liturgy of the seasons (1)

a weekly translation of Rudolf Steiner’s Seelenkalender verse

In 1912-1913, Rudolf Steiner created a sort of liturgy of the natural and spiritual year in the form of fifty-two short verses. Experience—my own and others—testifies to the powerful effect that a short meditation on the relevant verse throughout the course of the year can have in respect to awakening and sensitizing the soul to each season’s unique quality and gesture.

Below is Dr. Steiner’s original Seelenkalender, or “Calendar of the Soul” verse followed by my translation into English. I have opted to follow, whenever a conflict arose, the spirit over the letter in my translation efforts, attempting to convey the “mood” before the propositional content. Below, I also attempted a Swedish translation of this week’s verse for the occasion of inaugurating the new year.

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Χριστός ἀνέστη!

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FIRST WEEK OF THE YEAR

—Oster Stimmung—

Wenn aus den Weltenweiten
Die Sonne spricht zum Menschensinn
Und Freude aus den Seelentiefen
Dem Licht sich eint im Schauen,
Dann ziehen aus der Selbstheit Hülle
Gedanken in die Raumesfernen
Und binden dumpf
Des Menschen Wesen an des Geistes Sein.

∇∆

—Easter mood—
(English translation)

IF, out of far-flung spaces
sunlight speaks to human sense
and elation, from the depths of soul
in seeing, weds our minds with Light
then from the husk of self unfurls,
outward drawn by world-wafting thoughts,
the human soul, and in communion bind
her, howbeit faintly, with the Spirit’s kind.

∇∆

—Påskstämning—
(Svenska översättning)

Om, ur den fjärran rymden,
Solen talar till det mänskliga sinnet
Och glädje, utifrån själens djup,
Förbinder ljuset med människans syn,
Då drar ut ur självets skal
Tankar vilka også flytar ut i yttre himlarna
Och bindar, vagt,
Människans väsen med andens varelse.