IN the 1920s, 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 for this week 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.
TWENTY-FIRST WEEK OF THE YEAR 21. Ich fühle fruchtend fremde Macht Sich stärkend mir mich selbst verleihn, Den Keim empfind ich reifend Und Ahnung lichtvoll weben Im Innern an der Selbstheit Macht. ∇∆ I FEEL the budding of a distant life that bestows on me a self, and thus evolves, I sense its kernel ripening as imagination weaves a light filled bower I await a glimpse of selfhood’s power.
Thank you Max Leyf for your renditions of the soul calendar verses.
Do you read the multiple translational renditions compiled by Eloise Krivosheia on the website of the L A branch Anthroposophical society ? I find every translation helps in some respect ; the 'loss' from the German is compensated/complimented for by the multiple ways in which one can say things in English - like the facets of a well-cut and polished diamond