Holy Night 12

January 4-5 – Sagittarius

During the 12th night the crowns won are placed at the feet of the divine, because we have struggled against ourselves, but what we have wrung from it is grace, is the law of the spirit. Because grace is a stream from a source that a human being cannot reach with human power. Now is the start and end of a spaceless time – timeless space. Now everything is eternal and holy! Sagittarius’ power striving towards the goal must be directed in this way, so that it can take up the spiritual Good it receives.

We must now take on into our lives what we have recognized and received in the twelve holy nights, and spiritualise matter and the soul.

Rudolf Steiner’s indications for the Holy Nights given to Herbert Hahn

Translation from German by Laura Zanutto 2015 and Mark Willan 2016

12. Heilige Nacht

4./5. Januar – Schütze

In der 12. Nacht wird die errungene Krone zu Füssen des Göttlichen niedergelegt, denn wir haben sie zwar selbst erkämpft, aber daß wir sie erringen durften ist Gnade, ist Gesetz des Geistigen. Denn Gnade ist Zustrom aus einer Quelle, die der Mensch mit menschlicher Kraft nicht zu erreichen vermag. Nun wird Anfang und Ende eines, raumlose Zeit – zeitloser Raum. Alles ist ewiges, heiliges Jetzt! Die zielstrebigen Kräfte des Schützen müssen so eingesetzt werden, daß er geistiges Gut in Empfang nehmen kann.

Das, was wir in den zwölf Heiligen Nächten erkannt und empfangen haben, müssen wir nun in das Leben hineintragen und die Materie und das Seelische durchgeistigen. R. Steiner

Contemplation 12: Kristina Kaine

Now we take our final Holy Night step. These 12 steps which we have taken each day can become the theme for each month of the year ahead until we reach the renewal of our being at Christmas 2012.

We have contemplated our inner being and hopefully become more conscious of all the different activities that take place moment by moment within us. We have become more aware of the way our feelings rise up and can sweep us away if we do not intervene. Some of our thoughts that flit through our mind might have shocked us – they were always there we just don’t notice them. Our impulses to act may also have become more conscious giving us the opportunity to assess our motives. At the very least, if we have become more aware of these three soul activities then we have experienced the highest in our being, our I Am.

Our I Am gives us poise and purpose and it changes the way we see our relationship to the world and to all the people we encounter.

When we have those I Am experiences we start to see Christ in every human being. The Cosmic Christ entered into this earth through the vehicle of Jesus and this spirit dwells in us. It dwells in us primarily through every breath we take and through the food we eat; food that is grown in the earth which is now the body of Christ. As we accept the reality of this we begin to experience his etheric presence in the life-force of this earth and in our own etheric body. Now we begin to treat every person as if they were Christ. We arrest every negative thought before it forms because we see that we would be thinking that thought about Christ. We are careful about all our feelings and motives because of our respect for Christ in the other person. In this way we transform ourselves and we raise the other person up as well. As St Paul said, “the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27 If we did nothing else but contemplate this mystery each day through the year ahead we will change the world. Kristina Kaine 2012

Rudolf Steiner’s words are a rough translation revised by John Barnwell. 2011-12

Art: The Coronation of the Virgin Mary. Fra Angelico. 1434-1435.

The Holy Night Reflections written between 2011 – 2016 are available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M730YAV/

The Holy Nights contemplations written between 2016 and 2021 are available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B08SBMRY7L/