Holy Night 8 applied to August

December 31 – January 1 – Leo
The cross on the hilt of the sword. Sacrifice. The man with the Christ sword of power that cannot hurt, speaks the language of the truth. It is the night of fear and horror.
The Mystery: A Knight with the spear of the will and the sword of knowledge has a dog beside him, as a symbol of obedience. Behind him are death and the devil. At a certain level of knowledge, a mistake or a wrong move can quickly lead to perdition. Victory is achieved by the fullness of divinity, with a consciousness of responsibility and an unfailing loyalty to the tasks ahead in life.
R. Steiner

Eighth Contemplation by Kristina Kaine
Why are we often fearful of making a wrong move? Perhaps because we know that the slightest mistake will usually bring some form of criticism – self criticism or criticism from others. Perhaps this is a good thing because it prepares us for that time when we reach a certain level of knowledge and mistakes can have serious consequences. However, we should not be paralysed by fear. We have to gain esoteric insight, that is our personal responsibility, and it is the reason we have incarnated into the flesh. Our commitment to our spiritual development can only be one hundred percent, there can be no half measures.
As we stand on the cusp of 2015 we can make a promise to ourselves to take our spiritual understanding to a new level. The thing about spiritual knowledge is that if our commitment is genuine the knowledge opens up to us. If not, then spiritual truth will make no sense to us. Perhaps this is why this is the night of fear and horror; a window opens and we review the results of our efforts over the past year and then we see how the new year will pan out if we don’t make a new resolve.
We must become like the knight who has sharpened his will, gained knowledge and is accompanied by obedience. He leaves his meeting with death and the devil behind.
Our victory depends on our ability to see that we are actually divine beings. Of all the beings in the Cosmos we are the ones able to take into ourselves the presence of the mighty Cosmic Christ who entered the body of Jesus and became human (briefly). Why did he do this? So that we could claim our freedom and overcome karma. If we continue to act out of our karma and only engage with others through their karma, 2015 will be much tougher than it should be – not only for us but for the world. Let’s not drag death and the devil with us; they will express themselves through us, through our dead consciousness, by stirring up our karma. We can only avoid this by nurturing our relationship with Christ knowing that through him we can have ALL knowledge.

Christ Blessing by Raphael

The 12 Holy Nights sow a seed for our progress through the year ahead. Our sole purpose on this earth is to become aware our I Am, our True Self. By applying each of the 12 Holy Nights to each of the 12 months throughout the year we come closer to knowing ourselves more completely. In its highest expression our I Am becomes one with Christ who accompanies us each step of the way.
“The true name of Christ is “I Am”; who does not know or does not understand this and calls Him by another name does not know anything about Him. “I Am” is His only name.” Rudolf Steiner 27 May 1909