 1950s created a set of glass etchings depicting the images. These images are displayed in the foyer of the Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor. Through this webinar series, Mary Stewart Adams will explain the historical context in which the new images appeared; how they can be understood as a transition from the old forms to the new; and their meaning in form and color relative to the cycle of the year, each year.
Mary Stewart Adams is a star lore historian, storyteller and author who has been immersed in the history of star knowledge for nearly 30 years. Mary is a member of the School for Spiritual Science, and a researcher in astrosophy. Her work with the New Images of the Zodiac from the original Calendar of the Soul began in the 1990s. Mary led the initiative that resulted in International Dark Sky Park designation for the Headlands property in Emmet County, MI, which later resulted in the State of Michigan passing legislation to protect the night sky over an additional 23,000 acres of state park and forest land. Mary writes and speaks extensively to local, national and international audiences on our relationship to the night sky and its cultural consequences, and has received numerous honors for her work. In addition, she is a member of the International Dark Sky Places Committee of the International Dark Sky Association, protecting and designating dark sky sites around the world. Mary's weekly radio program "The Storyteller's Guide to the Night Sky" airs during Morning Edition on Interlochen Public Radio every Friday. Mary makes her home under the starry skies of Harbor Springs, Michigan.
The files linked below are WMV format; to view on a MAC we recommend downloading the open-source, free VLC player linked here: www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html. For older MACs older versions of VLC can be accessed from that page.
This webinar is a four-part series:
- An introduction to the series and a focused look at the Spring images of Pisces, Aries, and Taurus
[click here for the recorded webinar of April 28, 2014] - The Summer constellations Gemini, Cancer, Leo [click here]
- The Autumn constellations Virgo, Libra and Scorpio [click here]
- The Winter constellations Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius, with closing comments [click here].
