Journal for Star Wisdom 2018

Journal for Star Wisdom 2018: Star Wisdom Series

With Monthly Ephemerides and Commentary for 2018

Journal for Star Wisdom 2018 includes articles of interest concerning star wisdom (Astrosophy), as well as a guide to the correspondences between stellar configurations during the life of Christ and those of today. This guide comprises a complete sidereal ephemeris and aspectarian, geocentric and heliocentric, for each day throughout the year. Published yearly, new editions are generally available beginning in October or November for the coming new year.

According to Rudolf Steiner, every step taken by Christ during his ministry between the baptism in the Jordan and the resurrection was in harmony with—and an expression of—the cosmos. Journal for Star Wisdom is concerned with these heavenly correspondences during the life of Christ and is intended to help provide a foundation for cosmic Christianity, the cosmic dimension of Christianity. It is this dimension that, by and large, has been missing until now from Christianity and its the two-thousand-year history.

Readers can begin on this path by contemplating the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets against the background of the zodiacal constellations (sidereal signs) today in relation to corresponding stellar events during the life of Christ. In this way, the possibility is opened for attuning in a living way to the life of Christ, who is now—since the onset of his Second Coming in 1933—spiritually present in the etheric aura of the Earth.

In connection with the Second Coming, there is in this year’s journal an article by Robert Powell concerning the Apocalypse code and the year 2018—a year during which a new relationship between the angels and humanity is beginning. This is followed by a thematically related article by Claudia McLaren Lainson on the work of the angels in the human astral body, about which Rudolf Steiner spoke one hundred years ago in 1918. Estelle Isaacson’s article is titled “He Makes the Law Sweet through His Sacrifice.” Connecting onto this profound contribution from the life of Christ, the second article by Claudia McLaren Lainson in this issue is “The Breaking,” focusing upon the rise of new spiritual mysteries today. In this connection, a remarkable article follows, written by Joel Park, “The Cosmic Communion of Fish: The Rhythm of the New Jerusalem.” In addition, Julie Humphreys wrote the excellent article “Showers of Iron: The Power of Michael,” which approaches from a quite different angle the theme of new spiritual mysteries in our time, addressed in Claudia McLaren Lainson’s second article. Then follows a contribution edited by Joel Park: “Classics in Astrosophy, part I,” which will be continued in future issues of this journal.

Finally, the monthly commentaries, supported by Julie Humphreys’ astronomical previews for each month, are provided by Claudia McLaren Lainson, offering an opportunity to connect spiritually with the stellar configurations during the pivotal year of 2018. This direct interaction between the human being on Earth and the angels and other heavenly beings connected with the stars is intended to help the reader toward developing the capacity to receive the wisdom-filled teachings of the angelic hierarchies.

About the Author

Robert A. Powell, PhD, is an internationally known lecturer, author, eurythmist, and movement therapist. He is founder of the Choreocosmos School of Cosmic and Sacred Dance, and cofounder of the Sophia Foundation of North America. He received his doctorate for his thesis The History of the Zodiac, available as a book from Sophia Academic Press. He is the author and coauthor of numerous work, including The Sophia Teachings (a six-tape series), as well as numerous books on star wisdom (Astrosophy), the divine feminine (Sophia), the Christian Mysteries, and sacred movement. He has also been a contributing editor of the annual journal Star Wisdom. He translated the spiritual classic Meditations on the Tarot and co-translated Valentin Tomberg’s Lazarus, Come Forth! Robert teaches a gentle form of healing movement: the sacred dance of eurythmy, as well as the Cosmic Dances of the Planets and signs of the zodiac. Through the Sophia Grail Circle, Robert facilitates sacred celebrations dedicated to the Divine Feminine. He has also offered numerous workshops in Europe and Australia, and with Karen Rivers, cofounder of the Sophia Foundation, and has led pilgrimages to the world’s sacred sites since 1996.

Daniel Andreev (1906–1959) was born in Berlin. His father was the well-known Russian writer Leonid Andreev. His mother Alexandra Veligorsky died during childbirth. Daniel’s father, overcome with grief, gave up Andreev to Alexandra’s sister Elizabeth Dobrov, who lived in Moscow. It was a critical event in Daniel Andreev’s life, for in contrast to many of the Russian intelligentsia at the time, the maintained its Russian Orthodox faith. Daniel’s childhood included contact with persons as his godfather Maxim Gorky. Daniel was conscripted as a noncombatant in the Soviet Army in 1942, and after the war he returned to writing fiction and poetry. Daniel Andreev was arrested in 1947, along with his wife and many of his relatives and friends, and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison, while his wife received twenty-five years of labor camp. All of previous writing was destroyed. With the rise of Khrushchev, Andreev’s case was reviwed and his sentence reduced to ten years. He was released to his waiting wife in 1957, his health ruined following a heart attack in prison. While in prison, he had written the first drafts of The Rose of the World and Russian Gods (a collection of poetry), as well as The Iron Mystery, a play in verse. Andreev spent the last two years of his life finishing his work on these works. Andreev’s wife Alla, realizing the negative reception the books would get from the Soviet authorities, hid them until the mid-seventies, but didn’t publish them until Gorbachev and glasnost. The first edition of The Rose of the World (100,000 copies) quickly sold out, and since then several editions have been equally popular in Russia.

Estelle Isaacson is a contemporary mystic and seer, whose first books were published by LogoSophia in 2012: Through the Eyes of Mary Magdalene: Early Years and Soul Awakening. In volume 1 in her trilogy on the life of Mary Magdalene, Estelle Isaacson presents her visions of the life of Christ as seen through Magdalene’s own eyes. Volume 2, Through the Eyes of Mary Magdalene: From Initiation to the Passion, enters the profound mysteries of Christ’s Passion, culminating in the Resurrection. Estelle is coauthor with Robert Powell of Gautama Buddha’s Successor: A Force for Good in Our Time(2013) and The Mystery of Sophia: Bearer of the New Culture: The Rose of the World(2014).

CLAUDIA McLAREN LAINSON is a teacher and Therapeutic Educator. She has been working in the field of Anthroposophy since 1982, when she founded her first Waldorf program in Boulder, Colorado. She lectures nationallyis the founder of Windrose Farm and Academy near Boulder. Claudia most recently founded the School for the Sophia Mysteries at Windrose. She is the author of The Circle of Twelve and the Legacy of Valentin Tomberg.

Richard Tarnas is a professor of philosophy and cultural history at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS,)San Francisco, and the founding director of its graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. He also lectures on archetypal studies and depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara. A graduate of Harvard and a former director of programs at Esalen Institute, he is the author of The Passion of the Western Mind, a history of the Western worldview from the ancient Greeks to the postmodern culture, which became both a bestseller and a required text in many universities. His most recent book, Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View, received the Book of the Year Prize from the Scientific and Medical Network in the UK.

Julie Humphreys is a graduate of Stanford and a former pediatric nurse and Waldorf mom. An early interest in astrology lay dormant for more than three decades until she was introduced to the sidereal system, the works of Robert Powell, and the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich. She has taken great joy in researching astrological phenomena for the Journal for Star Wisdom. Julie lives in Carmel, California, where shooting stars and the Milky Way are often visible.

Joel Matthew Park is a husband, father, and Christian Hermeticist based in Copake, New York. From 2011 to 2019 he was a life-sharing coworker at Plowshare Farm (a Camphill affiliate), farming and candlemaking with people from a variety of countries, ages, and developmental backgrounds. During this time, he earned a certification in Social Therapy from the School of Spiritual Science through the Camphill Academy. He has been living and working in Camphill Village Copake since 2019. After a time devoted to elder care, he has become increasingly involved in teaching in the Camphill Academy, on topics such as Stargazing, the Karma of Vocation, Theosophy, the Human Soul, the Festival Year, and Philosophical Perspectives. Joel has been a student of Anthroposophy since 2008 and a Christian Hermeticist since 2010. In 2014, he met Phillip Malone; together, the two of them have been investigating the Tarot of Marseilles since 2016. Since then, Joel has led two retreats on “Tarot and the Art of Hermetic Conversation” (2017 and 2019). The fruits of Joel and Phillip’s collaboration in this realm can be found at the-unknown-friends.com. In 2015, he joined the Grail Knighthood, a group-spiritual practice offered through the Sophia Foundation. Through this, he met Robert Powell, whose work he had been studying since 2009. Since then, Joel has been working actively with him to continue the karma research Robert began in 1977 and exemplifies in works such as Hermetic Astrology, volumes I and II, and Elijah, Come Again. Joel’s first contribution was to the Journal for Star Wisdom 2018 (published Nov. 2017), after which he became editor for the journal’s continuation, the Star Wisdom series. The first volume of this series was published in November 2018. A selection of Joel’s writings can be found on his TreeHouse website, treehouse.live.