The Turning Point

"Since the Mystery of Golgotha took place, many people can proclaim the name of Christ, and from the twentieth century on there will be a constantly increasing number of people who can communicate the knowledge of the Christ being given in spiritual science. Twice already, Christ has been crucified: the first time physically in the physical world at the beginning of our era, and a second time in the nineteenth century spiritually.... One could say that humanity experienced the resurrection of the Christ being's body then; from the twentieth century on, it will experience the resurrection of Christ consciousness." -- Rudolf Steiner (Approaching the Mystery of Golgotha, May 2, 1913)

Star Wisdom, volume 5, 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 available beginning in October or November for the coming 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. Star Wisdom is concerned with these heavenly correspondences during the life of Christ. It is intended to help provide a foundation for cosmic Christianity, the cosmic dimension of Christianity. It is this dimension that has been missing from Christianity in its 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 in the etheric cosmos.

This year's edition of Star Wisdom focuses on the year 2023 as the 100th-year commemoration of Rudolf Steiner laying the Foundation Stone Meditation at the founding of the General Anthroposophical Society during the Christmas Conference in 1923--a "turning point of time." Additionally, this edition looks to the year 2023 in the light of its potential for being a turning point in today's cultural crisis, as indicated by the position of Neptune on the cusp of Aquarius and Pisces.

Articles in this volume begin with Steffen Hartmann and "Rudolf Steiner's Michael Prophecy and the Years 2012 to 2033," originally published in his book of the same title. Following is Robert Powell's article "The 33⅓-year Rhythm" and its cosmic and human significance. Also from Robert Powell is his "Astronomia Nove" in the continuing series of articles "Classics in Astrosophy," which also features a section by a pioneer of Astrosophy, Willi Sucher.

Krisztina Cseri returns in this volume with part 3 of her "Rudolf Steiner and the Christmas Conference: Astrological Aspects of the Laying of the Foundation Stone," followed by "Conversations about Time and Space" by Natalia Haarahiltunen. And the third article by Robert Powell is "The Staff of Mercury and the Significance of the Period 39 Hours from Christ's Death on the Cross to His Ressurection."

Also featured is the article "Asclepias," which takes a fresh look at biodynamics and the environment from cosmic, biological, and ancient Greek perspectives.

Joel Matthew Park returns with part II of "The Sacrifices of Jesus and Christ," followed by "On Christianizing the Chakras," by Norm D. Feather.

Joel also produced the "Commentaries and Ephemerides" this year, accompanied by extensive quotations from the visionary Anne Catherine Emmerich.

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.

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.

Steffen Hartmann was born in 1976 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He studied piano in Hamburg and participated as accompanist in master classes with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and has worked closely with the soprano Marret Winger. In 2007, with Matthias Bölts, he founded the MenschMusik Institute in Hamburg, a leading innovator in the field of contemporary music education. He has followed an inner meditative path based on Anthroposophy since 1997 and has been a teacher of meditation for several years. Hartmann writes essays on salient topics connected to anthroposophic Spiritual Science, meditation, and music. With Torben Maiwald, he founded the publishing house Edition Widar and is the author of several books in German. He has led the Rudolf Steiner Haus Hamburg branch of the Anthroposophical Society since 2012, in addition to lecturing internationally and leading seminar and concert activities in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Greece, and Brazil.

Willi O. Sucher (1902-1985) encountered the work of Rudolf Steiner in 1919 at the age of seventeen. He devoted his life to anthroposophy, working closely with Dr. Elizabeth Vreede, a leader in the spiritual research of astronomy and mathematics in the Anthroposophical Society. Sucher devoted almost sixty years to developing the new "star wisdom" called astrosophy, which he considered most appropriate for modern humanity.

Krisztina Cseri was born in 1975 in Hungary. She graduated as an economist and worked in the production and financial controlling field at various companies for twelve years. Krisztina began to work with astrology in 2002 and attended a course from 2004 until 2007. She became a student of Anthroposophy at Pentecost 2009, when a friend invited her to the anniversary celebration of Rudolf Steiner's "Budapest lectures." Owing to the impact of that event, she soon left her financial career. She first encountered the work of Willi Sucher and Robert Powell in 2010. In 2012, with her husband, she founded the Hungarian Sophia Foundation. They have a small publishing company and translate and distribute books on spiritual themes. Krisztina has translated six books written by Robert Powell (and Kevin Dann) into Hungarian and in 2020 finished translating Meditations on the Tarot into Hungarian. She is the mother of two children and lives with her family in a village near Budapest.