Holy Nights 2022-2023

Truth, Beauty, & Goodness

Raphael's Madonna Sequence

Contemplating these fifteen images has a remarkable effect upon the human soul. Each image can awaken inner pictures that lift us into communion with realms beyond the physical world, stirring our feelings of wonder and reverence and opening our souls to divine mysteries. 
-Brian Gray, Discovering the Zodiac in the Raphael Madonna Series

The Holy Nights represent a time outside of regular time, when we cross the bridge into the new year, renewing our commitment to the wisdom and richness of our inner life. It is a time for finding strength and inspiration for the coming year. The Anthroposophical Society in America offers this program to guide you with intention, and in community, through a contemplative and nourishing space. 

This year, we will work with a series of images of the Madonna, created in a sequence in 1908 by Rudolf Steiner, that serve as a healing impulse for the soul. These images were first used in a clinical setting for patients to relieve stress and strain on the etheric and astral bodies. This series is arranged in a specific sequence of 15 images and is comprised of works by Renaissance artists Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello. 

We recognize that this sequence is embedded in a specific worldview that emerged from the Renaissance stream. We wish to acknowledge that there are numerous healing images of the Madonna, including images representing the spiritual dimension and qualities of Mother and Child, from all over the world and in many diverse cultures. In light of this, we will offer participants the ability to share images from other cultures and other streams so we can hold those images alongside our work.

Click to register!
*The Orland Bishop lecture on Jan 6 is part of this offering. If you have registered for Beauty, Truth and Goodness already, there is no need to register again*

What: A contemplative practice with Raphael's Madonna Series, and Epiphany offering from Orland Bishop online through Zoom. *Plus a bonus recording about the creating a Holy Nights practice with Mary Stewart Adams!* 

Dates: December 21, 2022 with Brian Gray 

December 24, 2022 - January 5, 2023 (13 consecutive days) with numerous presenters 

January 6, 2023 with Orland Bishop 

Time: All sessions take place at 12pm Eastern/9am Pacific
Click here to find your time zone.

December 21 and January 6 Lectures go for 90 minutes.
The Holy Night sessions are 15 minutes each.

Can't join us live? Each gathering will be recorded and posted on our Participant Portal (link emailed upon registration).
See below for a full schedule!

Register Here! 
Then check your email for confirmation with the Zoom registration link. 

Contribution: This event is free with suggested donations of $25 (Candle), $50 (Light), or $100 (Star).
Your donations help support the work of those contributing to this event and future events. Thank you for your support.
 
If you haven't yet, open our New Year's Eve gift, a free resource packet with artistic activities, recorded lectures, and a New Year's Eve invitation! 
Click here for more information.

Series Schedule

Raphael's Madonna Images, the Zodiac, and the Thirteen Holy Nights with Brian Gray 
and Eurythmy with Alice Stamm
December 21, 2022 at 12pm Eastern/ 9am Pacific for 90 minutes 
Contemplating the Raphael Madonna Series arranged by Rudolf Steiner can fill our souls with healing images during the Thirteen Holy Nights. Beholding the Sistine Madonna on Christmas Eve and concluding with the Transfiguration at the eve of Epiphany, we can sequentially discover the mysteries of the Zodiac, the Twelve Human Senses, and the healing forces of the etheric body. Taking these images rhythmically into our sleep, along with eurythmy gestures offered by Alice Stamm, will enhance our Holy Nights experience. Please join us for this healing presentation.

Encountering the Madonna Series
with Multiple Voices 
December 24, 2022 –January 5, 2023 at 12pm Eastern/ 9am Pacific for 15 minutes 
We will meet for 15 minutes each day to contemplate and behold the Madonna Series. Each day, someone will open our meeting with a leading thought based on the image(s) we are focusing on that day. This will be followed by a few moments of quiet contemplation. We will then close with the eurythmy sequence, I Think Speech.

Epiphany with Orland Bishop
January 6, 2023 at 12pm Eastern/ 9am Pacific for 90 minutes 
 

Encountering the Being of the Year with Mary Stewart Adams 
Recorded offering
A bonus recording with Mary Stewart Adams and Tess Parker to support your Holy Nights practice. 

Register Now  

Other Seasonal Offerings
Join us for Attending the Fire: An Invitation for Collective Intention this New Year's Eve. We have created a free resource packet with lectures, artistic articivites, and invitations for on and offline New Year's Eve vigils to mark 100 years since the burning of the first Goetheanum. 
Click here for more information.

About the Contributors:

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.

Orland Bishop's offerings towards cultural renewal draw on this practice in African Gnosis, Anthroposophy, and Indigenous Cosmologies, such as the South African tradition of Indaba, "deep talk."

Alice Stamm has been teaching eurythmy since 1976 after training in Eckwälden Germany and finishing with Else Klink’s in Stuttgart. Since then she has taught and performed in Europe and the USA; finishing her therapeutic training as well, she now enjoys teaching and working with children in seven Waldorf schools , both private and charter in the Sacramento area. She looks forward to bringing more people to do eurythmy- even a training!

Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian, and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast "The Storyteller’s Night Sky".  Through her research in spiritual science and her education in the literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars. 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 understand the new star wisdom of astrosophy.