liturgy of the seasons (30)
a weekly translation of Rudolf Steiner’s Seelenkalender verse
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.
THIRTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR 30. Es sprießen mir im Seelensonnenlicht Des Denkens reife Früchte, In Selbstbewußtseins Sicherheit Verwandelt alles Fühlen sich. Empfinden kann ich freudevoll Des Herbstes Geisterwachen: Der Winter wird in mir Den Seelensommer wecken. ∇∆ A-SPRINGING from the sunlit soul the ripened fruits of thinking’s light: self-consciousness in feeling— lo! all things in transformation! I set forth now in full elation through the watches of the Autumn night for Winter’s exteriority shall waken a Summertime within the soul.
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