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Group Sharing / Submissions for December 24
2025/2026
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I organized a small group, and only one person joined the Zoom call. We met at 5:14 pm, the moment when dusk began in Coimbra, a university city in Portugal. I noticed how the houses on the hilltop were slowly lighting up, and they looked like a village from a nativity scene. In Portugal, the nativity set holds deep cultural importance. This led me to reflect on the realm of the physical. A year ago, my body was intensely engaged: I was working incredibly hard, weeding a garden in Scotland. I was there on a retreat course, and the physical effort was relentless. The realm of the soul revealed itself in a paradoxical way. Rather than bringing me closer to the soul, the course made me acutely aware of the ego. It was a humbling experience. It was a difficult month—my lecturers, who believed they understood my personality, saw it completely dismantled. I cried often. I was exhausted and fed up. The realm of the spirit unfolded differently. Each day, I heard what felt like divine music—bell-like, crystalline sounds. I watched my breath, and my mind naturally turned towards prayer and repetition of divine words. Spirit remains a mystery: the great unknowability of the heart. - Maria (Portugal)
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Last year, this time I was with dad. Not ready to accept that he is getting ready for another journey. All I knew to keep everyone's and mine hope alive that he will recover form his illness. I was just there available for him, listening his desires, his pain, anger, his happy moods ( though those were rare), his confessions, his apologies to many relatives. He was preparing to move on and yet I was ignoring all the indications. Today, I am remembering him. Thinking about seasons of life. I created this seasons of life image. It's unstoppable. It's for me to accept it, be part of it. Be present there in each cycle. - Geetanjali (India)
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In the midst of a major rain storm in California we have prepared for the Holy Nights with some study during advent and now arrived at Christmas Eve. Looking forward to our Holy Nights Journal working with a small group. - Conrad (Sophia Institute)
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2024/2025
Hello everyone, writing as the sun begins to set here in Australia on Dec 24th, our first holy night together. Will be meeting with some fellow students of anthroposophy tonight for a short hour at midnight for meditation, Eurythmy and contemplation and will be taking the thoughts of these journal notes with me. Wishing everyone a good 13 night journey. - Sarah (Australia)
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Following a long peaceful walk along the Pacific Ocean beach near our home during the afternoon we just reviewed our Holy Nights Journal from a previous year and found surprising revelations regarding what by now has come into being in our life. Amazing! - Conrad (Sophia Institute)
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This year (2024/2025) we again have participants from all over the world for our Holy Nights Journal including the following locations/areas:
North America: Canada --- Alberta, British Columbia / United States --- Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington
South America: Brazil
Europe: Italy, Netherlands, Republic of Georgia, Sweden, United Kingdom
Asia: China, Philippines
Australia: New South Wales, Queensland
- Conrad (Sophia Institute)
North America: Canada --- Alberta, British Columbia / United States --- Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington
South America: Brazil
Europe: Italy, Netherlands, Republic of Georgia, Sweden, United Kingdom
Asia: China, Philippines
Australia: New South Wales, Queensland
- Conrad (Sophia Institute)
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In preparation for the Holy Nights we worked with a micro group on study, storytelling and arts during the Advent weeks turning to the mineral world (first week of Advent). plant world (second week of Advent), animal world (third week of advent) and the world of the human being (fourth week of Advent). For the plant world we also focused on the phenomena of the sprouting, growing, and the wilting and dying. The artwork tried to reflect on these phenomena.
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The background to these observations in nature is the following: In Knowledge of the Higher Worlds (Chapter 2, Preparation) Rudolf Steiner presents us with several exercises, one of which speaks about how we can practice a deeper and more meaningful observation of phenomena in the world. " ... the attention of the soul is directed to certain events in the world that surrounds us. Such events are, on the one hand, life that is budding, growing, and flourishing, and on the other hand, all phenomena connected with fading, decaying, and withering. The student can observe these events simultaneously, wherever he turns his eyes and on every occasion they naturally evoke in him feelings and thoughts; but in ordinary circumstances he does not devote himself sufficiently to them. He hurries on too quickly from impression to impression. It is necessary, therefore, that he should fix his attention intently and consciously upon these phenomena. Wherever he observes a definite kind of blooming and flourishing, he must banish everything else from his soul, and entirely surrender himself, for a short time, to this one impression. He will soon convince himself that a feeling which heretofore in a similar case, would merely have flitted through his soul, now swells out and assumes a powerful and energetic form. He must now allow this feeling to reverberate quietly within himself while keeping inwardly quite still. He must cut himself off from the outer world, and simply and solely follow what his soul tells him of this blossoming and flourishing."
- Conrad (Sophia Institute)
- Conrad (Sophia Institute)
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Holy Nights Journal 1: December 24 -- Blessings from Vermont!
In April, we experienced a total eclipse of the sun in Vermont. I remember sitting in a wide field in my town with my family, other groups at a distance, and feeling the coolness and wind pick up quickly as the sun disappeared. Through the eclipse glasses I saw the sun shrink, the shadows grow long, then the sun seemed to become only a fiery ring. I saw the stars at 2:30 in the afternoon. Unexpectedly, I experienced intense emotion. I began to laugh with joy, and had tears in my eyes. I held my children's hands. I felt deeply connected to everyone else witnessing the event, and to the earth itself, experiencing this amazing event. In reflecting on this, it occurs to me that the relationships of size and distance between the earth, the sun, and the moon, which allow this event of the eclipse, are not an accident. They represent the close connections between these bodies and forces they represent. - Abigail (Vermont) |
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A frosty Christmas morning in western North Carolina: Smoke from the crop tunnel boilers on the adjacent farm settling in a stratum just roof high. Not a breath of breeze. Still.
Wishing all a joyous Birth of the Child Here is a first sketch of my Holy Nights quilt. - M (North Carolina)
We made these tissue paper color transparencies for our grandchildren ... still debating which one is for which grandchild ...
- Marjorie and Conrad (California) |
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April was a month of awe, wonder, appreciation, celebration, and inspiration.
We decided last minute to drive 9 hours to see the eclipse. It was a memorable time, with amazing side trips. We spent time with family and friends and had an incredible experience together. April was also a time of planting seeds both literally and metaphorically. The reflection helps me remember to trust intuition, plant the seeds, and the work and effort and end result is not just the “thing”, but all the wonder and joy that comes with it, even if it is just a brief moment. - Carrie (North Carolina) |