Samhain and Ancestral Remembrance

As we enter this auspicious time of Samhain, it feels important to presence the significance of ancestral connection; a vital nutrient to any soul’s journey of becoming.

In this season, leaves fall from the trees, returning themselves to the Earth and becoming compost for the soil, while new growth awaits its moment to emerge with the fresh and promising vitality of life. Much like this, our elders and ancestors have returned their human bodies to the Earth, becoming part of the vast interconnected network of life, death, and rebirth. What came before does not simply disappear. It changes form, it becomes soil. Regenerative and life giving. We, too, grow from this soil.

Whether we know the names and stories of those who came before us or encounter our ancestry through fragments, mysteries, traditions, places, songs, foods, or wisdom ways that have traveled across generations, we are each part of a lineage. We carry inheritances that are visible and invisible. There are gifts that have been carefully tended and passed forward, just as there are wounds and unfinished stories that may ask something different of us. Ancestral remembrance invites us into a relationship with both.

Samhain arrives at the threshold between seasons, when the natural world itself seems to remind us that death and life are not opposites, but participants in the same cycle. Traditionally known as a time when the veil between the living and the dead grows thin, Samhain offers an opportunity to turn our attention toward those who walked before us. To speak their names, tell their stories, prepare their foods, tend photographs and altars, visit resting places, offer gratitude, or simply become quiet enough to wonder about the lives that made our own possible. For children especially, cultivating a relationship with ancestry can offer a profound sense of belonging. The question Who am I? is held within the larger questions: Who and what have I come from? What stories live behind me? What wisdom has been entrusted to me? What will I choose to carry forward? What do I hope those who come after me will inherit because I was here?

Remembering our ancestors does not mean romanticizing the past or believing that everything handed down to us must be preserved. Part of honoring lineage can be discerning what deserves to continue and what might end with us. Perhaps this, too, is a form of composting. The Earth receives what has completed its life and transforms it. Not by erasing what was, but by making something new from it. We are invited to do the same: to receive the lives behind us with reverence and discernment, to nourish what is life-giving, to transform what is not, and to offer something fertile to those who will come after us.

May this Samhain be a time of remembering the roots beneath our feet, the lives, lands, stories, and relationships that have nourished us into being. And may we remember that we, too, are becoming ancestors: living now within a story much larger than ourselves, tending the soil from which future generations will one day grow.

Finding Ancient Living Wisdom in Community

“The Haudenosaunee, more commonly known as the Iroquois Confederacy, are an ancient people of North America… We have had to work hard to develop the civilization we enjoy. There was a time when our lands were torn by conflict and death. There were times when certain individuals attempted to establish themselves as rulers of the people through exploitation and repression. We emerged from those times to establish a strong and spiritual Way of Life, The confederate state of the Haudenosaunee became the embodiment of democratic principles which continue to guide our people today.” 

From: Basic Call to Consciousness Akwesasne Notes

“Let us think of our Leadership Circles in the ancient image of the circle. First we orient to the center as a manifestation of the Mystery -- what most deeply joins us with our Source and through our Source to all our human brothers and sisters and all our kin (animal, plant and mineral). To use scriptural words, “Wherever two or more are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.”  Second, we see each person as equally connected to this Center and responsible for holding their unique place on the rim. Third, we suggest that a rotating Guardian/facilitator of the Circle be appointed. The task of this individual is to hold the space as sacred, to remember each person’s deep worth and to call the group to silence or to our mission as needed.”

From: SOLA Sociocratic Leadership document related info at  https://www.sociocracyforall.org/

Marnie Muller is a Sacred Mountain Sanctuary Board Member and SOLA advisor and elder.

MICHAELMAS CHRONICLES

Who is Michael?

Archangel Michael is an exalted, spiritual being whose presence has been widespread throughout ancient cultures. For example, he was referred to by the ancient Hebrews, as well as by the Asian initiates, as the “Face of God” and then later as the countenance of the Christ.

What about the Dragon?

Dragons appear in a number of cultures around the world.

It is important though to realize that

the "Dragon-form" that Michael does battle with

is an ancient adversarial spiritual being

that is CLOAKED 

in an invisible dragon-form.

It is NOT a regular dragon.

What about the Battle?

The universal battle identified as "Michael and the Dragon" began in pre-Earthly times when the Adversary (the Dragon-being) went against Divine Will and "wanted to have an 'own will' in a time when he should have been still living in the higher Will. Thus did he set himself in opposition to the higher Will." 

This is what Archangel Michael had to encounter

and stand in opposition to for the sake of All.

This adversarial Event took place well before the planet Earth came into physical existence. The evolution of our world has occurred in a number of developmental phases. At the "time" of this event, there were not many forms available that this adversarial being could be compelled into ... 

the primordial "dragon-form" was how Michael chose to address the situation. 

“Michael undertook to compel the opposing being (the Adversary) to assume the form which was alone possible for an independent will at that stage of the world's development, to assume that is, animal form, the form of the ‘Dragon'…”

"The world we know has proceeded from out of the world

in which this event took place."

What about the Michaelmas Festival play?

The seasonal Michaelmas Festival is a time for all ages to witness the achievement of Archangel Michael with his meteoric sword, actively subduing this ancient, super-sensible Dragon-being, the Adversary during the Michaelmas play.

This is a living enactment of this archetypal battle to subdue the adversarial force that continues in our human world today. The drama offers a source of inspiration of courage, determination and hope.

A number of plays and films have been adapted in an attempt to “be nice” and “redeem” the adversarial dragon that Michael battles. That is actually a spiritual disservice to children’s and adults’ archetypal consciousness.  For children and adults witnessing the Michaelmas festival play - when it is performed in a genuine manner – the drama is able to offer access to the actual dynamic story that is occurring in our midst today.  

The experience reveals the presence of Archangel Michael and his meteoric sword subduing the Dragon-Adversary. This seasonal enactment is then an awakening to a sense of active participation in this spiritual battle.

The Ongoing Cosmic Story… As Above, So Below

This spiritual battle will take many turns ... it is important to realize that this “Dragon-being whom Michael fights” is not always going to be in dragon-form. It is “destined one day in a later age to assume human form.”

As with this ancient drama, the Michaelmas performance offers the community an opportunity to keep Michael in their hearts and deeply remember together and participate in this archetypal, uplifting, ongoing drama of the Cosmic Story.

If human beings could determine

in a dignified worthy way

to establish a Michael Festival

during the last days of September,

this would be a most significant deed.

But the courage would have to be found amongst them

not merely to discuss external social reforms, etc.,

but to do something

that connects the Earth with the Heavens,

that reconnects physical

with spiritual conditions."

Quotes from Rudolf Steiner https://rsarchive.org/tLectures/Michaelmas/MicMas_index.html

Written By: Marnie Muller, MLA

Celebrating Michaelmas

With Michaelmas we mark a transition time, perhaps a few transitions. Soon the weather will cool and the days will become shorter, a transition from summer to fall. Summer holidays are coming to an end and we all have to get used to the rhythm of school days again. At some point we'll have to haul out jackets, hats, and long johns. These are all outer changes and require one kind of effort. But as our activities shift indoors a bit more and our habit life becomes more disciplined to accommodate the daily preparation for school, there are more situations that might trigger feelings of impatience or annoyance. The inner dragon might rise more often than we would like it to. Michaelmas is a time of year, if we mark and celebrate this festival, when we can make an extra effort to become aware of our habits of behavior and begin to create new and better selves. We tame the dragon and direct its roaring energy toward the good.

       Michaelmas is a reminder that we have work to do all through the dark and cold days of winter. If we contribute to the transformation of ourselves, taming the inner dragon, we reflect something more positive to our community and help everyone else to evolve along with us. We carry the promise of fall all through the dark days of winter, that the sun and the burgeoning growth of spring will again return to light our way.

       Although the Michaelmas festival bears similarities from school to school and from one geographic location to another, there might be one aspect or another that dominates the mood. In Canada the days get very short in the dark days of winter. Sometimes it's still dark when we arrive at school in the morning and it's already dusk when we go home at 3:30 or 4:00. Snow stays on the ground and piles up from November until March. Having an inner reminder of the promise of spring becomes ever more important. Many people suffer from depression during the later months of winter.

       One lovely practice in many Canadian Waldorf schools is the planting of bulbs at the Michaelmas festival. Parents send little packages of bulbs to school with their children during the weeks preceding Michaelmas. Right before the festival the varieties of bulbs are all mixed together and distributed equally to all the classes. We find all our little trowels and shovels in preparation for the planting. When the day of the festival arrives and all the parents, teachers and children have assembled, we go to a special place.The teachers sing a song and then there is a blessing of the bulbs. Each class, along with a group of parents, goes to a designated garden bed and plants all their bulbs in the bed. Once we have all washed our hands and put away our tools the students excitedly put on their costumes for the little Michaelmas play.

     Everyone looks forward to watching the fierce dragon appear from his lair and come to take the princess away to devour her. We are so relieved every year when St George succeeds in taming the dragon and the princess leads him back to the village where he will now be of service to the community. The yearly terror of the dragon is transformed into something good. The story and the promise of the bulbs that will bring us so much beauty in the spring warm our hearts and bring light to our souls all through the long, dark nights. The promise is kept when, finally, the little green spikes appear out of the frozen ground in spring and blossom into such  a brilliant array of colors, strengthening our faith once more.

May our Michaelmas festival here at SOLA be especially blessed this year and my our light shine out to each other always!

By Cindy Taylor, 4-6th Grade Teacher and Lower School Steward

Welcome Back

Recovering a Sense of the Sacred: Conversations With Thomas Berry

In her book, Recovering a Sense of the Sacred: Conversations With Thomas Berry, Carolyn Toben, co-founder of SOLA’s long-time pedagogical partner- the Center for Education, Imagination, and the Natural World- engaged in an intimate communion of thought with Thomas Berry during the last 10 years of his life. With her questions and personal responses born of a lifetime of teaching and spiritual seeking and practice, Carolyn opened a space for Thomas Berry to offer, in particular, his reflections on children and the future of the earth. 

It seems, then, a fitting Memoriam to Carolyn to share excerpts from her last conversation with Thomas Berry, a conversation that also captured the deepest understandings of her own life. The chapter is entitled "Seeds of the Future":

Thomas: “We need to talk about what to tell future generations, don’t we?

Carolyn: “Yes…When our time was over last week, we were talking about our transition now into the Ecozoic Era. I asked you what can we tell succeeding generations…about the way into the future…

Thomas paused for a long time and finally began:

“Tell them something new is happening, a new vision, a new energy, a new sacred story is coming into being in the transition from one era to another.

Tell them in the darkness of this time, a vast transformation is occurring in the depths of human consciousness, which is leading to the recovery of the soul, the earth, the universe and a sense of the sacred.

Tell them that the Powerful Loving Voice that spoke through every cosmic activity is speaking again now through voices all over the earth – voices who recognize that loving the earth as their common origin unifies all. In the sacred, all opposites are reconciled.

This Loving Voice is also speaking through every bird, leaf and star, and through the polar bear, the wolf and every threatened species, awakening humanity to see all living forms as a single sacred community that lives or dies together.

Tell them that the concern now must be for the preservation of the whole earth, a bio-spiritual planet; tell them that they must participate in mutual presence with the whole human venture in this perilous course of the future.

Tell them that they must also develop the inner vision that we need if we are to make the adjustments required for a viable future. Our existential questions must now be: ‘How do we relate to the earth and to the universe? Our most basic issue is how we bond with the earth.’

Tell them they will meet great companions along the way, including those that burrow in the soil, fly in the air and swim in the sea.

Tell them that each of them has a unique part to play in this period of great transition and that each of them brings specialized emotions and imagination to this time and very different ways of knowing.

Tell them that they can find their own story within the sacred story of the universe. Tell them that the journey of the universe is a journey of each one of them that can give meaning and purpose for their lives and guide them in the evolutionary process. Tell them to realize that the series of physical and psychic-spiritual transformations of the universe parallel their own individual transformations.

Tell them they can learn to honor all processes of life, even the most difficult.

Tell them to remember as they grope forward to create a new century of life in the twenty-first century, that the universe is still expanding and they are part of that emergence as the direction of the universe moves always toward greater and greater life.

Tell them that we live in a contingent, not a determinative universe: that we must create a new way of being as we transition from a period of devastating the earth to a mutually enhancing relationship with it.

Tell them to seek their own role in the larger evolutionary process; tell them that humans are always in the process of becoming, always ‘opening to greater life.’ If they can learn to see it. Tell them the greatest need is to develop a sensitivity to recognize the inner promptings that emerge from the depths of one’s own being where the sacred reality resides.

Above all, tell them to practice an intimate presence to the beauty and wonder of the natural world through their intuitive awareness that recognizes the oneness of all life; tell them to stop and enlarge moments throughout their days to become aware of the mysteries and miracles of creation all around them – the movement of a squirrel, the sound of a bird, the pattern of a leaf, changing patterns of light, the sun, the rain, the stars, dawn and sunset. Tell them we are not ourselves without everything and everyone else.

Tell them to remember the great seasons and cycles of life. In moments of intimacy with the natural world they will recover the lost sense of the sacred in the human-earth relationship. And they will be participating in the evolution of a new consciousness on earth that can overcome the mental fixations of our times expressed in radical division between humans and the natural world. A mutually enhancing relationship will then become possible as the communion of all things is understood.

Finally, tell them that it is of utmost importance that they become aware of the numinous sacred values that have been present in an expanding sequence over four and half billion years of the earth’s existence, and let them know that they will always be guided by ‘the same Divine Power that spun the galaxies into space, lit the sun and brought the moon into orbit.’

© Marnie Muller, MLA

PARKWAYS, GREENWAYS, RIVERWAYS: The Way More Beautiful

Proceedings of the Third Biennial International Linear Parks Conference 1989 Appalachian Consortium Press Conference Presentation by Thomas Berry And Marnie Muller

Designing with the Whole Life Community in Mind,

Marnie Muller, Katuah Bioregional Journal, Marshall, North Carolina

The solely human-centered approach to design, in which the environment acts as inanimate backdrop to human activity, is no longer possible. It has resulted in the disruption of the wider life community of the planet and has begun threatening our entire biological life support system.

We are finally beginning to realize that we are part of the natural world, not apart from it. Advances in sciences are teaching us that we are literally in the planet, not on it, and that our human activities are intimately interwoven with the water cycle, the air cycle, the carbon cycle. We are beginning to realize that the ways we form our settlements, our transportation routes, our commerce, and other human functions not only affect human culture, but the whole ecological community of which we are a part.

At present, our contemporary capacity for acceleration and exponential growth has brought the question of human impact on the natural world out of the realm of "a nice thing to consider" in design and placed it squarely in front of us, as a question of survival. Yet, our ability to re-constellate our human systems in response to direct feedback falls short of what is required.

One consideration in understanding this dilemma is to realize that we as culture may not be fully registering the feedback we are receiving about the devastation of the planet. The information coming in may actually be outpacing our comprehension of it. It may also be that our perimeters of reality have become so limited that we are not fully "hearing" the natural world speak to us about this crucial information. Our insular urbanization, including concrete pathways, processed nutrition, and televised reality, may be blocking us from this information. We may simply be recording whatever is coming in as "noise" or "static" and may not, in fact, be fully noticing the drastic diminishment in quality of life.

What now? Those of us who are catching glimmers of the vibrant, functioning life community that surrounds us and co-exists with us need to revive our capacities to see, hear, taste, and feel beyond the "broadcasted" boundaries of the contemporary world. We need to discern what is superficial to our life-support system and what is elemental. We need to begin insisting on design models that describe to us the full reality of our situation—both human as well as ecological.

In our modeling we need to acknowledge natural boundaries, not just human- made boundaries, and to take into full account ecological systems such as watersheds, wind patterns, geological formations, etc. Our models need to integrate ecological principles such as entropy, renewal, biological exchange, carrying capacity, and appropriate scale. We need to be factoring in real costs of projects, not just the set "prices." Real costs include environmental considerations, health considerations, as well as cumulative effects and long-term consequences.

A primary aspect of the ecological model is circulation. Human routes need to be designed in the context of other kinds of routes and patterns of circulation. The water cycle, the air currents, even the Earth in its orbit and the moon in its orbit, all circulate and have a bearing on each other. Migration routes of animals; routes of seeds in the wind; pathways of the sand-sharing dune system; animal routes for access to water, food, and for returning to breeding grounds; routes of bees pollinating flowers—all are aspects of the circulatory pattern of the wider life community. Human routes exist in the context of this symphony of movement.

In this culture we tend to think of the Earth as a noun, but actually a great deal of Earth functions as a verb and our models need to reflect that. When we design our human systems, we need to be sure that we are not disrupting this flow of life, a flow integral to our own life.

Interestingly, with our culture's overall design promoting excessive mobility, our civilization is becoming verb as well, whether we like it or not. Our access to work, school, social activities, and so forth requires that we "circulate." The fact is that many of us are coming to dwell in our automobiles as well as in our homes. Poor or nonexistent urban planning, as well as other physical and psychological factors, have created forced mobility and diminished the quality of life not only of humans but also of the rest of the life community.

When conditions reach such proportions as they have now, with the planet and its human and non-human inhabitants in such condition, what is required in our modeling and our problem-solving?

In order to develop comprehensive models, we need to be in touch with what values we want to nurture as a culture. No culture is value-free. Form informs. The forms that we craft to encompass and facilitate our human activities inform and shape us at every turn. Form reflects values, whether we intentionally subscribe to them or not. It is important that we bring into consciousness the values we want to nurture and let them become an integral aspect of our design of human systems.

In describing what is superficial and what is elemental to our life-support system, we need to prioritize in terms of optimal use and encourage policy-making and incentives to support these priorities. We also need to develop comprehensive indicators for ecological health.

In our modeling, it is essential that we employ more than linear logic. Linear logic gives us solutions such as "add a lane" to deal with population increase and the rise in motor vehicles on the highways. Relying on this kind of logic, we end up with “44 lanes” of interstate traffic. Multidimensional logic is required. Such logic encompasses questions of scale, cumulative effects, appropriate use, multilevel interplay of factors, and so forth.

And logic is only one facet of our neurophysiological capacity for perception and problem solving. We have available to us whole ranges of perception and creative interplay for interacting with the life community in which we live. We have the capacity for in-depth perception and imaginative reflection on how our human designs would interact with and affect the whole, spatially-physically, developmentally, and psychically. We have the capacity to kinesthetically perceive rhythms as well as the disruption of rhythms, and we have the imagination to envision restoration.

It is important that we understand and embrace the importance of accurate perception of the natural world and the power of design in relating to it. Design can serve to obfuscate or reveal the natural world to us. It can heighten or reduce our capacity to synchronize with other life rhythms besides our own. A culture can actually design for symbiosis, cooperation, integration, and inclusion with the wider ecological community. What is important in design is the reliance on fresh, attentive perception regarding the nature of our multidimensional reality rooted in the natural world.

This is a pivotal time in our planet's history. We have the capacity to witness whole ecological systems at work and to design our human systems to interface comprehensively with these wider processes. It is up to us to renew our inherent capacity to "listen" to the natural world . . . and to act in concert with it. Only when we let its full reality be present to every aspect of our senses are we capable of designing for our own well-being in relation to the rest of the life community.

Editor's note: This paper was part of a conference presentation by Thomas Berry, PhD and Marnie Muller, MLA

Full PDF of Conference Proceedings